Do-it-yourself budget repair of a one-room apartment

In detail: do-it-yourself budget repair of a one-room apartment from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

Many panic at the word repair. First of all, because this phenomenon is directly related to high costs. Yes, after the repair, many feel as if they were robbed. It is impossible to exclude expenses, but it is in your power to reduce them, without compromising the quality of the repair. So, how to make an apartment stylish, spending a minimum of savings on it?

The most important thing in repair is a quality foundation. This means that the floors must be even, the walls smooth and also even, and the corners must be strictly 90 degrees. What threatens such disproportion? Everything is known in the details. So, if you have uneven walls, this means that the skirting boards will not completely adjoin them, ugly gaps will appear that definitely spoil the appearance. Further, problems with uneven corners will show up when you install cabinet corner furniture. Well, on a crooked floor, lockers will stand shaky-roll. In general, if you decide to rely on independent forces for repairs, your work must be perfect. Filling floors, leveling and plastering walls, finishing walls, installing stretch ceilings - all this should be done by professionals. Believe me, having saved on the base, you risk later laying out a much larger amount to correct errors. Do not forget that it is very important to properly lay wires around the apartment, pipes in the bathroom. A lot also depends on the quality of the finish, namely its practicality and appearance. Even the most expensive ceramic tiles, laid out crookedly or cut off unevenly, will spoil the entire interior of the room.

Video (click to play).

For some reason, we mistakenly believe that expensive building and finishing materials look better, and as a result, they are a 100% guarantee of a successful repair. Unfortunately, this is not so. Of course, we do not put you in front of a choice between the cheapest and most expensive material. This is not entirely true, because first of all we should talk about quality and reliability, whether it is a building mixture, a finishing material or an interior item. Quality is above all, the rest is up to you. And it should fall on the most profitable options for the wallet. Repair is serious business, so take it seriously. Compare different options, read reviews about finishing materials on the Internet.

We will not go into details about which building material is better to choose, because. as mentioned above - the main quality. Consider the interior elements that form the basis of design.

Let's start with the design itself. It’s not worth spending money, I’m hiring a designer to tell you which corner to put the sofa in and which TV. To date, a lot of interesting options for the design of apartments of various sizes and designs can be found in the public domain on the Internet. This is easy to do, you just need time to choose one or another design option. It is not necessary to repeat it exactly, you can just see what color variations are combined, what is more suitable for one or another type of finish, and finally, how upholstered furniture looks in the interior of the room.

The main components of the interior are finishing material for walls, furniture, decor items and floors.

Let's start with the floor. Many cover it with linoleum, which is quite justified. This material is cheap, relatively practical, but if we are talking about a stylish apartment, this is definitely not the linoleum that should decorate.Options: laminate, self-leveling floors. Laminate is cheaper than self-leveling floors and it looks very nice. This is a versatile material that can be matched in style to any interior.

Wall decoration - there can be a lot of variations on this theme. Cheap options - wallpaper. But, you have to really work hard to find cheap wallpapers of decent quality and with a pattern not a la "I'm visiting my grandmother." Did you know that many designers offer their clients not to cover the walls with anything at all, leaving the brick for everyone to see. The idea is very interesting, but requires a style specification (combine this option with a fireplace - it will be ideal). Expensive decorative plaster can be replaced with a regular one applied with a relief roller, all this splendor can then be painted in any color, but just carefully select the paint.

Interior items - it is on them that a huge part of the funds is spent. Minimalist style to help you. Buying cabinet furniture is not cheap. However, as practice shows, it is much cheaper and more practical to buy interior items separately.

Pay attention to the junk that is left of the former situation. Now this is called vintage, and if you skillfully beat this style in the interior (including wallpaper, purchase a couple of antiques, hang black and white photographs), then you won’t have to buy anything. A rocking chair will perfectly complement the interior, they are usually cheaper than ordinary soft chairs.

Changing your life for the better, you should start with yourself, your environment, goals, ideals, but it is important to bring changes to your own home. A beautiful, comfortable, cozy house is a guarantee of good mood, positive emotions, spiritual harmony. Therefore, do not be afraid to start changes in the apartment, even in the absence of financial opportunities. Repair is indeed a very expensive occupation, but if you organize it correctly, the result is always justified. The main desire and hands.

