230 Sq Ft Cozy Minimal Studio Apartment Makeover

this video is sponsored by Brook linen

hey guys welcome back to my channel I'm

Alexandra and you are watching Studio

fix the series where I tackle teeny tiny

apartments under 500 squ ft and show you

how to make them beautiful stylish and

organized I just think it's so funny

that I'm doing this in my skirt you got

a makeover to do so wow that looks

stunning oh my god let's get started

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if you're watching on your TV you can go

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it's even easier I've actually been

receiving a lot of DMS on Instagram

recently about how so many of you have

been following me since my Shadow Lane

days which is absolutely wild and if I

could get all of you in a room to do

like a big Collective hug I definitely

would I just got goosebumps actually at

the thought of that that would be

amazing my hair was

like today I'm helping naen I'm going to

hop on a call with her get to know her

and her space and see what her dream

space looks looks like this feels very

surreal it was my birthday last week so

I feel like this is like the cherry on

top of a really good birthday I'm just

so excited for you congrats on winning a

makeover with us thank you so much to

get started I would love to know how

long you've been in your studio this

year will be 11 years yeah in the same

apartment in the same apartment I moved

here with the intention of like living

here for a couple of years and then

buying a place but I honestly can't

afford to move it's way too expensive in

Toronto unless I win the lottery this

place has become a space of transition

for me a big breakup a massive career

change so this like new year for me with

my birthday last week and now on my 11th

year I'm getting a refresh of my space

I'm not tied to anything do whatever you

want that's amazing I'm welcoming this

new grown-up energy that I feel like I

have you've lived here for a long time

so you know what's functioning for you

and what's not

yeah just talk me through what you want

to see change in that regard when it

comes to function during Co I had to

like most of us work remote so I'm here

like 85% of the time got it I've managed

with it but like every time I take video

calls which is all day long it's like

this and I'm sitting on an angle so I

can get sunlight but if I sat

comfortably at my desk like you can see

my whole house that makes a lot of sense

yeah this setup is not ergonomic the

desk that I have have here so tiny that

I'm like I don't even really have any

arm room and like I sometimes I'll spill

my coffee over actually a lot of the

times I'll spill it over so we will try

and find another solution for that but

that brings me to where your TV is cuz I

feel like that Nook is so cute is your

TV working there for you I love it there

this is my favorite part of my space the

layout that you have actually really

works for the space that's good I know

you were mentioning that you don't have

a lot of prep space my mom does doesn't

know how I cook in here I don't know how

you do either I bake I cook I use like

the stove as my prep space sometimes

nice to have would be a little bit more

space to prep on but I love that like

Airy feel of minimalism that I also

wouldn't want to overcrowd the space

just to have that yeah like I mentioned

the flow of your space is really nice

even though the kitchen is narrow I love

that you kind of have a bit of

separation from it like it's at the end

of your bed but it still feels a little

bit tu way which is nice I eat on my

couch and I just put like a pillow on my

lap yeah I have this table that I slide

at the side there but I'm tiny so it

doesn't really fit me it comes up to

like here and I just use it for when

people come over like you can use this

to eat it's obviously not realistic to

bring like a dining table in but maybe a

coffee table that expand so when you

have people over they can gather around

anything else function-wise before we

get on to your inspiration yes just like

storage

within my space because I know the cix

is most likely going yeah my storage for

my makeup is also overflowing like crazy

could you have a system where if

everything was corralled nicely you

could like bring that over to the mirror

yes okay to be honest as you're seeing

this half of the time I take like a

drawer out of the organizer and I take

it to the couch so I can do it in front

of the sun got it let's move on to inspo

definitely very like bright Airy neutral

like a lot of neutrals going on I feel

like you don't love a lot of color but

like just so much texture and warmth you

basically nailed it like the words that

I put down were literally what you said

I know we're not leaning into color

necessarily for this one but are there

any colors you're like absolutely not I

think like the soft is comfortable for

me totally brown green creams like those

kind of colors I love your intro so much

cuz I do think it's like really warm

really inviting and your is so cute I

just think it's really conducive to the

style the other thing that I don't have

a lot of in here but I think could add

more of that color would be some plants

I've killed all the plants that I've

owned but I'm open to like trying okay

got it well thank you so much for

jumping on this call I'm really excited

and I will see you on reveal day oh my

gosh that feels so surreal to hear that

I I'm so looking forward to it thank you

so much I'll see you soon all right

sounds good

bye nen's inspo is so bright very

neutral but layered with tons of texture

these inso images are giving me kind of

like a California cool boho Vibe I'm

here for it here's what I'm thinking

function is so important in this studio

and although the design is simple the

pieces I'm adding in are going to be

game changers I want to bring in an

additional kitchen island so naen has

more prep space I'm thinking of storing

it in a DIY media unit cabinet more on

that later in the video I also want to

bring in a coffee table that has storage

so nine can store her makeup in there

she can do her makeup while she's

sitting on the sofa which she likes to

do I want to bring in a desk that can

pull out to be an L-shaped desk I think

that's going to solve the issue naen was

having with like putting her computer

awkwardly on a diagonal when she takes

her calls so all of these functional

changes are going to be really big

priorities but then I also want to keep

the design really minimal really bright

and really Airy and texture is going to

be so important in making the space

still feel cozy and warm even with all

of these neutrals and varying wood tones

I going to be bringing in some beautiful

neutral linen bedding for naine from

Brook linen I have used Brook Lin and

sheets in my own home for the past 3

years I've used them in countless

makeovers and I truly cannot recommend

them enough this month is actually

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fabric I personally love linen because

it gives a really relaxed Vibe and the

texture looks so beautiful I'm keeping

the bedding neutral for an Aden with

cream bedding but you can also mix and

match 20 plus colors and patterns in a

bundle Brook linen kindly sent their

linen heart cor bundle which includes a

duvet cover core sheet set and extra

pillow cases Brooklyn and also sent

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this textured throw blanket in the color

sand whether you've been a longtime

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the perfect time to head to their

