by Furnishly | Sep 7, 2021 | Design Inspiration, DIY, Style
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Name: Katie Walker and Greg Krolikowski
Location: Fishtown — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Size: 1,800 square feet
Type of Home: Row Home (built in the 1870s)
Years lived in: 1 year, owned
In the early months of Covid, I was living in my first home, a brand-new condo with zero outdoor space. Within a month, I had run out of projects and I realized I needed to get out. My amazing realtor helped me find this house — a well-loved family home just five blocks from where I lived. There weren’t any listing photos online, so when we showed up I instantly fell in love. The layout of the house was absolutely perfect.
I moved into the house in early August and immediately got to work. I became an expert at stripping wallpaper and used about 20 gallons of paint to paint all of the walls and some of the floors. I don’t know how I would have gotten through winter 2020 without this house. It gave me a project to focus on every weekend and helped make not going home for the holidays a little easier. (Thanksgiving was spent painting my staircase — including its 87 spindles!) It also completely changed how I planned the space — rather than decorating it for the occasional visitor, I focused on how I wanted to live in the space. I put my office in the sunniest room, since I work from home. And since this house has bedrooms to spare (five total), I converted one into my closet.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: I would consider my style bright and colorful, with a lot of vintage and traditional influences. I really don’t try to stick to one look or time period; if something makes me happy then it’s my style. My goal for the house’s style was that all of the furniture might look like it’s lived in the house since the ’60s (my favorite MCM pieces) or even the ’20s (some of my grandmother’s older antiques).
Inspiration: I’ve really been inspired by the history of the house. According to historic maps, it was built sometime in the 1870s, and at one point it was even a boarding house! The trim, the floors, the beautiful architecture — most of the last year has just been stripping things away to let the house just be. Other than paint and switching out light fixtures, I’ve added very little to it.
Favorite Element: I love the big windows in the front room that look out onto my street. I live on a tree-lined, one-way street in the middle of a busy neighborhood, and sometimes it really feels like Sesame Street — like the ideal version of city living. On a nice day, I’ll have my windows open and hear neighbors talking to the mailman, kids running by. My friends who live a few blocks away will sometimes just stop by during their walks and their 4-year-old will ring my doorbell to see if I’m home. It’s why I try to always have my blinds open — I love feeling connected to the city and not cloistered away.
Biggest Challenge: WALLPAPER. I think one of the reasons the house stayed on the market for so long was that every single room was wallpapered. And not just the rooms — even the insides of the closets were wallpapered. As a wallpaper enthusiast, I knew that this was actually a good sign — people who wallpaper their house LOVE their house. It’s not a cheap project, and the wallpaper was old but very high quality. So the wallpaper didn’t scare me off at first. But then it came time to actually strip it — there were lots of tears and maybe a little screaming. In some rooms the wallpaper came off without any effort, but in others one square foot would take 15 minutes and it felt like it would never end. But what I loved about stripping the wallpaper was finding where the former owners had signed and dated the wall before hanging it. It made me feel connected to the history of the house — and of course on the walls I’ve papered I’ve added my own name to the list.
Proudest DIY: I’m thrifty at heart (some might say cheap), so my proudest DIY projects are the ones that cost the least amount of money. Of all of the projects in the house, I think the bathroom redo is my proudest moment, because almost all of the supplies were leftovers from other projects. It meant I couldn’t be too precious about the finishes, but the goal for the bathroom wasn’t to be perfect — it was just to be bright and clean and hold me over until I can afford to really redo it. The cabinet paint, tile paint, knobs, and countertop epoxy were all leftovers from the kitchen. The wall paint came from one of the several five-gallon buckets of “Chantilly Lace” I’ve hauled from the home supply store.
Biggest Indulgence: The biggest indulgence in the house is completely invisible to the naked eye — it’s the thing that almost kept me from buying the house in the first place — the electrical wiring. All of the overhead lights in the house, and many of the switches, still had knob and tube wiring when I bought the house. An extremely old, and potentially flammable, form of wiring. When the inspector found it, I immediately called a close friend who is an electrical engineer for advice. So the first week in the house was spent watching an electrician pull up floor boards and redo all of the wiring. It was stressful and a big expenditure so early on in the project. But the peace of mind that the house wouldn’t burn down from the inside was worth it. AND I took the opportunity of having a professional and went ahead and replaced all the overhead light fixtures. In spite of the popcorn ceilings, the new light fixtures immediately modernized all of the rooms.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? A lot of old Philadelphia row homes have these tiny closets — they’re too shallow to hang clothes in and they can be part of the reason someone doesn’t buy a house. The four main bedrooms in my house all had these original closets with beautiful trim and original mortise-and-tenon doors. They were too small to use as clothes closets (as evidenced by my closet room), but I wanted to make use of them somehow. So in my bedroom I turned the closet into a built-in bookshelf. In the closet room, the closet shelves display my purse collection. They serve a purpose, and I get to keep the special history as part of the house.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Give yourself a blank canvas and then take as much time as you need. When I moved into my house, I had to put in a lot of work just to get it to a starting point (taking down wallpaper and painting almost every room white). Only then was I able to gather design ideas and start adding some personality to the space. Long term, I don’t think I’ll keep the living room white or the kitchen pale blue, but taking the house down to its simplest version allows me to really appreciate the building and start adding my own personality to it.