Prices on the building goods market have been biting lately, but with a competent approach to business, cost planning, it is easy to avoid overpayment and purchase high-quality materials. Having planned repair work in the apartment, it is worth initially carefully considering the sequence of actions. Initially, you need to decide on the following nuances.

The whole apartment will be subject to change, or maybe a separate room?
With what "scale" to re-glue boring wallpapers, change linoleum or change electrical wiring, heating, make other global changes?
How to replace old furniture, is it possible to restore it on your own?
Where can I get ideas for updating interior design, ways to bring them to life with minimal financial costs?

Repairing even one room a year is already progress

Often, budget repairs involve a gradual transformation of each individual room. For the case when the owners of the apartment live on one salary, this is an ideal option. Repairing even one room a year is already progress, do not despair when there are no financial opportunities to carry out repairs quickly.

When starting such an important matter as a budget apartment renovation with your own hands, it is worth very meticulously assessing the condition of the electrical wiring, water supply, sewerage, and heating. After making sure that everything is fine with these communications, you can proceed to the assessment of the premises themselves. As a rule, the following elements of the apartment are subject to alteration.

Walls - initially carefully study the state of the rough plaster, if it is strong, does not crumble, that is, there are two ways to update them.
Finishing for wallpaper - when the walls have already been pasted over with wallpaper a little easier, you just need to qualitatively remove the old ones, prime the walls and glue the new ones. If the base is uneven, you will have to putty the walls or sheathe them with drywall.

Preparing the wall for wallpapering
Finishing for painting - the base must be perfectly even, it is very difficult to hide flaws under a layer of paint, so maximum attention should be paid to preparing the base.

when the walls have already been pasted over with wallpaper a little easier, you just need to remove the old ones with high quality
The floor is usually wooden. Here proceed from his condition. If it is normal, and it is planned to lay linoleum on top of the floor, it is absolutely not required to prepare it additionally. When squeaks are present, the floor is cold or crushed, it should be leveled, and at the same time insulated with ordinary sheets of OSB boards, plywood, fiberboard. Updating the option when the floor is already covered with linoleum, its condition is satisfactory, you can simply paint the boring linoleum in a stylish print, there is simply an incredible range of paint and varnish products.

Usually linoleum is laid on the floor. It can be dyed in a different color or printed

Ceiling - this part of the room should be smooth and beautiful, since the most inconspicuous flaw on it will become a huge problem. After making sure that it is even, you can paint it with water-dispersion paint or wallpaper it, otherwise it is cheaper to order a stretch ceiling. Today, the price of stretch ceilings is quite affordable, and the excellent appearance, the absence of unnecessary labor costs for its installation, simply does not leave it competitors.

The best option would be to make a stretch ceiling

Starting work, be sure to take into account the following important steps that will need to be completed.

Decide on the design, materials, working hands.
Make a thorough, complete list of required building materials.
Study prices, find the cheapest store.

Renovations need to be done carefully. It is necessary to predict the budget

Remove unnecessary items from the room, remove the old foundations from the walls, floor, ceiling.

Before painting something, it is worth taking care of overnight stay outside the home for the family, paint and varnish products are very unsafe for people, especially children.

You can paint the walls yourself

Find a specialist who will take on those jobs that you can’t handle on your own.

Purchase building materials and start work directly.

You can hire a master for those jobs that you can’t handle yourself.

It is a mistake to assume that the repair of the premises begins with the ceiling, it should take the proper form last. You can start with the walls or the floor, depending on what you need to pay more attention to.

A responsible approach requires a bathroom, often in the absence of good ventilation, this is where such a hated mold appears. To prevent this from happening, you should definitely check the ventilation, if it is completely absent, you need to install it. For many years, the most popular material for wall and floor cladding in the bathroom has been ceramic tiles and their derivatives. It costs differently, it is quite possible to find a budget option, in extreme cases, you can always take plastic (lining). It washes well, does not absorb moisture, is easy to install, but “ages” a little faster. If you carefully plan everything, it is not at all difficult to carry out a budget apartment renovation with your own hands.

