Most interior designers would agree that adding storage is the biggest challenge of any project, especially a smaller home. So when a Los Angeles–based couple enlisted Chris Bletzer to renovate their compact New York City pied-à-terre, he was relieved that he wouldn’t need to build closets and cabinets. “It is a luxury to be able to design a 500-square-foot apartment where there isn’t a huge need for storage,” he shares. “That’s a big advantage that I had coming out of the gate.”
Chris actually removed storage to maximize the tight floor plan, converting an oversized closet into a sleeping nook and ripping out the wall-to-wall built-in that was equipped with a dated Murphy bed. “It was almost so ugly that it was cool, but we had to get rid of it,” he says of the latter. “It completely opened up the space and made it feel a lot bigger.”
Once Chris achieved this improved layout, he was able to focus on updating the aesthetics. He aimed to honor the history of the building, an early 1930s Art Deco icon in Chelsea called London Terrace, while channeling the Parisian midcentury look that the clients loved. “They wanted a real grown-up apartment,” he explains. “They wanted to feel sophisticated and elegant yet comfortable at the same time—and not stuffy, they’re the least stuffy people.”
