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Before & After: A Brooklyn Apartment’s Dramatic Transformation

Nancy Mitchell
Nancy Mitchell
As a former Senior Writer at Apartment Therapy, Nancy split her time among looking at beautiful pictures, writing about design, and photographing stylish apartments in and around NYC.
updated May 5, 2019
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When Billy and Sally bought this 775 square foot apartment in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, it had a few of the less-than-charming features common to many NYC area flats — badly worn floors; a tiny, cramped kitchen, awkwardly separated from the rest of the space. With the power vested in them as new homeowners, they decided to do something about it, embarking on an inspiring renovation that shows just how much living you can do in a small space.

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Through Sweeten, an online resource that connects New York-area homeowners with architects, designers and contracts, Billy and Sally found Ecostruct, the Brooklyn contractor who helped make their new apartment a reality. Ecostruct reconfigured the walls, enlarging and opening up the small kitchen. Then Billy and Sally took over.

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These intrepid DIYers added IKEA cabinets, writ luxe by the addition of custom pulls and a soapstone counter. Then they re-did the floors, using an engineered hickory that could be laid on top of the original parquet.

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The kitchen, now open to the rest of the apartment, has really become the heart of the home, a perfect place to entertain and relax.

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Billy, Sally and their kitty Lil’ Miss are pretty happy with the new space.

To read more about this renovation and see more photos, visit the project page on Sweeten. Billy’s renovation blog also has a ton of photos of the process, including floor plans (!) to help you understand the changes that were made to the space.

Re-edited from a post originally published 4.15.13-NT

(Images: The Sweeten)