Focus on the things that are easy to change or important to you. I saw so many kitchens that looked really nice, but actually had bad layouts or zero storage. This house’s kitchen might not have looked great, but it was solidly built with a good layout and just needed some paint and warmth.
Thank you Katie and Greg!
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
by Furnishly | Aug 11, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Name: Karen Akpan, husband Sylvester Akpan, and son, Aiden Akpan
Location: We are full-time digital nomads and live around the US in our RV.
Size: 260 square feet
Type of Home: Class C RV
Years lived in: 1 year, owned
At the start of the pandemic in February 2020, my family and I decided to make a big life change. In an effort to travel the U.S., spend more time together, and pay down the student loans and consumer debt that my husband and I accumulated, we sold our family’s home and bought an RV off Facebook Marketplace to opt for a full-time life on the road to save money and travel. We spent about two months renovating our RV to make it home, and officially hit the road full time in May 2020.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: My style is simple and functional, yet beautiful. When living in an RV full time, it is important to think about those two aspects. Putting too many things in a small space can make it feel too tight. So we decided to go with bright and airy by painting all the walls white and then having one accent wall for some color.
Inspiration: Looking at several IG renovation pages.
Favorite Element: The accent wall. Every year I have a new color, and when we painted this accent wall teal, that was my color and it just fits so well and brings so much to the room. Teal represents open communication and clarity of thought. And it was exactly what we wanted to have in our RV.
Biggest Challenge: Trying to figure out how to remodel a small space. This was something my husband had never done before and had to basically figure it out.
Proudest DIY: The kitchen countertop. Every time I look at it, it just makes me so happy to see what it looked like before and looks like now. It is modern and just perfect!
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? We use the front cab / driver area as a garage to store all our stuff.
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? Breville Bambino Plus. We are really big on coffee in our home and drink it every morning. When we moved into an RV we didn’t want to lose that option, so we decided not to compromise and take it with us.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: Lots of white helps the space look more airy and spacious, especially when the walls are painted white.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Create a vision board of what you want the end product to look like. That’ll help you pull things together for your final look.
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
by Furnishly | Jul 7, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
Name: Trish Daley and my husband Rob
Location: Kiama, NSW, Australia
Type of home: Beach Cottage
Kitchen Size: 75 square feet
Years lived in: 10 years, owned
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: Our rundown home, with a great location, only a short walk to the nearby beach, was bought with the intention of a quick flip by my hubby, a builder, after his first marriage had broken down. The home had great bones but was seriously lacking personality. But then he tried “online dating for 50 plus” and along came me. I sold my cottage down south, moved in, married him, and we promptly set about creating our love nest. Ten years later, here we are. Bliss.
I’m loud, bold, and very adventurous with color and ideas. Hubby tries his best to tame my taste, but knows he really fights an uphill battle. I do try to meet him half way. I’ve always loved vintage and recycling everything as much as possible. Hubby is more of a perfectionist and clean lines. Somehow we gel, and whatever I envision he helps put into play.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Coastal beachy shabby eclectic vintage
What is your favorite room and why? Our kitchen. Hubby built it before I moved in, and over the years I’ve helped color it in. I love to paint murals. I love color. I love textures mixed together. I feel our kitchen has personality, but is also so practical. The kitchen setting is a magical score off Facebook Marketplace. Hubby built the hood for the exhaust fan as I just couldn’t keep looking at the steel frame.
I repurposed an old dresser and hubby magically “added” it into our kitchen to give us the eclectic look I love, plus for extra counter space and storage. We changed up the handles on all the kitchen cabinets. We also got the handles off Facebook Marketplace and then I decoupaged the backing plates that hubby made. We put in a sliding door and added shutters.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The shutters are from a Melbourne company diyblinds.com.au. The utensil hanging thingy is from IKEA.
Any advice for creating a home you love? Go with your heart. If you love it just do it. Trends come and go. Be you. Marry an awesome human being.
