a curving sculptural light fixture hangs above a dining room table

This New York City Apartment Offers More Living Space Than Its Square Footage Suggests

2022 Best of Year Winner for Small Apartment

This airy Greenwich Village three-bedroom lives much larger than its 2,150 square feet would suggest, thanks to strategic sight lines, artfully integrated storage, and a careful attention to artificial and natural illumination. Desai Chia co-developed a custom surface-mounted lighting system for a concrete-slab ceilings, its milled-oak housing matching the apartment’s flooring and built-ins, including a cantilevered entry bench and paneling that sport branch­like patterning. (The dining area’s cloudlike chandelier, in hand-laminated oak, is also a custom commission.) Embodying flexibility and uber functionality, the conjoined living area/study suits entertaining and overnighting alike: Timber doors slide closed to form cordoned-off guest quarters equipped with a bar, desk, and queen-size pullout.

milled oak covers the walls in this apartment, matching the light hardwood floors
curving gray sitting chairs in front of a gray sofa in a neutral apartment
a curving sculptural light fixture hangs above a dining room table

a lightbulb tilted to the left on an orange and purple background

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