When Adrianna, a display artist, and Craig, a teacher and editor, bought their apartment, it was a bare, white, and bright space that felt outdated and in need of change. To bring the home to life, they reconfigured the layout—taking down and putting up walls, exposing the brick behind the plaster, and gutting the bathroom. But even with all this change, Adrianna and Craig still appreciated a lot of the existing design elements in the space.

Instead of completely replacing the original kitchen cabinets (a cost-saving move), they repositioned and gave them an aesthetic upgrade (graffitiing the cabinets and creating a cool feature in the kitchen). And their favorite element is not a thing they added, but actually something revealed in the redesign process, a piece of the history of the apartment: “the archaeological wallpaper find in the kids’ room.”

To decorate the apartment, Adrianna and Craig creatively transformed the space. Items such as the dining room chairs, the Eames-like reclining chair, and a headboard were objects found in vintage stores or on the street and given second life in the apartment. A Filko cabinet, originally a vintage automotive parts storage piece, serves as the kitchen pantry.

Thinking outside the box, Adrianna and Craig also found ways to hack the home’s biggest challenge: limited space. They added an IKEA PAX unit system to the living room area, which inventively serves as both traditional storage as well as a compact home office. Their best advice? “Take your sweet time,” says Adrianna. “Fill your home with things you love. Don’t be afraid to move all your furniture around often. And if all else fails graffiti the crap out of it!”

My Style: Boho, Bohemian eclectic, found objects

Inspiration: Abandoned warehouses, haute garbage, Lego mansions

Favorite Element: The archaeological wallpaper find in the kids’ room

Biggest Challenge: Space

What Friends Say: “It doesn’t feel small.”

Biggest Embarrassment: Floating radiator

Proudest DIY: Marbled table, bunk beds, kitchen cupboards

Biggest Indulgence: PAX unit in living room

Best Advice: Take your sweet time. Fill your home with things you love. Don’t be afraid to move all your furniture around often. And if all else fails graffiti the crap out of it!

Dream Sources: A time machine.

PAINT & COLORS

• Benjamin Moore — Bright White

LIVING ROOM

• PAX wardrobe — IKEA
• Coffee Table — CB2
• Vintage Sheet music cupboard — Great-grandfather’s
• Wooden Goat head — Jackalope, Santa Fe NM
• Eames-like chair — Picked, 3rd & D
• Rug — All Modern

KITCHEN/DINING ROOM

• Washer/Dryer — GE
• Upper Cabinets — DIY
• Kitchen Island — Yard sale, Long Island
• Filco Cabinet — Ugly Luggage, Williamsburg (RIP)
• Flag — Marimekko
• Chairs — Thrift stores everywhere

MASTER BEDROOM NOOK

• Headboard — Picked, Long Island
• Hide-and-Seek Cupboard — CB2
• Magazine Rack — Retail salvage
• Task Lamp — CB2
• Bedding — IKEA, HomeGoods

KIDS’ BEDROOM NOOK

• 75% IKEA
• Lego Storage Bricks — Target

BATHROOM

• Twenties Ceramic Tile — Home Depot
• Sink and Vanity — IKEA
• Knobs — Anthropologie
• Mirror — Salvage Yard, Gowanus
• Secretary — Grandma’s basement

ARTWORK

• Peter Gardini
• Theresa Byrnes
• Cristine Virsus
• Adrianna Gardini

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