Before & After: Maxwell & Ursula’s Light Rental Reno

Here’s a look back at Maxwell’s renovation of his and Ursula’s new apartment in SoHo. If you missed any of this earlier in the year, you’ll definitely want to take a look — I think you’ll be impressed with how much he was able to achieve in such a short span of time.

Here’s another view of the kitchen before, to give you an idea of what we were dealing with. First, Maxwell had his contractor cover the kitchen flooring with some wood flooring left over from a shoe store remodel. Then he enlarged the opening between the kitchen and living room, and tore down the upper cabinets and had them replaced with metal restaurant shelving. The final step in the kitchen re-do was replacing the old laminate countertop with marble. And here are the results:

Suddenly this drab kitchen has a lot of personality. And widening the opening between the kitchen and the living room really opens up the space. It’s still a work in progress, but Maxwell says he’s very happy with the results.

And here’s the living room, before any improvements.

In progress: the darker floors are a nice contrast to the white walls, and furniture and rugs help to warm the place up.

And after: window treatments are the finishing touch.

Before: Here’s Ursula’s little room.

After: A built in bed (with storage) and cabinets on the opposite wall really help to maximize a small space. It’s cozy but very comfortable, and perfect for a growing girl. (You can see more photos of Ursula’s room here.)

Read more about the renovation process here. And don’t forget to thank Maxwell for sharing his home with us. 🙂