Room of the Day: A Living Room Stretches Out and Opens Up
Expanding into the apartment next door gives a family of 5 more room in their New York City home
It’s unusual to find the solution to your remodeling woes next door, but such was the case for a couple and their three teenage daughters. The three-bedroom postwar apartment they had lived in for the past 15 years had started to feel too small, but, luckily for them, they owned and had rented out the one-bedroom apartment next door for the past 10 years.
Working with architect Lauren Rubin, the couple absorbed the one-bedroom apartment into their home, increasing storage and adding a master suite in the process. Most notable, however, was how they opened up their previously enclosed kitchen, dining and living areas. “Aside from creating more individual space and storage, it has made a beautiful, open space for the whole family to interact together,” Rubin says.
Working with architect Lauren Rubin, the couple absorbed the one-bedroom apartment into their home, increasing storage and adding a master suite in the process. Most notable, however, was how they opened up their previously enclosed kitchen, dining and living areas. “Aside from creating more individual space and storage, it has made a beautiful, open space for the whole family to interact together,” Rubin says.
Not only does the wood paneling brighten and blend the conjoined apartments, it also conceals some of the structural obstacles discovered during construction. Unusual niches that were created in the demolition became a multitude of closets cleanly hidden behind wooden doors in the paneling.
The nearly invisible doors are constructed with three-quarter-inch pieces of wood on top of a half-inch substrate. Since the doors are nearly 8 feet tall, they were made this heavy to prevent warping. Pivot hinges and hidden edge pulls keep the cabinetry seamless. Behind the various doors are hidden a pantry, coat closet and full bar.
The new master bedroom connects directly to the living room, with the door right past the sofa. “The privacy it provides for the master suite is an added bonus,” Rubin says of the wood paneling.
Era round armchair with cane seat and Era chair with cane seat: Michael Thonet; Aalto vase: Alvar Aalto; Snowball pendant lamp: Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen
The nearly invisible doors are constructed with three-quarter-inch pieces of wood on top of a half-inch substrate. Since the doors are nearly 8 feet tall, they were made this heavy to prevent warping. Pivot hinges and hidden edge pulls keep the cabinetry seamless. Behind the various doors are hidden a pantry, coat closet and full bar.
The new master bedroom connects directly to the living room, with the door right past the sofa. “The privacy it provides for the master suite is an added bonus,” Rubin says of the wood paneling.
Era round armchair with cane seat and Era chair with cane seat: Michael Thonet; Aalto vase: Alvar Aalto; Snowball pendant lamp: Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen
The open walls were envisioned early on so the homeowners would have room to hang and display prized works from their midcentury modern furniture and art collection. “There would be nothing worse to an art collector than not to have a place for a favorite piece,” Rubin says.
Glo Ball floor lamp: Flos; Diamond chair: Harry Bertoia; Uno La Mela apple poster: Enzo Mari
Glo Ball floor lamp: Flos; Diamond chair: Harry Bertoia; Uno La Mela apple poster: Enzo Mari
The bright, open kitchen features clear-finish white oak cabinets and a Corian solid-surface countertop. Vintage turquoise bar stools bring color to the space and add a touch of the family’s midcentury aesthetic.
Though Rubin typically designs custom kitchens for her projects, this one is by HenryBuilt. “The owners are very tactile and really needed to experience the whole kitchen before settling on a design,” Rubin says. “The HenryBuilt showroom is perfect for that.” The updated L-shape opens up to the new great room and also frames the entry as more of a foyer. The range was relocated to the new island, giving the couple a chance to interact with friends and family while cooking.
Kitchen design: HenryBuilt; bar stools: vintage
Though Rubin typically designs custom kitchens for her projects, this one is by HenryBuilt. “The owners are very tactile and really needed to experience the whole kitchen before settling on a design,” Rubin says. “The HenryBuilt showroom is perfect for that.” The updated L-shape opens up to the new great room and also frames the entry as more of a foyer. The range was relocated to the new island, giving the couple a chance to interact with friends and family while cooking.
Kitchen design: HenryBuilt; bar stools: vintage
Before Photo
BEFORE: This floor plan shows the two separate apartments as they were before, with the family’s three-bedroom apartment on the left and the one-bedroom rental on the right. The wall between the rental’s bedroom and the family’s living room separated the units.
AFTER: The two units are now one, with the living room and master suite occupying most of what had been the one-bedroom apartment. The kitchen, dining area and living room are all open to one another. The kitchen now features an L-shape layout, opening it up to the rest of the apartment while also framing the entry better.
Before Photo
BEFORE: Here is the original view of the apartment from the entry. “When you first walked into the apartment, you walked into this small-ish living area with a dark blue wall and one set of windows,” Rubin says. The second apartment that contributed to the living room’s current size is on the other side of the wall on the right.
Before Photo
BEFORE: The dining area used to be wedged between the kitchen and living room, with the dining table straddling both rooms in the small walkway between them.
Before Photo
BEFORE: The family’s original kitchen was in nice condition, but it was crowded, closed in and connected directly to the front door.
Before Photo
BEFORE: A view from right inside the original front door. The blue wall used to separate the galley kitchen from the living room; the kitchen is just visible through the first door on the right in the hallway.
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Room at a Glance
Who lives here: An oral surgeon, a philanthropist and their three daughters (ages 11, 13 and 15)
Location: Manhattan, New York
Size: 650-square-foot living, kitchen and dining area in a 2,000-square-foot apartment
Year built: Apartment built in 1976; renovated in 2015
Designer: Lauren Rubin Architecture
The view from the kitchen now stretches into the open dining room, formerly an enclosed living room, and the new living room, previously the adjacent apartment’s bedroom and kitchen. The open spaces, white walls and warm wood paneling brighten what had been a dark, compartmentalized apartment. “We doubled the amount of windows that could be seen from the public space, which helped enormously,” designer Lauren Rubin says.
Two walls of waxed white oak paneling span the length of the new living-dining area, bridging the formerly separate apartments and anchoring the mostly white space. It’s the same wood used for the floor, just with a waxed finish. “The owner was very specific about wanting it to be as smooth a finish as possible, as well as looking as close to the natural color of the wood as possible,” Rubin says.
The renovation took some creative maneuvering on the architect’s part. The partial wall that holds the Twiggy photograph used to divide the two apartments. The wall conceals a deep structural beam the design team discovered during construction, which prevented the room from being opened up entirely.
“It was especially difficult to achieve the open, light and airy quality that the owners were hoping for,” Rubin says. “We feel that the wood wall and finishes, as well as the added light accessing the living area, really opened the space and met the challenges.”
606 universal shelving system: Dieter Rams for Vitsœ; sofa: vintage; Twiggy photograph: Bert Stern, 1960s