website and take advantage of their

10-year anniversary sale it only comes

once a year so you don't want to miss it

so I knew we had to give nen's Studio a

fresh paint job I picked the color Cloud

white by Benjamin Moore because we're

going for a Boh a California cool feel I

wanted an off-white pinkt color that was

bright but cozy Dave is painting out

this whole studio and man it looks so

good and so

fresh hey guys we're here doing a studio

fix uh we haven't done a studio fix in

what feels like forever and I think we

kind of all forgot how you know small

Studios can be Dave did such a great job

painting so it looks very bright in here

I'm loving the creamy white on the walls

but let me just show you like how many

boxes there are it's kind of out of

control okay this is it this is the

studio there's Dave

Elena this is like the kitchen hallway

situation so as you can see there's like

basically no room and yeah um we're

going to have to figure it out like we

always do right team know it I I don't

know if we're going to do our usual

unboxing I think we're just going to try

and start like getting stuff installed

to to free some space

but yeah tight quarters Grand and I are

going to start uh with this feature wall

right behind me and we're using pull

wrap from pull wrap.com to create this

like tamber textured effect which I'm

really excited about so we are going to

try with Brad nails first I'm not sure

that they're going to take to the

concrete wall if they don't we have

anchors and screws as the back back up

but we ideally want to have like tiny

little holes first we're going to cut

this pull wrap down it's a little long

and we're going to try and cut it

already rolled up which will save us

some time we're only installing this

pull wrap halfway down the wall because

later we're going to bring in a media

unit that's going to cover the entire

bottom half of the wall this kind of

look is called a tamber effect and

usually you would use like tiny little

pieces of wood like this and cut like a

million of them and install them with a

bunch of veils

this pull wrap is a hack because it

gives you that tamber look but you don't

need a million holes in the wall and you

don't need a saw a million pieces we're

now going to start installing the pole

wrap and like I said we're going to try

with Brad nails first wishes luck good

luck all the best go

SED we're both wearing sunglasses

because we don't have any safety goggles

so these are safety goggles safety first

people seriously when you're using a

staple gun

glasses it's a brown

nailer the awesome thing about using

grat Nails is

that you're like the

awesome the the awesome

thing the a the awesome thing about

um when nen takes this down she just has

to patch tiny little holes and not many

of them imagine if we had have installed

these like wood piece by wood piece

there' be so many dag Nails in the

wall we're going in with wood filler

we're going to use our fies to make sure

that we're not getting the wood filler

everywhere we want it to just be like

really precise over the nails okay so

normally you would wait for this to dry

and then go in and sand it gram and Dave

just gave me a really great tip they

said use a damp Rag and just go over the

wood filler okay see how it's kind of

clumpy whoo and it stays in the hole

okay so next up we are going to install

Graham's cabinet DIY I asked him to DIY

a media unit and DIY a media unit he did

since the cabinet is being built

entirely around this Ikea kitchen cart

Ram had to build the cart first and do a

couple modifications the Ikea cart

already comes with two wheels but in

order for nen to move the cart in and

out of the cabinet easily I knew we

needed four swivel wheels so that it

could move in all directions Graham

picked up these black 2-in swivel stem

casters from Amazon he's cutting the

existing Ikea wheels off the cart using

his miter saw he's drilling a small hole

in the center of the bottom of each leg

and gluing some threaded inserts in so

that the swivel casters just screw

easily into them in order to actually

get this cabinet into nen's Studio

Graham has to make this cabinet in

multiple pieces it's going to consist of

two identical sized cabinet pieces four

doors and one solid MDF top to hide the

seams hot tip from Graham MDF is cheaper

