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Leigh Kirby Klein and her husband created one home by buying a studio and a one-bedroom in a newly built West Village building, then connecting them across a public hallway. The combined purchase cost less than a conventional two-bedroom alternative, according to Architectural Digest’s January 10, 2024 feature, but the plan required buying part of the hallway, designing a new entrance, and solving several awkward transitions.
The result is less a visibly enlarged apartment than a carefully edited retreat. The former studio became an approximately 800-square-foot primary suite with a king bed, sitting area, office alcove, storage wall, and full bathroom. Venetian plaster, Moroccan plaster, restrained furnishings, and carefully chosen stone give the connected rooms the calm of a boutique hotel rather than the feel of two units joined after the fact.
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The starting point was practical. Klein, principal of New York City–based Weatherleigh Interiors, and her husband bought a studio and a one-bedroom because their combined price was more attractive than the price of an actual two-bedroom in the same newly built West Village residential building. Architectural Digest does not publish the purchase prices, a comparative market analysis, a renovation budget, or a construction cost breakdown, so the financial advantage should be understood only as the owners’ reported comparison.
The two units were not directly adjacent in the usual sense. A public hallway stood between them. To make a single-feeling residence, the couple bought part of that common circulation area and created a new front entry. The feature does not detail the legal agreements, permits, code reviews, or construction contracts involved. Those issues would be decisive in any similar project, because ownership of a hallway and permission to alter a building entrance vary by condominium documents and local regulations.
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The layout, rather than a simple increase in square footage, drove the decision. The one-bedroom could remain the social and service side of the home while the former studio became a private suite. That separation allowed the owners to gain a generous bedroom zone without forcing every function into one conventional two-bedroom plan.
How the new entry makes two units read as one home
Buying the hallway space
The public corridor had slate flooring, while the apartments used white-oak planks. That material break could have made the new entrance look like an afterthought. Klein could not find a matching replacement floor, so the building contractors’ leftover stock supplied enough white oak to finish the foyer. The solution depended on a very specific circumstance: usable flooring from the original construction was still available. It is a reminder that matching an existing floor can require salvaged inventory rather than a new product order.
Creating a place to arrive
The redesigned entry gives the combined home a clear threshold instead of asking residents to pass from a public hallway directly into one of the original apartments. It includes a place to sit and remove shoes and provides more closet storage than the couple had in their previous homes. A ceramic sconce supplies light, while a pivoting walnut console adds a small surface that can turn with the circulation path.
These are modest interventions, but they solve the psychological problem of a joined apartment: visitors encounter one intentional front door and one sequence of rooms. The entry also acts as a visual bridge between the slate of the corridor and the oak of the interior, rather than pretending the two original units had always shared the same entrance.
The former studio became an 800-square-foot primary suite
The former studio’s kitchen was removed entirely. In its place, Klein designed a 14-foot-long cabinetry wall that provides the storage expected in a primary bedroom without leaving exposed traces of the old cooking area. Architectural Digest describes the resulting suite as roughly 800 square feet—an approximate figure for this project, not a general standard for primary bedrooms.
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Within that footprint, the suite accommodates four distinct functions:
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- Sleeping: a king-size bed anchors the main bedroom area.
- Relaxing: a sitting area gives the room a use beyond sleeping.
- Working: an office alcove fits a desk or compact work zone without taking over the bedroom.
- Bathing: a full en-suite bathroom replaces the former studio’s small single-vanity arrangement.
The long storage wall is important to the plan because it absorbs the practical burden of the removed kitchen. Instead of treating the former kitchen footprint as dead space, the design converts its length into concealed capacity. That move helps the suite feel like a purpose-built bedroom rather than a studio with appliances taken out.
The bathroom was enlarged rather than merely refreshed
The original studio bathroom had a single vanity and was described as small. Klein gutted it and expanded the room to include two vanities with terrazzo countertops. The change makes the bathroom function as a true primary suite bath, with parallel use by two people rather than a single sink serving a room inherited from a compact studio.
Cipollino Verde marble forms the wainscoting and shower surround. A narrow brass band separates the stone from plaster, creating a crisp transition between the wet and dry portions of the room. The combination is more than decorative: the stone identifies the areas exposed to water, while plaster carries the quieter, continuous surface above it.
The bathroom’s palette also reinforces the apartment-wide strategy. Instead of adding many patterns or competing finishes, the design uses one strongly veined green marble, warm brass, terrazzo, and plaster. That restraint lets the material changes provide interest while keeping the connected residence visually calm.
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How the materials create a sanctuary atmosphere
Klein said, “I wanted the condo to be a sanctuary from the busy streets of New York, like a hotel or art gallery that we could lose ourselves in.” The feature describes the home as having a European slant, with wabi-sabi and Japandi influences. Those labels describe an approach rather than a strict period style: natural materials, limited decoration, irregular or tactile surfaces, and furniture chosen for proportion and texture.
The existing white-oak floor became the starting point. Rather than replacing it throughout the connected apartments, Klein used the floor’s pale, quiet character to establish continuity. Venetian plaster and Moroccan plaster, or Tadelakt, appear on selected bedroom and bathroom walls. Their softly mottled surfaces absorb light differently from painted drywall, giving the rooms depth without introducing additional objects.
Decor was deliberately limited. The effect depends on proportion and negative space as much as on individual pieces. In that setting, a sofa, lounge chair, bed, or wall light can function as a focal point without competing with a crowded collection of accessories.
