Name: Name: Ryan and Lisa
Location: Linden, NJ
Size: 483 sqft studio condo
Years lived in: 8 months
>> Enter BEFORE House Tour Gallery
>> Enter AFTER House Tour Gallery
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...
>> Enter BEFORE House Tour Gallery
>> Enter AFTER House Tour Gallery
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.
The studio in all its BEFORE glory!
>> Enter BEFORE House Tour Gallery
>> Enter AFTER House Tour Gallery
wow, best studio floorplan i've ever seen. a great looking space all around.
view jesscon0202's profile
amazing! I have the same CB2 rug; great texture.
view selena's profile
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant redo. So beautiful.
view camidoodi's profile
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.
view jen_g's profile
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!
view Robbybird's profile
Absolutely beautiful! i love your color choices!
view twenty twenty-one's profile
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.
view tara1979's profile
Who is the artist on your painting on the small wall in your bedroom? Appears to be a tree. Gorgeous!!!
view kambykitten's profile
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!
view FC's profile
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!
view anninva's profile
well done, and way to stick with it after all those bummer situations...
view amt230's profile
Lovely, elegant but not stuffy. You guys did a superb job.
view Carol in Denver's profile
Looks great.
view Novice In Florida's profile
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. :)
view designpirate's profile
what a beautiful transformation...amazing use of space
view hanako66's profile
Fug before. Gorgeous after. Bravo for hanging in there and making it through all the water drama. It's absolutely beautiful!
view darcidoodle's profile
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)
view kiwi's profile
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!
view lemonadefish's profile
Really nice place---2 of you plus a cat!
view poptart's profile
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?
view Cyb's profile
Wow--can't believe the transformation. Results are pretty amazing!
view timmy jr.'s profile
I was wondering what colors you had used for your apartment? I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks, Cristal
view yunkiel's profile
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!
view magdalyn's profile
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!
view ON3DANCE's profile
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
view dreamwthin's profile
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).
view carpediem729's profile
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).
view Chris in Seattle's profile
Hi, Love your place! Where are the lamps in the bedroom from? Thanks, Bobbi
view BobbiH's profile
Where did you get the table for the kitchen. I love the place. Amazing.
view archetyperyan's profile
Nice (rare) overhead shot there.
view lolax's profile
Would you also mind sharing where you got your kitchen table that folds out to fit 8? Seems like an amazing find!
view mearimura's profile