Name: Name: Ryan and Lisa
Location: Linden, NJ
Size: 483 sqft studio condo
Years lived in: 8 months
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Lisa first wrote us in January: "I just bought my first place with my boyfriend. It's only 483 square feet, so it's a total challenge to be clever with storage!" She and her boyfriend had just bought a studio. It would be their first time living together and their first owned home after a decade long relationship! But it wasn't easy...
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In the midst of a completely DIY process of demolition, a water pipe burst in the kitchen when Lisa and Ryan were elsewhere. The fire department came but not before all the boxes of yet to be installed wood flooring was destroyed. In what they probably thought was a helpful solution, the fire department pumped the flood into Lisa and Ryan's new bathtub. But the water mixed with all the mid-reno sheetrock and concrete dust and filled the pipes to the point that they were completely blocked and ruined.
Lisa and Ryan somehow regained composure and stripped, puttied and repainted all the kitchen cabinets, again! They bought new Pergo strips for the entire studio's floor, and they had to rip out the new pipes in the bathroom and install another set along with retiling, again, the bathroom walls.
And in the end, Lisa, an interior designer, is thrilled with their new home. She said it was very hard not to splurge on fancy new furniture to replicate the world in which she works. Instead, Lisa and Ryan incorporated some favorite family heirlooms, other family's heirlooms from flea markets and rounded off with some great craigslist finds and with art they have created themselves.
AT Survey:
Style: Vintage industrial modern
Inspiration: Practicality--when living in a small space, it’s important to invest in pieces that are necessary and have multiple uses.
Favorite Element: Our sneaky storage solutions. We use every available space for concealed storage – spices on the inside of cabinet doors, kitty litter box in the linen closet, vacuum behind a leaning mirror, kitchen table that expands to sit 8, folding chairs behind the sofa…AND The chest/ side table in our living area. Ryan’s grandfather made this out of wormy chestnut from his farm in Pennsylvania when Ryan was a child. Sentimental pieces like this make our house a home.
Biggest Challenge: Space (this is a given) and water (our hot water valve burst which stripped the newly refinished cabinets and destroyed our newly purchased wood floors) WATER! About one month after we starting renovating, our hot water valve burst under our kitchen sink. (It's still a mystery how it happened...) The steam literally stripped the wood including the kitchen cabinets we just "refaced" ourselves. Our neighbor called 911 because she thought our condo was on fire. Not the best way to meet your neighbor for the first time!
What Friends Say: Everyone says how calming/relaxing it is here. They also ask, “What else is behind that couch?” because of our sneaky storage.
Biggest Embarrassment: The phone call at 6am from the fire department telling us that our hot water valve burst and flooded our apartment and the adjacent units (not the best way to meet your neighbors). We weren’t living here while under construction, so it was quite the surprise on a Sunday morning to hear this.
Proudest DIY: Everything. Not one surface is the same as when we purchased it, but we’re most proud of the kitchen, bathroom, and flooring. If a couple can get through construction, they can get through anything.
Biggest Indulgence: Stainless appliances.
Best Advice: Quality over quantity - advice we’re trying to live by. Oh, and hire a plumber instead of trying to fix it yourself.
Dream Source: ABC carpet and home, and the NY flea markets.
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Recipe: Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans
wow, best studio floorplan i've ever seen. a great looking space all around.
amazing! I have the same CB2 rug; great texture.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant redo. So beautiful.
You have great vision and restraint! Your lighting choices really accentuate the space. Amazing--and well worth the time to go thru before and after pics.
Beautiful - great use of space, color, and elements. I love the wall colors! I also have green paint in the kitchen and gray in the adjoining dining room.
I love that you did all the work yourselves. My partner and I are just finishing our DIY kitchen remodel. We had a couple snafus, but nothing like you guys!
Absolutely beautiful! i love your color choices!
What an amazing transformation - it looks great. I had never thought of brown (tan?) tiles in the kitchen, but what you've used looks really nice. Very inspiring! Glad things turned out so beautifully after the major setbacks.
