Watch Interior Designer Optimizes Seinfeld’s Apartment For Real Life | Set Reset

There are a lot of things wrong with the design

of Seinfeld’s iconic apartment.

The first thing that sticks out to me is this dining table.

It’s generally recommended

to avoid having a dining table aligned with the front door.

It always feels better to designate your dining table

to a more private area in the home.

Having one right by the entryway

can disrupt the sense of intimacy during meals.

I understand why the living room was designed this way

with a three camera stage,

so I get that they place a sofa here,

the dining table here,

so we can see all the characters.

But in real life, this just doesn’t make sense.

Ideally, the dining area should be as close

to the kitchen as possible.

It’s just a natural progression

of cooking a meal to consuming it.

Feng shui is all about good design

and making your living space as efficient, balanced

and comfortable as possible.

Let me walk you through all the changes

I’ve made to improve the space

according to Feng Shui.

[upbeat music]

The first thing I’ll do is move the TV outta the way,

creating a dining area right on this wall.

I’ll also be swapping out the round table

with a rectangular one

because it just really follows the shape of the space.

Placing the dining table closer to the kitchen

makes serving and cleaning so much easier,

and the shorter distance prevents potential spills and mess.

If you’re not seating more than two people at a table,

you don’t need a round table,

especially when you can’t walk around it.

Jerry lives here alone,

but instead of just placing one chair here,

you always wanna balance out a dining table

while incorporating even numbers.

Odd numbers symbolize that one person is alone

and not supported.

It’s actually very isolating.

I would add another chair in there.

It promotes more prosperity like you’re entertaining

and inviting guests in into your home.

It’s a good feeling.

Now let’s move on to the living room.

New couch, baby.

New couch, why?

I love this couch.

You know what the best part about it is?

It doesn’t fold out so no one can sleep over.

[people laughing]

He’s just not interested in having guests

stay over, and I totally get that.

I’m going to be redesigning this entire layout

according to his lifestyle.

So let’s start by removing all of these elements

that we don’t need in this space.

We just want a nice clean blank slate

to start adding in the right furniture.

For single living, I love to create

little pockets of joy throughout the house.

This space feels very underutilized

with this basic end table here.

I feel like this is the perfect opportunity

to create like a really cozy reading nook here.

Let’s bring in a cute little club chair,

a nice comfy ottoman to kick up your feet.

Of course, this reading nook needs to be functional

with a little side table, I can already imagine Jerry

sitting here and like reading scripts all day.

What I don’t love is the structural column

that’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.

You should never remove a structural column

without consulting a structural engineer.

Since I can’t remove it, how can we make it work for us

and not against us?

I wanna make it more functional.

Let’s start by building out a brand new wall.

This new wall here is gonna round out

this cozy little reading nook.

I wanna install like a book shelf here.

If you are someone who is not tidy,

always source bookcases with cabinets and closed doors.

That way you can corral all of your clutter

and hide it in plain sight.

This is gonna be our new bookshelf cabinet on the bottom,

a cute little countertop on top,

and then maybe like exposed bookshelves.

Moving onto the office, in the show,

there’s this diagonal bulkhead that runs from the office

to this column that’s so weird.

Triangular rooms feel imbalanced

because we associate typical rooms

with four walls, 90 degree corners.

The sharp corners of a triangular room

are jarring and particularly hard to furnish.

But I can rezone this area by shifting the structural bulk.

Once you move a structural beam,

you compromise the structure of the building.

I have to erect another structural beam

in its place and balance out these two rooms

and almost create a separation of spaces.

What I wanna do is create like a really beautiful moment

to kind of frame out Jerry’s new office.

Now we can create a larger, more balanced office space

where it’s easier for Jerry to focus.

Looks like what you really need

is a decent desk for writing your skits.

I don’t write skits.

Oh, of course you don’t.

You don’t have a proper workstation.

I don’t think he needs to update the desk,

but he should move it in a command position.

If you’re working with your back towards a door,

it’s much harder to focus

and concentrate when you feel vulnerable

to someone sneaking up behind you.

The command position dictates that.

If you’re seated at your desk,

you should see who’s coming in and out of the entry door.

In season six, episode eight, we’re reminded

that Jerry failed miserably with his NBC pilot.

I definitely believe that the position

of his desk negatively impacted his work.

All you have to do is rotate the desk.

Now the desk is facing the entry.

You are in command and you’re gonna feel

so much better as a result.

Now let’s move into the central core

of our space, the living area.

In order for me to design a living room,

I always ask the users of the space, what do you do in here?

For Jerry, it’s probably watching television.

Remember when we built out this wall,

here is where we can mount the new television.

I would mount that on the wall on a swivel,

so that way you can kind of see it from every vantage point.

You can see it from the living room,

see it from the dining room,

and now it’s anchored against the wall.

I love it, it really just opens up the living room.

You’re probably wondering why I started with the television.

That’s just the focal point of the room.

You always wanna think about a hierarchy in a space.