Bathroom remodeling should be done responsibly

Thanks to the availability of the Internet, you can find a lot of ideas for decorating your home. The main thing is not to miss something that can be given a second life. For example, to decorate the doors of an old wardrobe with inexpensive full-length mirrors, it will definitely not be worse than modern wardrobes. Apply mosaic, decoupage on the glass doors of Soviet cabinets, sideboards, or paint them in bright, rich colors, paste over with self-adhesive tape. All this is quite affordable.

Example of restoration of an old cabinet

When the household has a lot of things or objects that need to be kept away from prying eyes, you need to build the so-called closet on your own, simply by attaching sheets of chipboard, OSB-boards to special corners, and hiding numerous shelves behind fabric screens of interesting colors or prints. An exquisite option is very fashionable today - to decorate the hall or bedroom with "wicker" curtains. It is easy to make them, there are a lot of instructions on the Internet.

Being engaged in the transformation of your own home, you should always remember, getting rid of the old, life will definitely be filled with something new and beautiful, and order will reign in all its areas!

Repair, as statistics show, is done once every 12-13 years, in one-room apartments the interval is at least 8-9 years, so you should think about all possible repair options in advance.

Before starting all work, you need to do the following:

Choose the type of repair: budget, cosmetic, euro or capital. The choice of a budget option does not mean that it will not be of high quality, such a choice shows the desire of the owners of the apartment to do everything necessary using not the most expensive means.
Set a budget that cannot be exceeded. You need to choose - to pay for repairs "on a turn-key basis" or "for execution", when the materials are purchased at your own expense. The second option is much more economical.
Make a plan, that is, figure out in advance what and where work is needed.
Make a budget with the workers. It is important to determine the type of work and the necessary materials. You can invite several contractors to calculate the estimate, and then choose the best offer.
Decide in advance on the interior decoration and its design.
Agree deadlines.

Living in such an apartment, and spending a lot of time in only one room, I want everything in it to be as comfortable as possible. In addition, such an apartment has the least square meters, and repairs will be cheaper. Nevertheless, any repair and finishing work, including in a one-room apartment, is a lengthy process that requires a lot of effort and time.

Having chosen a budget repair for yourself, you need not only to understand how you can save money, but also to have an idea about the list of works for this type of repair. Leveling and painting walls, working with the ceiling and floor, connecting plumbing, checking electrics, installing doors - this is just some list of the necessary work. Consider, due to what, repairs can become budgetary.

Naturally, the first is the ceiling. Now stretch ceilings are very popular, but this is an expensive pleasure. Alternatively, you can paint the ceiling with matt paint and add a ceiling molding to give the ceiling a nice look. As for the floors, there is also a field for choice: linoleum, you can choose laminated parquet, carpet is also possible. The choice must be made depending on the needs for a particular coverage and on the ability to pay for the selected type of floor. Working with an electrician is a separate issue, it can be changed, and if it worked fine, then everything should be left as it is. Regarding the installation of doors, it should be noted that now on the Internet there is a huge selection of doors of different quality and at any price, so there should be no problems with choosing doors.

Thinking through the design of your own home is the most important part of the entire renovation. Why? The thing is that guests will pay attention to the design, and not to how the ceilings were painted or the plumbing was installed. All life in the apartment after the completion of the repair work will take place exactly in the design that the owners choose during the repair. People can determine the design on their own, you should not call specialized designers who work only for big money.Thus, repairs in a one-room apartment are not difficult if you think over in advance not only the plan, but also the design of the apartment itself.

Of course, the most economical option for repairing a odnushka is to do the work yourself.In order for the result to turn out to be of high quality and beautiful, you will have to make every effort, obtain the necessary knowledge, and carry out all the manipulations with an accuracy of millimeters. How to make repairs in the apartment with your own hands, and not make irreparable mistakes? Do you want to do without the help of professionals and save a lot? In this article, we will talk in detail about all the nuances of independent inexpensive repairs in your one-room apartment.Firstly, it is imperative to draw up a work plan, decide on design solutions, and think about purchasing materials.The first stage will be the preparation of premises for construction work. Oddly enough, but you need to start the whole process with the arrangement of furniture. To do this, print out the technical plan of housing in several copies. On these leaves, you can create a new look with several options for arranging objects. Be sure to think about this question, as all further steps will depend on it. It is better to leave a minimum of furniture that you really will constantly use - daily and many times. The rest of the interior items - for example, various decorative elements, as well as furniture for rare use (mezzanines, and so on) should be placed as compactly as possible.The technical plan of the apartment will help to arrange the furniture correctlyThe second stage will be the development of a comfortable and multifunctional housing design. You should think about the layout and expansion of space. Of course, arranging furniture will help save space, but you can also visually expand the space. This will help us a few practical tips.It is this factor that will greatly affect the appearance of the odnushka. Do not forget about the psychological factor - the selected shades will accompany you and all residents for many years.