and it provides a much smoother finish

than plywood gr is cutting the MDF using

his track saw and table

saw he's gluing all the pieces together

using wood glue and securing it together

using wood

screws for the left side of the cabinet

I wanted a couple shelves so naen could

also use this cabinet for storage Graham

is cutting two shelves out of some scrap

Plywood And MDF and is Edge banding the

front of the shelves with some dowel

that he cut in half using his table saw

Graham is using a Craig Shelf pin jig to

add columns to the Shelf pin holes into

the left cabinet so that naine can

easily move the shelves up and down if

she wants to put larger objects on the

shelves lastly Graham is cutting a small

hole inside the cabinet this is where

we're going to add an outlet extender so

naiden can power her

TV now on to the doors Graham is cutting

four identical size pieces of

MDF he's using some extra Ikea hinges we

had from a previous project and using a

forcer drill bit to cut out the holes

for the hinges to sit

in he's rounding the doors with a round

over router bit so the doors don't look

too

boxy for the front of the doors Graham

is making a semicircle router jig to cut

a perfect semicircle on the

front he's priming and painting

everything in Cloud white by Benjamin

Moore in their Advanced line of paint I

asked that he go into the semicircle

with bone by fum ball just to give the

cabinets a bit of

contrast Graham has made the counter bit

of this cabinet a little bit bigger so

we can fit it perfectly into the space

and so he can cut it to fit the Contours

of the wall for a perfect fit I am

screwing the front of the two cabinets

together so they sit really nice and

flush nen has an outlet back there that

we need access to for the TV so this is

a desktop Outlet you can get them on

Amazon at the hardware store and it's

basically supposed to sit in the top of

the desk we're putting it in one of the

cabinets and then once the Top's on

we're going to drill a hole so that the

plug can drop down and plug into this

Outlet okay so Graham and I are going to

work on installing the doors work on

installing the top there's a lot of like

rejigging we need to

do it's actually quite nice it's like

having a little rest you know

so we're going to install the top of

this cabinet now Graham has created this

really cool method to help guide a

perfect fit because walls are never

straight they're never on a 90° angle so

if we had have cut this top beforehand

there would probably be gaps and it just

wouldn't be like a perfect 90° fit like

we can still the sides and like

fill in any Gap but this will get it as

snug as possible yeah so we've pushed

these two side pieces all all the way to

the sides we're going to screw this like

guy together and then we're going to put

it in the corners of the top down here

and then cut to

sides

[Applause]

yay these look so good we've just upped

her storage game and this Nook now looks

like so

intentional I think another person could

sit

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here's what I've learned about drilling

you got to get in there and you got to

give it

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power

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oh other way no other way like do a

180 and then another 180 but spin it

like a fidget

spinner okay Graham

look Graham

grab I'm looking yeah

see he's clapping he's CLA he's clapping

no that's satisfying he's

clapping everything is looking so good

I'm going to reveal the cabinet tomorrow

to you in all its Glory cuz Carla's

going to be here shooting so I want to

get a good beauty shot but yeah it's

looking really good great prep day and

I'll see you guys first thing

tomorrow hi guys it's the next day I

already spilled coffee on my

leg so ignore we're going to start by

getting this bedroom area made over we

need to bring in the bed frame the

mattress and the headboard and the side

table we need to place it all to make

sure that there's enough room for

everything to fit before we install the

headboard to the wall so so let's do it

sorry not to interrupt your your picnic

here but

um granilla bear looks like they're on

like a little like a picnic date you

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know but um you guys need to move sorry

