Gender-Neutral Apartment Design

When Rue magazine's co-founder and editor-in-chief, Crystal Gentilello, first moved into her apartment, its room's modest dimensions made it difficult to decide which room to assign to which purpose: living, dining or sleeping.

To fully use each room in her San Francisco apartment, Crystal created a space plan that would allow seating for up to six in her dining room, a sleeping and lounging space in her bedroom, and a comfortable gathering area as well as a small workstation in her living room. A drop leaf in Crystal's pedestal-base table transforms the top from a 42-inch circle to an oval spanning six feet in length.

Instead of using art as the focal point in her dining room, Crystal opted for architectural-style framed mirrors that play with scale and also help bounce light around the otherwise dark room. The dining room walls are painted a dark gray-green shade from Benjamin Moore called Chelsea Gray to add a subtle touch of drama.

Originally installed to separate the bedroom from a small parlor, the pocket doors now add privacy between the bedroom and the dining room.