Brown, blue and green colors have a relaxing effect.

Few people have the opportunity to order turnkey repairs and spend large sums on finishing an apartment. Fortunately, today there are a large number of ways to save on renovation repairs by doing it yourself. In this material, we have selected the best recommendations for those who want to make inexpensive, but high-quality repairs at home.Budget repairs include mainly finishing work, updating the ceiling and floor. If the estimate allows, windows, interior doors, plumbing elements are also subject to replacement. Capital changes in the space of the apartment in the mode of saving money are not recommended. Such work should be carried out by professional craftsmen with experience in repair work, otherwise there is a risk of spoiling the appearance of the room by making errors in the calculations or running into low-quality building materials.How to make an inexpensive DIY repair? First you need to determine what work will need to be done in the process. The standard stages of a budget room decoration are as follows:

Drawing up a work plan and estimates based on your budget;

Choice of building materials;

Preparation of the room for repair work;

Rough wall finishing and floor filling (if work is being done in a new apartment);

Wallpapering, flooring installation, ceiling finishing;

Arrangement of furniture, lamps, decorative elements.

As you can see, all these works can be done independently, with little skills in the field of construction and repair.Following the instructions above, repairs should begin with the preparation of an estimate and the selection of suitable building materials. The estimate must be drawn up sequentially for the decoration of each room and a specific type of work.You should not buy materials with the hope that they will someday come in handy - you should proceed solely from the repair plan and budget.The first stage of the repair also includes the release of the future room from furniture, decorative elements and part of the decoration. There should not be anything left in the room that will interfere underfoot or may deteriorate during the repair. If there are old wallpapers hanging in the room, they must be removed and preparatory measures should be taken for finishing the walls, the same applies to the floor and ceilings.When purchasing building materials, you should not limit yourself to visiting one store - you should take into account all inexpensive centers in your city. The assortment in them can be strikingly different, as well as the prices for the same type of product. Of course, with a budget repair, it is better to turn to the most advantageous offers. You can greatly facilitate your task and save money by ordering building materials in online stores with delivery.

When choosing budget building materials, it is worth remembering one rule: what looks expensive is not always of high quality. You should not buy cheap materials that imitate wood, stone or tiles just because of their appearance. It is necessary to pay attention to the technical and operational characteristics of the goods.Finishing in different rooms of the house has its own characteristics. Therefore, before starting repairs, you need to decide which rooms are in particular need of updating the appearance. In the living room, bedroom, nursery and hallway, inexpensive do-it-yourself repairs may include the following types of work:

Putty and plaster walls;

Pasting new wallpaper;

Wall painting;

Assembly or laying of flooring;

Ceiling finishing.

Finishing work in the kitchen and bathroom also includes:

Floor and wall decoration with ceramic tiles;

Surface treatment with water-repellent compounds.

Here we have listed the types of repair activities that you can carry out on your own, with some skills in the field of construction. However, it is often necessary to do such work indoors that should be handed over to professional craftsmen:

installation of suspended ceilings;

replacement of plastic windows;

electrical and plumbing repairs.