this bed frame is from

article okay hanging this headboard from

article I love this because you can buy

it in a queen and king size and you can

also buy expans packs that come in a set

of two so you can do like a whole wall

of these which is really

awesome

gorgeous also I just want to say I'm not

sure how it appears on camera but there

is tons of room for naen to walk around

the bed and get to her closet just like

before now I'm making the bed with our

Brooklyn and sheets also don't worry I'm

going to give these a good steam but I'm

just going to make the bed first

oh my gosh so cozy I want to jump in

here very doesn't it it's like a

cloud okay because we're working with

such a small space this side table is

actually going to be used when nine is

in bed but also when she's on the sofa

it's going to kind of bridge the two

spaces it's from article and there's

storage in here so she can put blankets

any other stuff that she just wants to

store away which is so great

so if you live in a space like naidin

where there's absolutely no divider

between spaces rugs are a great way to

add a visual divide which is why we're

adding this one to the living room

should we open it up I know this is

going to appease all of you rug pad

lovers this rug is very slippy and slidy

on the floor so I think a rug pad is

going to help make it a bit grippy okay

hear me out on this rug size if we're

following like a rule book technically

you would want this rug to be a lot

longer we wanted to be almost touching

the media cabinet but we've had to go

with a smaller size because nen's desk

is kind of right in that opening so I

wanted her to be able to roll her desk

chair easily on the wood floor okay

because we're really working with a very

neutral style for nen space going with a

rug that is textured that is has an

interesting pattern on it in this case

there's like different colors different

tones of neutral colors it's adding

interest to the space so we're not like

keep keeping it sterile and all white

we're going for creams blacks and this

jute texture so much visual interest I

love this rug it's from rugs USA it's

sofa time

gr Graham yeah we are unboxing this

beautiful sofa from article this never

gets old it's always so exciting oh yeah

oh yeah

this is so much space for naen to lounge

and we're working with like a tiny

studio apartment what do you think

stunning somehow the living area now

looks like 10 times bigger and we have a

bed over there like the studio looks so

much

bigger so not only can naen use this as

a dining table she can eat while she's

watching TV luxurious if she wanted to

work on her sofa she could use this as

that space but also naen had mentioned

to me on our call that all her makeup

was beside her bed it was taking a

valuable space but she said she does her

makeup by the window every morning so I

thought let's add a couple organizers in

here she can keep a mirror in here and

do her makeup by the window in the

morning this piece is so cool I'm going

to leave her with even more organizers

on this side and she can organize her

makeup as she wants

next up I'm hanging this beautiful art

print this is from minted

gorgeous gorgeous again I love how this

art is textured but it's got different

colors in it so it's keeping the design

feeling like layered not just like all

white you know going to take these

blinds down cuz we're going to add a

beautiful Roman shade V gone plastic

Shades

vone who knew you could find a Roman

shade that was scalloped it is so

beautiful I'm going to hang this cleat

here so the cord can be tucked

away now we're changing all the lights

these ones are from

Mitsy you want to flick the switch not

really but

okay great so Overexposed amazing

awesome okay I'm placing this scon on

this side of the bed because it's a

small space we need all the light we can

get so naen can have this on when she's

lounging for some light it's so pretty I

need one of these we added a power bar

underneath her bed connected to the plug

behind the headboard so that naen has

lots of charging outlets and I'm also

going to plug in this scon down there

too naen asked for more desk space so I

brought her her more desk space but I

also have another solve for an issue she

was having which was she was sitting

sideways cramped because she didn't want

people on calls to see her bed which I

totally understand and we've given her

this beautiful backdrop so I got this

table from Ikea and it has this extended

little piece so she can put her laptop

here and comfortably take meetings with

that being her backdrop which is great I

realized this is a big desk in a small

space I

understand that like Furniture is kind

of grouped together but this is what

living in a small space is and I feel

like we've solved all the functional

problems she had and because everything

is cohesive it like really works well

together completing her desk set up with

this ergonomic chair from Branch my

partner Noah actually works at branch

and they have great ergonomic chairs

this one is their new faux leather chair

we have Branch chairs at the office

except they're pink nen can just wheel

this out with when she has a meeting put

her laptop here and that's the

background does it look beautiful does

it it's not even styled yet this like

totally solves the problem before she

was here and like weirdly angled so this

is

great and at the end of the day when

she's done all her meetings she can just

wheel it back in this is as far as it

tucks in but still fine just like that

just got a compact desk

typed so much sorry I'm listening to the

sound of my own

Nails I told you guys we reveal the

cabinet to you it looks so good it looks

like a built-in cabinet so much space so

much storage that I'm going to get into

in a second but first i'm just going to

finish this wall with some trim there's

a little bit of a white Gap up there we

just want it to look nice and seamless

so trim it

is I've started putting on these

beautiful knobs from V to V are these

cute leather poles they look so

good so this side of the cabinet has

lots of shelves I'm going to put baskets

in there so much storage for naen CR

also made this as if it were an Ikea

piece and he put holes all along the

side so nine can actually raise or lower

the shelves if she needs them to be

different heights which is so cool and

on this side to solve nen's issue of not

having enough kitchen prep space we left

the entire thing open in order to fit a

kitchen cart in

here this is so cool so we put the

island on Caster so she can easily move

it around there's also space for some

luggage behind here you guys know I love

luggage storage I think it'd be such a

good spot for like Luggage in the

comments let me know if luggage will fit

in here my mind is also blown I love

this so much I'm going to bring the TVA