Saria & Kyle’s Overhauled Portland Studio

Name: Saria & Kyle
Location: Montavilla — Portland, Oregon

When Kyle and I first moved into our 250 square foot studio behind a large main house, it was a mess. The concrete floors had spilled paint all over, the walls were halfway painted a sky blue, and it had looked like it was abused and abandoned for years. We did a huge overhaul.

It was originally built to be an artist studio so it already had track lighting and a beautiful large built in workspace area, with drawers and shelves. First we started with cleaning it. We took out all the drawers from the workspace and cleaned every little corner. We repainted the entire space white, including the floors. At the time we were elbows deep in renovating an RV we own, a Toyota Chinook, which is the smallest RV to ever exist. We planned to paint those floors white to make it feel larger, so we decided to do that with our studio. I originally wanted to lime wash the whole thing, but we didn’t end up doing that based on time constraints. We also sanded and finished the counters which had previously been painted blue. After the paint dried, we built the loft bed to raise our bed from the ground and give us more space.

My largest style inspiration was from a New York flat that was photographed for a book I once came across at a bookstore called Converted Into Houses by Jeremiah O. Bragstad and Charles Brachia. That book is amazing; it’s filled with homes that were previously warehouses, boats, or other buildings and spaces that were not originally meant to be homes. The space I fell in love with was painted all white, walls and floor. It had a lot of unpainted, exposed wood, a beautiful old cast iron fireplace, old furniture, and lots and lots of plants. I still pull from it for inspiration today.

It’s been a challenge living in such a small space, but also a great learning experience. One of our dreams is to live and travel in our RV, so we saw this as practice to living minimally. It’s currently a temporary space, but we love living in it and will have a hard time leaving. We especially love it at night when we light it with string lights that trail across the ceiling or by candlelight.

Style: Provincial Cottage meets bright and minimal
Inspiration: A New York studio from a book I once came across at a bookstore called Converted Into Houses by Jeremiah O. Bragstad and Charles Brachia.
Favorite room or Item: The front door. The inside side of the front door is a beautiful worn, dark wood.
Proud of: Our ability to live in a small space, making it feel large and open. We feel we were able to make it functional, aesthetically pleasing, and not cluttered.

Thanks, Saria & Kyle!

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