When a couple bought this 1,171-square-foot Upper West Side apartment in 2012 and moved in with their two toddlers, they weren’t in love with its looks. “It wasn’t beautiful, but the layout was pretty perfect for us at the time,” one homeowner says—and they were particularly fond of one amenity. “We had had laundry in the basement before, and now we have a full-size laundry room. It seems like a silly thing, but I thought that was amazing.”

The family lived there for a decade before considering a remodel. In the interim, small things started adding up, quite literally. The kids’ (now teenagers) sports equipment was spilling out of closets, the parents’ papers teetered in stacks on the office floor, and the living room’s built-in media cabinet could only fit a tiny TV, which put a damper on family movie nights. “We really moved away from watching things together on that TV,” says the owner.

In 2022, they hired Sugarhouse Design & Architecture to double the storage, bring in more light, and weave in finishes that they liked better. First up for designers Jess and Jonathan Nahon was addressing the elephant in the layout: the laundry room.

Before: Entry

After: Entry

The designers realized that the laundry room was so nice because it had a full-sized window on the facade of the building that got the best light. Jonathan had a suggestion: “We could make that room part of the actual living space, where it could be accessed and used by everybody.” The owners were game.

Before: Entry

After: Entry

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

Relocating the laundry room meant Sugarhouse could also pull out the inadequate media cabinet, size up the kitchen, and create a convenient storage center at one end, with a bar, desk space, open shelves, and closed cabinetry. The kitchen now gets sunlight from the exterior window, while other areas in the home, such as the entry hall and primary bathroom, received fluted glass treatments to spread the light around.

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Before: Laundry Room

After: Kitchen

Reworking the kitchen also eliminated an unnecessary corridor that led to an office, and enabled Sugarhouse to streamline the layout to configure better storage solutions all over. Now, the office hosts a laundry closet, a small workout area, and access to a powder room, as well as extensive custom cabinetry for books and papers, and a built-in desk. “We packed in storage at every opportunity,” Jonathan says of the new millwork in the living/dining room, the entry hall closets, and the bathroom vanity.

Before: Kitchen

After: Storage

After: Office

The new material palette features touches of blue (the owner’s favorite color) and lighter wood tones, including oak cabinetry and flooring. “Bringing in the lighter floor really changed the apartment right away,” says Jess.

The lighting picks are both functional and personal, as the dining room has a custom wall light from Tracy Glover Studio—a gift for the owner’s birthday. “We mixed architectural and decorative sconces and lamps to give the spaces a more even light,” says Jess. “It’s also a little bit more controllable, so when they’re having parties, they can make it moody.”

After: Powder Room

While the apartment’s physical transformation has been dramatic, it’s been interesting to note the subtle changes in how the family uses the space since the remodel wrapped in March 2024. Parties flow much easier thanks to the central kitchen island with seating, and the built-in serving ledges in strategic spots (such as atop the dining room cabinetry). The reoriented, more comfortable couch and TV setup has already sparked more family movie nights.

And the couple’s daughter, who the owner refers to as “an old-school cook,” can more easily spread out prep work for multicourse meals in the new kitchen. “There’s a lot of space for a lot of different projects, and she makes complicated things, so she uses all these different spaces,” notes the owner. “She is really in heaven.”

Before: Primary Suite

After: Primary Suite

More Before & After stories:

Here’s What It Took to Give a Historic Palazzo a Royal Revamp

A Family (Quite Literally) Fills the Walls of Their Midcentury With Memories

In Paris, a Dated ’70s Condo Rounds a Corner With a Curvaceous Revamp

Project Credits:

Architecture: Sugarhouse Design & Architecture / @sugarhousedesign

Builder: AZM Home Improvements

Lighting Design: Sugarhouse Design & Architecture

Interior Design: Sugarhouse Design & Architecture

Sound Engineer: Voytech Technologies Inc.

Cabinetry Design: Sugarhouse Design & Architecture

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Before & After: Copious Cabinetry Makes a Compact Flat Work for a Family of Four