Although the listed works cannot be classified as economical (due to the use of additional labor and building materials), if necessary, they can also be carried out as part of an inexpensive repair.In addition to refusing complex installation work and saving on building materials, there are other tricks that will help reduce the cost of repairs in an apartment. At the same time, the finish and interior will have an excellent appearance.Still think that a budget do-it-yourself finish cannot look stylish and expensive? In our gallery, we picked up photos of inexpensive repairs that convincingly prove the opposite.If you want to better understand how to make inexpensive repairs in an apartment in practice, we suggest watching a video with the process of finishing work on a real object.Making repairs with a limited budget with your own hands is quite difficult, but doable. The main thing is not to be afraid of bold decisions, use modern and high-quality materials, and act according to the plan. And thanks to the tips listed above, you can reduce the estimate for expensive repairs.To make everything inexpensive and beautiful, not everyone can. But I tried. The most typical categories of building and finishing materials are listed here. Any little thing such as floor skirting boards or wall borders is not included in the material. I warn you right away: it won’t work out very cheaply - this is a repair.The most acceptable ceramic tiles in terms of "price-quality" ratio are in the "Stolichny Dvor". A large selection, but there is a minus: the required tiles in the required quantity are often not available. You will have to wait up to 45 days for your order from the warehouse.If you don’t have that much time, there are inexpensive collections at DV Keramik, at Krasny Mammoth — but there are also absolutely exorbitant prices, at least for a student. But in these stores there is a large selection, which cannot be said about Bayard, Stroyka, Kovcheg and the Domovoy store. In the "House of Apex" is still more expensive.Outcome: tiles on the floor and walls, plus all sorts of decorative things - 14,000 rubles. Store "Capital Yard", st. Pacific, 204, building 3.In the building of the "Capital Courtyard" there are many pavilions of entrance and interior doors, about seven or more. There you can find options for both 7 and 15 thousand - the price includes a canvas, a casing and a box. Is that the hinges and handles are not included in the price. "Doors Center", "Doors 27" and "Doors Market" in other parts of the city give out about the same price tag, and sometimes even more. Cheaper doors, namely for 4,000, can be found in Bayard, but this is taking into account the still valid New Year's discounts. In "Door Service" you can find a decent option, and even with decor, for 3,500. I chose the "Door City": here I found a good option for 5,200 - this is for a canvas along with a box, casing, hinges and a handle . Full set. And cute.There was also the cheapest option that I saw - but this door was without glass and generally with a minimum of decor.Outcome: the simplest and most inexpensive door, along with all the necessary ones - 3,000 rubles. Shop "DoorCity", st. Pacific, 204, building 3.Based on this information, you can roughly estimate what prices for entrance doors are in these stores. The average price for a solid steel door is 10 thousand, you can also find a simpler (less durable) one for 6-7.Everything is more complicated here. Linoleum is divided into several categories. There is a thin and not very beautiful household. There is a commercial one, it is denser. And there is something in between, it's called semi-commercial. This is where I took it. The thickness and strength of linoleum should be chosen based on what kind of floors you have in your apartment. That is, if you just have cold concrete, then take a dense coating. But we must understand that the steeper the linoleum, the more expensive it is.Not a very large selection in "Bayard", the same amount of linoleum in the "Capital Yard". The prices of these stores are about the same (and for everything). Household linoleum here starts from 300 rubles per square meter, semi-commercial - from 400. But there is a semi-commercial one for 600, so be on the lookout. At the same prices, you can see linoleum in the StroyPol online store. In "InteriorPol" the choice is much larger, the prices are about the same.And "Asterlin" and "Majordom" offer linoleum more expensive, sometimes even significantly.Outcome: 48 m 2 of household linoleum - 14,400 rubles. Shop "Stolichny Dvor" (address above).These are all kinds of sinks, bathtubs, toilets, faucets, faucets and other things. And the prices for them in the same store can vary by 30 thousand or more. That is, if you want a fancy toilet with some kind of automatic flush and a cistern built into the wall (this is to make it less noisy), and even decorated with some stickers, then be prepared to lay out an average of 30 thousand. It's the same with baths: you can take the simplest one for 7,000 and not bathe, or you can buy a shower cabin for 80,000 and then gnaw on doshirak until your salary. I chose a more or less budget option, but I'm sure that if you know where to look, you can buy even cheaper. I will immediately announce the list of stores where prices for plumbing are relatively high: Red Mammoth, Golden Plumbing, Brownie. From inexpensive stores, one can single out Leader-DV, Capital Yard and all of the following.

