Weekly Tour: SPI Design’s SoHo Before-and-After
This sophisticated SoHo loft comes from design firm, SPI Design. Read on to see how Sarah Shetter and Alison Palevsky turned this cold loft, which felt more like a museum than a home, into a warm and cozy space, while still maintaning the industrial elements native to the loft.
The loft's new sleek and chic living space
Maintaining the industrial character of this New York loft, with its exposed pipes and open living space, while creating a more warm and livable residence, was a primary goal of this project.
The space's dull and dark "before" kitchen
Seeing the kitchen as the focal point of the living space, SPI reconfigured it to include an L-shaped return that serves as an island for casual dining and helps to ease the floor level transition between the kitchen and dining area. SPI also dropped the kitchen ceiling, allowing for recessed lighting and giving it a more intimate feel than the high-ceiling spaces of the living and dining room.
The updated kitchen
In collaboration with Henrybuilt and the clients, SPI chose sustainable materials—PaperStone countertops, FSC-certified cabinet base panels, and FSC-certified birch veneer cabinet fronts—for the state-of-the-art kitchen.
The dining room "before" -- a cold and unwelcoming space
In the dining area, two brushed chrome chandeliers hang above a 1960s Lucite dining table. The chairs surrounding the table combine two different dining sets, providing an eclectic and whimsical element. The neutral color palette of the living space, along with the semi-opaque window treatment, help to maximize the light that comes from the large bay windows. Existing hardwood floors were stripped and painted in a bright-white lacquer finish.
The designers turned the cold space into an intimate dining area.
I think I would suffocate with that much white!