Who is the artist on your painting on the small wall in your bedroom? Appears to be a tree. Gorgeous!!!
I would love to know what colors you used in the living room and bedroom. They look different depending on what picture you look at. BTW, your place is awesome!
I can't tell from the pics - are all of the walls painted the same color or are they different hues in the same family?
whatever the answer, it's gorgeous! love it!
well done, and way to stick with it after all those bummer situations...
Lovely, elegant but not stuffy. You guys did a superb job.
Looks great.
OH this is one of the nicest places I have seen in a while. You decorated it so cozy and comfy! Love it! It is an inspiration for the small space I live in.
It is also refreshing to see actual small spaces on AT for a change instead of all the single family homes they are always posting. :)
what a beautiful transformation...amazing use of space
Fug before. Gorgeous after. Bravo for hanging in there and making it through all the water drama. It's absolutely beautiful!
oh this is beautful! modern and fresh but not at all stuffy - very comfortable looking actually. love all of the details. would have loved to have seen this entered into the small space contest! bravo :o)
Wow - I didn't register the listed size before I started looking at the pictures, and I was clicking through, thinking, this is very nice, and then I got to the end with the image of the floor plan, and I nearly fell out of my chair! You have done a fantastic job of fitting a full and complete house into a tiny little space!
Really nice place---2 of you plus a cat!
I love the place, not sure if the main color of the place is green or gray? Nice kitchen, and no need for a hide-a-bed.
But there is way too many useless pictures of boring details, like the log?
Wow--can't believe the transformation. Results are pretty amazing!
I was wondering what colors you had used for your apartment? I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks, Cristal
what an amazing make over. I really like your sense of style. I'd like to submit another request for you to divulge the name of the paint color you used. Thanks in advance!
Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!
I love the colors and styling (paint) you chose too!
You really did a fantastic job! Good for you!
Now, sit back and enjoy it!
Thank you for all the nice compliments! I'm really flattered that so many people
enjoy our studio as much as we do! :)
| Paint Colors |
Cabinets/Molding - RL Paint - Trophy: #WW35
Main Green Wall Space - Behr - Toasted Walnut: #720D-6
Accent Paint (Green/Gray - wall behind the bed and the wall with the 4 family picture frames) - Benjamin Moore - Stampede: #979
Bathroom - RL Paint - Mexican Feather Grass: #NA69
| Artist for Tree Painting |
Laura Carr ....believe it or not - we found that on eBay!
Thank you again for all the kinds words - If anyone is interested in seeing any other projects I've worked on check out my website. It's still under construction, but images should be available in the next week or so. :)
www.idstudio3.com
What an amazing transformation! I love the bold paint colour choices and the furniture you chose!
I'm in the process of decorating a newly bought studio myself and was wondering if you could share where you got that couch from? I like the colour and the overall design and I'm having a hell of a time trying to find a good couch in NYC that fits in my budget (under $1,000).
You did an amazing job with this space. It looks completely transformed and a much different level of quality than what you started with.
Your pictures are very lovingly taken. Given the slow speed of viewing, I would have to say that there are definitely too many that are impossible to place in the context of a house tour (but are nice pictures, nonetheless).
Hi, Love your place! Where are the lamps in the bedroom from? Thanks, Bobbi
Where did you get the table for the kitchen. I love the place. Amazing.
Nice (rare) overhead shot there.
Would you also mind sharing where you got your kitchen table that folds out to fit 8? Seems like an amazing find!
wow! that's an amazing renovation! your place looks MUCH bigger than 483 sq ft! can i ask what you did about the yellow/green tub? did you leave it as is, replace it or reglaze it?
I am also wondering what you did with the tub. Place looks great. I like the overhead shot but the shots of things like cracked wood or the binding of an album are boring.
i guess the poor harvest gold appliances were sent out to pasture? It is hard to believe that one day they will seem so retro and cool