The largest network of wallpaper stores in our city is Kovcheg. This is judging by the amount of advertising, of course. The choice here is really huge, the prices are very different. I went here for a long time and I can say for sure that you can buy inexpensive wallpapers here. And also low prices for wallpapers in "Bayard" and "Red Mammoth".There is a good selection as well. Paints are available in almost any major building materials store, and the prices here are about the same. Colors can also be viewed in DV Ceramics.

non-woven wallpaper (2 rolls measuring 1 * 25 m) - 2,200 rubles; paint and color - 3,000 rubles;

vinyl wallpaper (8 rolls 0.5 * 10 m in size) - 2,400 rubles;

paper wallpaper (20 rolls 0.5 * 10 m in size) - 2,200 rubles. Everything was purchased at the Ark store (address above);

ceiling paint - 2,000 rubles. Shop "Bayard" (address above).

As a result, building materials for cosmetic repairs in a small one-room apartment, together with the services of a master, cost only 130 thousand rubles. Not so expensive.And now - a few important tips, without which everything written above does not make sense:1. Hire a familiar master. Do everything so that it is services that cost you inexpensively, otherwise all past savings on goods will not bring results. It is easier to find such a person through friends. It is cheap. And he, as they say, must have golden hands - this is also important if you don’t want to redo everything later.2. Watch out for discounts. It is beneficial, for example, to buy materials for the New Year. Some stores have periods when any discount is doubled. This is where all your friends and acquaintances who have discounts in hardware stores come in handy. You should not miss a single opportunity, because when 10 percent turns into 20, then for this amount you can buy something solid in an apartment.3. Buy online. This is assuming you know exactly what you want.The cheapest repair cost 100 thousand rublesDo you think that a good repair is impossible on a limited budget? We hasten to dissuade you - just look at these projects.On the basis of an ordinary Khrushchev in the seaside town of Nakhodka, the architects of the KDVA Architects studio created a simple, clean, ideally designed space in terms of functionality. In this case, a one-room apartment with an area of 33 square meters has been turned into a studio designed for one person. Or for a married couple, because the bed in the plywood cube is double.The client plans to rent out the future space to a young couple without children, so the interior of this apartment should be modern, but at the same time should not hit too hard on the owner's wallet. One of the main requirements of the owner of the apartment was the division of the only living room into two zones - private and public.This project is an example of a situation where there is neither time nor money for repairs. But I want to live with comfort, at least minimal. “We got the apartment when the rough renovation was already completed,” says designer Marina Nazarenko. “Therefore, playing with the layout and making it more rational was out of the question.”The main task was to create an interior in one month, in which everything would be ready for life, and every thing would find its place. At the same time, the budget was strictly fixed, it was not supposed to go beyond it.In the project, it was important not to allow ready-made solutions, not to create associations with European-style renovation, an apartment in the French or Brooklyn style.Young parents Kirill and Yulia managed to make the odnushka space ideal for the comfortable life of their family. Proper zoning, a little creativity and the desire to live beautifully are their formula for success. Despite the small area, the apartment turned out to be cozy and comfortable for living.On a modest footage of 28 square meters, Natalya Simonenko organized a full-fledged bedroom, an area for rest and work. And also thought out a sufficient number of places to store things and sports equipment.The impossibility of redevelopment for the owners of odnushki is not at all a reason to abandon the isolated sleeping and living areas. With the help of a shelving unit from IKEA, the room was divided into two parts: in one there was a comfortable bed, in the other - a comfortable soft sofa and a spacious closet.The architect immediately abandoned the idea of redevelopment in this apartment: firstly, the wall between the kitchen and the room is load-bearing, and secondly, any construction project instantly affects the budget, which was limited for the owners of a single apartment, a young couple with a child.Relying on zoning and a competent choice of finishing materials and furniture, Natalya Sytenkova arranged a comfortable space for the life of three family members and provided for a large number of storage spaces.All other rooms and structures lined up around the bedroom in this apartment: a small kitchen-living room behind a narrow partition with a window, a bathroom and an entrance hall near the entrance, a mezzanine with a staircase. The project is designed specifically for young customers who are not ready to spend a fortune on repairs.“From what we left untouched - tiles and plumbing in the bathroom, flooring. The rest of the decoration was updated: the walls in the living room were pasted over with inexpensive plain textured wallpaper, the surfaces in the hallway and in the kitchen were painted - a budgetary and practical finishing option, ”says the designer.

