Before & After: A Sleek Update for a Cramped Condo

Finding your dream apartment in New York can be hard. So Austin found the next best thing: a less than dreamy apartment that could be turned into his dream home. All it needed was an improved floor plan and a little tlc.

The apartment, which hadn’t seen a renovation since the 70s, had beautiful tall ceilings, but was broken up into a series of awkwardly cramped small rooms. A new floor plan — and a few new finishes — was the key to realizing the apartment’s potential.

The renovation took what was a cramped 3-bedroom apartment with an awkward floorplan and transformed it into a spacious one-bedroom home. The rooms that previously made up the kitchen and the living room were combined into a light-filled living/dining room, and the two small bedrooms on the other end of the apartment (one of which was only six feet wide) were combined to create a new master bedroom. The room connecting these two spaces, previously used as a bedroom, became the kitchen.

Besides all the floor plan changes, Austin elected to paint the entire condo white and install matte-finish wide-plank hardwood throughout, which gives the apartment a bright, soothing feel.

The kitchen is a little on the slim side and also functions as a connection between the living room and bedroom, so Austin’s team decided to keep all the cabinetry to one side of the space. A soapstone countertop with light veining adds a little texture while still being low-maintenance, and a built-in desk on one side of the room functions both as a breakfast nook and a workspace.

Moving the entrance to the apartment meant more space in the bathroom, which saw the addition of a new washer and dryer — every New Yorker’s dream. A floating vanity provides plenty of storage while maintaining a certain visual lightness, and marble floor tile and limestone wall tile add a little texture.

And to cap it all off there’s the bright, uncluttered new master bedroom — the perfect place to fall asleep.

Austin found his contractors, Valeria and Eduard, on Sweeten, an online resource that connects homeowners with local design and construction experts for home renovations. You can read more about the project, see more photos, and find sources on the Sweeten blog.

Re-edited from a post originally published on 6.15.16-nt