A Genius Bookcase Hack Turned This 450-Square-Foot Rental Studio into a One-Bedroom

When she first toured this unit, it had been the home of a mom, her son, and a lot of toys, and Matilde describes it has feeling like “one large playpen.” But, there was plenty Matilde fell in love with about the tiny space, including “the view, the natural light, the floors, and the nook (being used as a play area),” she explains. “I saw so much potential the moment I walked in.”  

While Matilde, owner of interior design firm Matilde Cascella Design Associates (MC | DA), didn’t do any major renovations (it’s a rental, after all), she did plenty of reversible things to the space to improve it, like updating the tiny kitchen with peel-and-stick tiles and a lovely pendant light to replace the fluorescent one. But the most amazing thing she did was create an actual bedroom space!

“I had to find a renter-friendly way to build a wall to separate out my room. I was also on a budget so I couldn’t afford a true temporary wall so the bookshelves were the best solution,” she writes of the four BILLY bookcases (with double extenders) that make up the “walls” that create the bedroom.

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing installing her bookshelf wall idea, though. “I had a taskrabbit quit on me halfway through building one of the four bookcases because he ‘was tired,'” Matilde writes.

“I am a very impatient person so I stayed up all night to build them and anchor them to the wall. I then made a trip to The Home Depot to buy massive particle boards that I cut down with a circular saw (yes I circular sawed on my coffee table in my studio) and finished the back of the bookshelves so I could put wallpaper on them for my bedroom area,” she writes.

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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