The living room already had a spacious wall-length wardrobe - it basically performs the function of storage.A budget of 300 thousand rubles, 13 days for repairs, great enthusiasm - with such baggage, designer Ekaterina Savkina brought a bold experiment to life. It's good that there were some stocks of appliances and furniture, but we still had to figure out how to fit them into the interior.“The customer is my repeat client, I have already designed the interior for her son,” says designer Anna Kovalchenko. “The landlady wanted to update the furnishings and prepare the apartment for rent.” Mandatory conditions were the use of existing furniture and an extremely limited budget.This small one-room apartment with an area of 36 m² is a new project by designer Anna Kovalchenko, whose work we have shown more than once in the Kvartblog. Anna shared with us how to make a small apartment stylish with a modest renovation budget.- Anna, please tell us a little about the apartment: what is its area, how many rooms does it have?The apartment is located in Vnukovo - just a five-minute walk from the international airport. Its area is 36 m², including one room, a small entrance hall, separate bathroom and kitchen.— What were the main problems of the apartment? When you started working, where did you start the change?The main problem was the small area of the apartment, the size of the tiny bathroom was especially embarrassing. I wanted to combine the bathroom and toilet in order to enlarge it a little, but then decided not to do this - at the request of the client. The ceiling was terribly uneven and low - only 250 cm. The floor, walls, balcony were in a terrible state: a lot of effort had to be expended to prepare the apartment for repairs.What was the main goal of this project? What is its feature?- The apartment was intended to be rented out on Airbnb: it was assumed that the main guests would be transit passengers awaiting departure, as well as aircraft crews. Most likely, this dwelling will be rented out for short periods - from several hours to 1-2 days maximum, so I had to make a comfortable hotel room, at the same time cozy at home.— How did you choose the colors for this apartment? — The owner of the apartment is an ardent admirer of the Scandinavian style in its classical sense: white walls, calm restrained colors. I offered a choice of two concepts: with green as an accent or in black and white. The client chose the second option, considering it more neutral and suitable for a rented apartment. The black accent walls were decorated with Swedish wallpapers by Boråstapeter, while the rest of the walls were painted with white Dulux paint.For the floor, a light laminate was chosen, imitating natural wood as much as possible, which visually elongated the height of the room.- The description says that you changed the arrangement of the furniture. Curious to know how and why? What has improved since the change?- The room had to be divided into a bedroom and a recreation area.The double bed was placed in a kind of niche, and a sofa with a coffee table near the window. They decided to abandon the cabinets so as not to clutter up the space. To store clothes, they put a small chest of drawers and a floor hanger. The furniture was chosen as compact and functional as possible, it was mainly purchased from IKEA and Hoff.In the bathroom, we made a custom-made wooden countertop and installed a Melana countertop sink. The wood has been treated in a special way so that it does not deteriorate from moisture and splashes. White Metro tiles on the walls visually expanded the bathroom, black and white tiles on the floor echo the wallpaper in the hallway.What has changed in the kitchen?- The black kitchen set was purchased at IKEA, the overhead shelves instead of the upper cabinets were made from a furniture board. The black washing machine and refrigerator look stylish and organically fit into the space between the cabinets.What is the total budget for this project?- We met somewhere in the 1.3 million rubles, including furniture, appliances and decor.— On the example of this apartment (if possible, point by point, it would be more convenient), please tell us, due to what it began to look more stylish and interesting? I'm guessing there are a lot of ideas that readers can pick up, they're quite doable!1. If you choose neutral, restrained tones for decorating your apartment, use an abundance of different textures and patterns - they will not let your eyes get bored.2. Add comfort with textiles and light: soft blankets, decorative pillows, candles, lamps with soft lighting will create a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere.3. Divide the lighting into categories: for example, bright work lights for the cooking area in the kitchen and a decorative lamp with soft light above the table.4. The dimensions of the furniture should be proportional to the size of the apartment: for small living rooms, do not choose bulky sofas and armchairs.— What is your favorite decision in this project?— I really liked how the entrance hall turned out: the plaid wallpaper looks very stylish and unusual.How long ago was the project done? The apartment can already be found on the website— The project was completed in December, and now this apartment can be rented.