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A Peek Into Sibylle’s DIY “Funkytime” Home

Alysha Findley
Alysha Findley
Alysha is a photographer and designer living in Seattle who loves dark chocolate, tea, and all things furry. In her spare time you'll find her with paint in her hair renovating her 1919 Craftsman and sharing the process on her blog Old House New Tricks.
published Jan 9, 2012
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Name: Sibylle and family
Location: Montreal, Canada
Size: 680 square feet
Years lived in: 6 months — rented

After posting about Sibylle’s incredible dining room transformation in Before & After: Tiny Bedroom Turned Lovely Dining Room back in October 2011 and getting lost on her fabulous DIY and design blog Funkytime, I put two and two together and figured the rest of her home must be just as amazing as what I had already seen. What do you know, I was right!

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I contacted Sibylle to see if she would be interested in sharing her home with us, and she very graciously said yes even though she was moving her entire family to Spain just a few days later.

This tour is of their home in Montreal which they recently vacated. They lived in this tiny apartment (680 square feet) for only 6 months, but the creativity and warmth that Sibylle has gotten out of this home is simply inspiring.

The home is a testament to a true DIY’er. You can spend quite a bit of time getting lost in each picture trying to spot all the diy details in every corner: from the vintage pulley chandelier in her dining room, to the drawer jewelry organizer in the bedroom, to the meat grinder turned house planter in the kitchen. Everything has been documented on Funkytime which includes tutorials, before/afters, and lots of well designed freebies. She has a fun and quirky sense of style with creativity bursting at the seams. Enjoy your time in her world, and we may just see her and another of her wonderful homes in the future, just this time with a Spanish twist!

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Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Retro/vintage/industrial/flea market/bohemian.

Biggest Challenge: To move a house full of stuff into a 2 bedroom apartment! We wanted to be in the center of the city so we sacrificed the space we had in the country side. But we knew, we wouldn’t live there for long anyway, it was more a temporary solution because ultimately we wanted to go back to Europe.

What Friends Say: Wow! The landlord should pay you for transforming that dump into something so beautiful!

Biggest Embarrassment: The bathroom, it’s so tiny I couldn’t even take a picture.

Favorite Element:
1. The red retro chair I picked up from the street (unbelievable what people throw away!)
2. The armchair I painted and re-upholstered.
3. The 1941 sewing machine I found in the basement of our old house.

Proudest DIY: My vintage pulley chandelier in our dining room. Our neighbor gave us an old pulley to build a zip line, but I used it instead to make a chandelier. I am also collecting old mason jars, which worked perfect for the chandelier.

Inspiration: Flea markets, Victoria Smith’s Bohemian Style, Pinterest’s Home Décor Section and Store Windows (I just discovered an awesome pop-up store in Madrid called Madrid in Love which really inspires me!)

Best Advice: Here’s the advice I always give: Don’t throw anything away; rather, repurpose it (if you have the time!) and go to flea markets and thrift stores to score a good deal! Reinterpreting flea-market finds is not only green, it can also be terribly charming and what’s old can be new. Living in a small space forces you to prioritize. Having only what you love, need and use simplifies things, is more economical, and leaves time and money for fun!

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Resources of Note:

LIVING ROOM

    • Couch Ikea
    • Red retro chair found on the curb
    • Yellow armchair (which I re-upholstered with fabric from Amy Butler and painted) from Craigslist
    • coffee table from the thrift store (I painted it white)
    • Stool and fur carpet from Ikea
    • Chandelier Ikea
    • Cabinet from Target (I painted it white)

DINING ROOM

    • Table Ikea
    • Chairs Ikea
    • Folding chairs on the wall from thrift store
    • Chandelier my design
    • Little black side table from World Market

KITCHEN

    • Fridge is painted with chalkboard paint
    • Kitchen cart from Ikea, painted and added hooks
    • Spice rack and twig wall unit for the rolling pin is my design/diy
    • Vintage meat grinder (gone flower pot) from the thrift store

BEDROOM

    • Bed and chandelier are Ikea
    • Electric faux fireplace (nightstand) from Osh
    • Hanging wall shelf is my design (it’s really a drawer from an old nightstand, which I attached to the wall)
    • vintage hooks are from flea markets and Anthropology.
    • All wall art is my own design. (Faux antlers, painted directly on the wall and added plastic flowers | window frame on the wall is an old window that we accidently smashed when moving in. I attached wires to it and clipped travel photos with clothespins to the wires.)
    • Sewing machine found in the basement of our last house, I painted it white.

KIDS BEDROOM

    • Not featured

BALCONY

    • Chairs from Target
    • Tables from Ikea
    • Ceramic Bowls and toolbox from the flea market
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Thanks, Sibylle!

Images: Sibylle Roessler

• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE Check out past house tours here
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
• Are you a designer/architect/decorator interested in sharing a residential project with Apartment Therapy readers? Contact the editors through our Professional Submission Form.

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