≡ Menu

Small NYC Apartment Transforms 420 SF to 1100


This post contains affiliate links.

This small NYC apartment magically transforms 420 square feet into 1100 square feet of usable space with the use of multifunctional furniture.

It’s known as the LifeEdited apartment in the Soho/Manhatten area of New York City. What you’re about to see here is the apartment of Graham Hill, founder of treehugger.com.

He bought the apartment back in 2010, as you’ll see in the video below, and has since renovated it. The video was shot and produced by our friends Kirsten Dirksen and Nicolas Boullosa at Faircompanies.com. The project took about 3 years to complete.

The small NYC apartment can become a huge master bedroom or a giant open office with windows thanks to the built in furniture that transforms the space and hides all of your stuff.

Graham Hill's Small NYC Apartment

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

Below is a photo of the apartment before the renovations.

Graham's Small NYC Apartment Before the Renovations

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

The photo below is the apartment in office mode with the bed tucked away into one of the walls.

Small NYC Apartment in Office Mode

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

Small NYC Apartment That Hosts 10 or More Guests

If you’re having people over there’s an entire wall that you pull out to reveal a second bedroom with even more storage including a spot to store a bicycle and pull out bunk beds for guests. The multifunctional furniture is thanks to Resource Furniture which we did a post on a while back.

Small NYC Apartment Transforms to Two Bedrooms

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

What I love most about this space is that you can live small without sacrificing the ability to comfortably have people over. You wouldn’t even have to drastically reduce the amount of stuff you have in comparison to a tiny house. There’s even the ability to pull out a dinner table that seats ten people.

Small NYC Apartment Transforms to Two Bedrooms with Privacy Curtains

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

The bathroom doubles as a phone booth just by flipping down a piece of furniture over the toilet. This way if guests are over, you or any of your guests can walk in there for some privacy in case of a phone call or whatever. Graham and his team seemed to have thought of everything.

Expanding Dinner Table from Resource Furniture in this Small NYC Apartment

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

He’ll even show you his unique wardrobe made out of merino wool which can be worn more times without smelling since it’s antibacterial. Graham’s kitchenware is also super space efficient, as you’ll see. He’s experimenting with utensils, plates, appliances, and kitchenware.

Graham Hill's Small NYC Apartment Easily Entertains 10 People

Photo Credit Faircompanies/YouTube

Seamless Kitchen in Small NYC Apartment

The apartment’s kitchen has a top load dishwasher, plug-in 3 burner stoves, slide out recycle and garbage bins, freezer, refrigerator, composter, and a two in one microwave/convection oven. And everything is seamless because even most of the appliances look like drawers.

When you walk in to the small NYC apartment there’s plenty of space for coats in a closet plus cubbies for you and your guests shoes. Outside Graham has even managed to install some solar panels to power some of his LED lights and his cell phone charger. I almost forgot to mention, there’s a large projection screen that pulls out for watching movies on a big screen.

Graham Hill’s Small NYC Apartment Tour with Faircompanies

Deek’s Tour of Graham’s Small NYC Apartment

“I think if you can simplify: Focus on less but better across your life that this is going to be a calming thing.” – Graham Hill

Video and photo screenshots thanks to Faircompanies.com. Project thanks to Graham Hill over at LifeEdited.com and TreeHugger.com.

To get more posts like this in your email join our free tiny house newsletter!

If enjoyed this small NYC apartment tour, “Like” and share using the buttons below then tell us your favorite part in the comments at the bottom. Thanks!

This post contains affiliate links.

The following two tabs change content below.

Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 12 comments… add one }
  • December 22, 2012, 10:25 am

    Cool pix/video. I filmed/stayed at the same place a few months back- here’s another last-min video… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8n0IjNurtI

    happy holidays all!
    -Deek

    • December 22, 2012, 1:15 pm

      Thanks for letting us know about that one Deek I didn’t realize you went to visit it. How awesome! I added it to the post. Happy holidays!

  • Dominick Bundy
    December 22, 2012, 3:24 pm

    OMG! I absolutely love that NYC Apartment and ingenuity it took to create that space.. This is another best presentation again by far..

    • December 24, 2012, 10:34 am

      Glad you liked this one Dominick, I enjoyed it a lot too!

  • Charlie
    December 22, 2012, 5:31 pm

    If you ever got the cost of the doodads down to a reasonable price, you could turn a spare room into a granny flat or a rental unit assuming no zoning problems. Even then it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Very creative and great presentation.

    • December 24, 2012, 10:35 am

      Thanks Charlie! You know, folks are doing this quite a bit on a website called Airbnb.com. If you go there and type in New York City or Manhatten, NY you’ll find lots of folks who have turned their NYC apartments extra rooms into mini hotel suites. And people love it because they have a built in tour guide to help them explore the city. Great way for the apartment dwellers to help pay the bills and meet people, too.

  • December 24, 2012, 8:08 am

    The bed is $15,000.00. Yikes! By a co. called Clei (or something similar in name).

    • December 24, 2012, 10:33 am

      It’s incredible how pricey all of that furniture is. The project must have cost close to or around half a million dollars (for furniture, architect, and cost of buying apartment in NYC).

  • Deek
    December 26, 2012, 5:37 pm

    i think I remember hearing that the rennovation was $320000.oo or something…don’t quote me on that though…..

    • December 26, 2012, 8:43 pm

      Wow.. I figured it’d be up there.

  • Glema
    December 27, 2012, 12:53 pm

    Great! Would love to use some of the ideas for the tiny house design. Maybe the seat window in the shower lol. Just loved this Ty for sharing.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.