New York City is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. A studio or one bedroom apartment averages around $2600-$3000 a month. For two roommates looking for a place to live, a two bedroom apartment was way out of their price range. So, they came up with a plan.
Adam Finkelman and his roommate Evan really wanted separate bedrooms, but their wallets, and their NYC location, only provided a budget for a studio. After a bit of brainstorming, they had an ingenious idea.
Adam and Evan signed a lease on a typical New York studio apartment. One large open room with a small kitchen and tiny bathroom. Normally, this studio would barely provide enough room for one person, but they saw potential. Check out the original floor plan.
Since the main living space of the studio was long and narrow, Adam came up with a plan to transform it into the two bedrooms that they wanted from the get-go. Since it was a rental, they wanted to make sure that they didn’t spend too much money on the renovation; their budget was one month’s rent each.
The landlord agreed to Adam and Evan’s renovation plan as long as he didn’t alter the floors. With that – they immediately got to work.
Putting up false walls allowed Adam to create a living room and two bedrooms in addition to the kitchen and bathroom. Windows lined the entire length of the apartment providing lots of natural light – a luxury in New York City.
Adam’s roommate loves to cook, so they made it a priority to expand the kitchen.
The construction and renovation were lead by Adam’s company Yorkwood Co; using mostly salvaged and repurposed materials, they kept costs to a minimum. In fact, they scoured Craigslist daily to look for building materials.
They added butcher block countertops, a new sink, and a dish drying/storage rack built into the cabinetry, which drains into the sink below.
Using the vertical space, additional shelving was built up and out of the way, but still within arm’s reach.
Each bedroom has a desk and workspace, closet, and drawers beneath their sleeping loft.
“Once we thought about it and planned it out, we managed to also fit stairs, wall shelving units, desks with storage, dressers, closets and two additional windows into each of our rooms,” Adam told Life Edited.
The sleeping loft is cozy and has plenty of room to sit upright and not feel boxed in.
“These are the smallest rooms we have ever lived in, and we couldn’t be happier. We designed our rooms based on our needs and all of them were met if not surpassed. We tried to be as efficient and smart as possible with the designs and as a result we have no need for more space,” Adam said.
This is the floorplan after Adam and Evan had completed the transformation.
Take a full tour of this awesome conversion with Adam and Evan in the video below. Find out how they did it and see the many more features to show off.
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