This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
by Furnishly | Jul 1, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
Name: Emma Jane Palin, Joshua John Parker, and George (Chihuahua cross Miniature Dachsund)
Location: Margate, a seaside town in the United Kingdom
Size: No idea, but a four-bedroom home (fairly large by UK standards)
Type of Home: We call it the floating house, but it’s actually a coach house; it’s basically a three-story house that starts on the first floor rather than the ground floor.
Years lived in: 1.5 years, renting
Interior stylist, art consultant, and blogger Emma Jane Palin and her partner, Joshua John Parker, completely transformed this rented four-bedroom coach house in Margate, UK. “I found it by putting a call out in a local Facebook group for creatives; as I work in interiors, I was specifically after something that was in need of a little love, or the landlord was totally happy with me putting my own spin on. I’m a big advocate for renters being able to make a home their own,” explains Emma.
“When we first went to visit the house, there was carpet over lino, over wooden floors. There was no bathroom and the loft bedroom had no flooring at all! Now that I look back, I wonder whether taking it came out of a place of desperation, because it was a huge project for a renter to take on! We came to an agreement with the landlord for a slightly lower rent to justify the improvements we would make.”
“Since then we’ve ripped out floors, sanded back floorboards, laid vinyl tiles, painted walls, removed textured wallpaper and much more! We’ve really made it our own over the last 18 months and I feel like we’ve now got a good grasp of what we would and wouldn’t do again. Some things, like sanding floors, are just worth paying for.”
Emma and Joshua will be using all the skills and lessons learned from transforming this space on their new endeavor: a recently purchased house, which Emma will no doubt be putting her own interior design spin on. She’s also finishing up a fun project — a caravan rental called Club Jupiter — with two other designers, Whinnie Williams and Anna Hart.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: I’d say it’s a mix of bohemian and mid-century design with lots of references to popular culture — a combination of our fashion, music and art influences.
Inspiration: The rock and roll scene of the ’60s and ’70s.
Favorite Element: Our vintage ’70s orange sofa. I found it on eBay for £300 and I am so obsessed with it. It’s low and super comfy, plus there’s a matching side table with mirrored top — perfect for styling magazines and small mementos.
Biggest Challenge: There are a lot of strange layouts going on in the house, which does make it difficult. If we owned it, I’d make some major changes. One of the things that frustrates me the most is the tiny galley kitchen. It’s also how we enter the house, meaning it’s almost like having a kitchen in your entryway. We’ve had to work hard to make it feel like less of a cloakroom and more of a kitchen. I’m not sure we’ve managed to completely overcome that, but as I don’t really love cooking, it doesn’t matter to me so much.
Proudest DIY: This is a tough one. It’s either the stripes and scallops I painted in the guest bedroom, or the IKEA IVAR cabinet hack. I feel like I was ahead of these trends coming in so it’s brought a nice sense of satisfaction. I think that DIY hacks are perfect for tapping into interior trends as you can always change them up later on. I might even change up the cabinet with a fresh lick of paint in the near future to give it a bolder look.
Biggest Indulgence: Our Samsung Frame TV. I am incredibly fussy about TVs and I refused to have one until I could buy the Samsung Serif. This was a big investment at the time, but when the frame came out, I knew I had to have it. We saved for a long time to get one and I’m so glad we did. I absolutely love it.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? As it’s just the two of us, we pretty much act as if we have some kind of mansion. We use two of the bedrooms as an office and a dressing room. The main bedroom also houses Josh’s studio setup as it’s in the loft and has good acoustics! To be honest, I think all of our home is really unique in terms of entrance, layout, and how we’ve decorated it! That’s why we love it.
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? We’re both huge music fans and have a massive music collection so sound is super vital to us. We have a Sonos x Pro-ject vinyl player, various Sonos speakers, and I love Marshall speakers, too. Our record storage is Tylko, which is another one of my favourite pieces of furniture.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: I’m all about multi-functional furniture. I love a coffee table that serves as a desk (ours is from West Elm) or a console that’s a design feature as well as storage — again Tylko is brilliant. Other than that, I recommend making use of the backs of doors and cabinets as much as possible; it’s all about considering those unused spaces.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Just do you! It’s SO easy to be influenced by others, but ultimately your home is yours. I’ve been told so many times that I shouldn’t be putting money into a rental, or had comments saying they don’t like what I’ve done in places. These things never bother me because it’s where I live, not them. As well as that, use eBay and Facebook Marketplace to find one-off pieces of furniture and decor. You need to be patient, but sometimes that statement piece can make your entire room.
Thank you Emma and Joshua!!
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
Adrienne Breaux
House Tour Editor
Adrienne loves architecture, design, cats, science fiction and watching Star Trek. In the past 10 years she’s called home: a van, a former downtown store in small town Texas and a studio apartment rumored to have once been owned by Willie Nelson.
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