Space is hard to come by in New York, a struggle designer and former NYC resident Liza Kuhn knows all too well. So, when a young professional tapped her to renovate his 450-square-foot Greenwich Village duplex, she was up for the challenge. “It was such a fun project because those of us that have lived in New York, we understand the problems,” says Kuhn. “It’s the beauty and the stresses of living in New York!”
Despite a limited footprint, the goal for the project was, “to maximize comfort and convenience, but to also have a sense of luxury,” says the designer. But given the apartment’s location in a pre-war building built in 1849, the unit was busting with structural issues. “It was in complete disarray,” explains Kuhn. “He really wanted to bring it back to life in an interpretation of how we live today.”
A gut renovation allowed Kuhn the freedom to customize a layout that better maximized the small footprint. “In these older buildings, you’re essentially constrained by whatever the footprint is,” says the designer. “But I would joke that it’s gonna feel like the biggest small apartment you’ve ever seen.” And by all accounts, it is!