Start with the focal point

because that is the main function of the room.

The next natural progression is seating in front of the TV.

I always like to place the largest seat in the house

for optimal TV viewing.

But remember my tip about following the shape of the home.

So instead of just adding in like a plain, old, boring sofa,

why don’t we try an angular sectional instead?

That way Jerry can watch TV

and I can also add in like a lovely little entry console

so that when he walks into his home,

he’s not greeted by the back of a sofa.

And if you’ve been paying attention,

you’re probably gonna be like, Julie, stop right there.

The sofa is not in the command position.

It’s not, and you’re absolutely right.

But remember, Jerry is living single.

He’s here alone.

He has a command position from his office.

He has a command position from this reading nook,

and he also has a command position from his dining area.

In feng shui, you won’t win them all.

You really just have to prioritize

what’s the most important to you.

[gentle music]

Now let’s focus on the front door.

The front door is the mouth of qi.

This is where qi is invited into your home.

Qi is that universal good energy

that we want to permeate the space.

So you wanna keep it clutter free, bright and inviting.

I added this entry console to welcome qi.

This entry console is gonna house

all of your daily essentials.

Treat it like your entry valet, a place for you

to house your keys, your wallet, your purses, sunglasses.

We don’t wanna block qi, so you wanna keep

that entry console relatively low.

If I opted for a taller console, it would feel

as if we erected a new wall here.

Opening the front door and encountering a wall

directly in front of you feels cramped.

It feels confining, and it confuses the flow of traffic.

This low console gives your guest

an open and inviting view of the entire apartment.

You know, I saw the previous apartment,

I just felt like this corner was really cluttered.

So I wanna move this bookcase out of the way.

And I wanna add like a really beautiful floor length mirror.

That floor length mirror is gonna reflect

all of this bright, beautiful energy

and bounce it off into the space,

promoting greater positive energy and more qi in your home.

The space feels so much different.

It’s bright, it’s open, it’s airy, it’s happy,

and bonus points for being able

to redirect qi in your space.

[gentle music]

Let’s move on to the kitchen.

Jerry brought in this new contractor

to redesign his kitchen and it’s all sorts of wrong.

Jerry.

Yeah.

[people laughing]

What the hell is this?

Where are you?

Over here, you can see right through here.

What is this?

It’s like you’re selling movie tickets back here.

I think it’s kind of cozy.

The upper cabinets block the flow of qi.

The entire configuration doesn’t optimize traffic flow.

I mean, he and Elaine can’t even see each other.

If you have a really good design,

guests are gonna know exactly where to go,

how your home flows, how to enjoy this space.

I mean, this new design is absolutely horrible.

It doesn’t work at all,

but I do love the placement of the stove

because it puts Jerry in a command position.

Now let’s demo the kitchen and show you my new design.

We’re gonna add in our upper cabinetry

because of course we’re desperate for storage.

And then place our refrigerator right back in.

This already feels better,

but we need to round it out

by placing the stove in this floating island.

And voila, so the new kitchen design

puts Jerry in a command position.

Imagine he’s cooking at the stove.

He can see who’s coming in and out of the entry door.

You have optimum flow for qi

to kind of move and meander around the kitchen,

permeate the space,

that qi will flow through the dining area

to the reading nook, permeate the living room,

round back out to the office,

and now we’re entering the bedrooms.

The private areas in feng shui

that are considered a place of rest.

Feng shui is all about balance.

Common areas are active energy, that’s called yang energy.

Private areas like your bedrooms

or your bathrooms are resting energy called yin.

You wanna balance out yin

and yang, so they harmonize the space

and bring in all of that positive qi.

There’s not a whole lot that I would change in this bedroom,

but I wanna talk about all of the things

that are working in this space.

I love that the bed is in a command position.

You can see who’s coming in and out of the entry door.

The entry door is not on the side of your head

because qi is gonna bum brush you on your side,

we don’t want that.

If your bed was directly in line with the entry door

of your bedroom, that is considered

the coffin position.

In feng shui this placement is believed to disrupt sleep

and symbolizes energy leaving the body.

Just imagine it mirrors how the deceased

are carried out of a house,

and you definitely don’t want that.

feng shui loves symmetry.

So placing two symmetrical nightstands

with two symmetrical table lamps

beside a bed really harnesses

that positive energy that chi loves.

The bed is anchored with a soft, cushy area rug.

If you have a hard surface in your home,

placing an area rug under afoot

really helps with acoustics as well.

It feels comfortable, soft and cozy,

and we definitely want that comfortable,

cozy environment in our bedroom.

Notice how this bedroom layout is very minimal.

There’s no clutter, it feels really good in here,

and I’ve never even been in this space.

So what do you think of my new design?

Feng shui just really follows the good rules

of interior design.

The more you familiarize yourself with the basic principles

of feng shui, you’ll see a lot of it is common sense.

You wanna place furniture

and home decor items that uplift you

and energize you and just make you feel good.

[upbeat music]