The wet bar replaced a redundant laundry setup
The connected apartments originally provided two washer-and-dryer sets. The owners removed one pair and used that area for a wet bar and wine storage. This is a clear example of tailoring the combined home to actual habits: once two units operate as one residence, duplicate infrastructure may be less useful than entertaining space.
The bar uses matte-black cabinetry and a honed Amazonia marble countertop sourced from BAS Stone. The dark cabinetry gives the niche visual weight, while the honed finish avoids the high-gloss look that might have conflicted with the plaster walls and oak floor. Because the project retains one laundry pair, the redesign is a trade-off rather than a claim that laundry is unnecessary; it exchanges redundancy for a dedicated hospitality function.
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Furniture and lighting were selected as individual statements
Architectural Digest names several furnishings and lights in the completed home. They should be read as reported sourcing details from the 2024 feature, not as endorsements or guarantees that the items remain available.
| Area or role | Reported piece | How it contributes to the scheme |
|---|---|---|
| Living area | Magari sofa by Dmitriy & Co. | A substantial upholstered anchor in the restrained sitting space. |
| Lounge seating | Who Are You III bouclé lounge chairs by Olga Engel, sourced through Galerie Armel Soyer | Textural seating that supports the soft, tactile palette. |
| Bedroom | Yoko bed by Sarah Ellison from Design Within Reach | The central sleeping element in the former studio suite. |
| Wall lighting | Squiggle sconces by Studio Giancarlo Valle | A sculptural lighting accent against the pared-back walls. |
| Additional wall lighting | Trapeze wall sconces by Apparatus | Decorative illumination integrated into the room composition. |
Some distinctive lights were ordered from overseas or from elsewhere in the United States. Finding bulbs that fit the fixtures and worked with the apartment’s dimmers proved difficult. That compatibility problem is easy to overlook when a fixture is chosen for appearance first. The project demonstrates that a lighting schedule must account for socket type, lamp dimensions, dimming technology, voltage where relevant, and replacement availability before an order is placed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What went wrong during sourcing
One iron floor lamp shipped from Paris arrived rusted. The vendor sent a replacement, but only after the owners had already waited six or seven months; the replacement then required another three-month wait. The episode illustrates the schedule risk of importing distinctive pieces, especially when a damaged item cannot be repaired locally or substituted from stock.
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What this project shows about combining neighboring apartments
Continuity must be designed at the threshold
The foyer is not leftover circulation. It resolves the public-hallway condition, introduces storage and seating, and uses available oak to connect the slate corridor with the apartments. In a similar project, the first design question is not where to place furniture but how residents will cross from shared building space into the new private sequence.
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Give each original unit a clear job
The former studio became the private suite, while the other apartment retained the home’s remaining functions. Assigning a role to each unit avoids a vague, oversized plan in which rooms duplicate one another. Here, the removed studio kitchen became storage, and one duplicated laundry pair became a wet bar, so the merger produced useful program rather than simply more rooms.
Use a consistent material baseline
White oak, plaster, and a restrained palette establish continuity across spaces that began with different configurations. The project did not require every surface to be identical. Instead, the floor and tactile wall finishes provide a common language while marble, terrazzo, brass, and black cabinetry mark specific functions.
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The feature establishes the owners’ relative-price rationale, the hallway acquisition, the approximate suite size, the room changes, and the named materials and furnishings. It does not establish the project’s purchase prices, renovation cost, floor plan, permitting path, construction duration, or current availability of the specified products. Anyone evaluating a similar purchase would need building-specific legal, architectural, engineering, and financial information before assuming the same approach is feasible.
A room-by-room account of the finished home
| Space | Original condition or challenge | Reported intervention |
|---|---|---|
| Connection and foyer | Public hallway separated the studio and one-bedroom; slate conflicted with interior oak. | Part of the hallway was acquired, a new entry was designed, and leftover contractor oak finished the foyer. |
| Former studio kitchen | Kitchen no longer suited the combined home. | Removed and replaced by a 14-foot cabinetry wall. |
| Primary suite | Studio had to support several bedroom functions. | Approximately 800 square feet with king bed, sitting area, office alcove, storage, and en-suite bath. |
| Studio bathroom | Small room with one vanity. | Gutted and enlarged with two terrazzo-topped vanities and Cipollino Verde marble. |
| Laundry zone | Two washer-and-dryer sets created duplication. | One set removed; area became a wet bar and wine storage. |
| Living and decorative areas | Two apartments needed a shared visual identity. | White oak, plaster finishes, limited decor, and selected European-leaning furnishings unified the rooms. |
The designer’s own assessment
Klein joked, “I’ve never worked with a tougher client,” referring to designing the home for her husband. The comment captures a tension in highly personal projects: professional expertise does not remove the need to negotiate daily routines, storage, entertaining, and comfort with the person who will live there. In this apartment, those negotiations appear in concrete choices—keeping one laundry pair, adding a bar, enlarging the bathroom, and making the former studio a multifunctional suite.
The finished residence is therefore not simply a larger footprint. It is a case study in converting two neighboring ownership units into one legible home by solving the entrance first, assigning distinct functions to each original apartment, and using a small number of durable visual cues to make the rooms feel related. The feature presents the project as a personal home tour; it does not provide enough information to treat its price, construction method, or legal arrangement as a repeatable formula for every West Village building.
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