Houzz Tour: Compact Home Transformed on a Budget
An architect’s warm, bright remodel creates a stylish and functional space while controlling costs
Homes don’t have to be huge to function well and look unique, as this two-bedroom apartment in a three-story Victorian in Bristol, England, demonstrates. Owner Lizzie O’Neill, who’s an architect, used her skill and design eye to change the flow and feel of the apartment while altering very little layout-wise.
Opening up the small, dark, shabby kitchen to the light living area was key to the transformation. O’Neill then cleverly used inexpensive wood, other natural materials and secondhand finds to give the whole apartment a one-of-a-kind look and a peaceful mood.
Opening up the small, dark, shabby kitchen to the light living area was key to the transformation. O’Neill then cleverly used inexpensive wood, other natural materials and secondhand finds to give the whole apartment a one-of-a-kind look and a peaceful mood.
After: The kitchen can now share the living room’s plentiful light. O’Neill created a utility room and pantry to the right of the kitchen, which contains the washing machine and shelving for groceries.
“It has a sliding door to shut out the washer noise and keep all the messy stuff away,” she says. “I’ve painted the walls in there in the same gray-green as the guest bedroom and a shelving unit in the living room, so it ties the look together.”
The oak cabinets are from a big-box store. The tall cabinet on the right houses the refrigerator, and there’s a small dishwasher next to it, plus a single oven and an induction cooktop to the left.
The oak shelf was custom-made and has a lip at the front to hide an LED strip. The LED has a diffuser that prevents glare.
As you can see from the previous photo, the step up was already there, due to drainage needs for the bathroom, but it helped with the layout. “It creates this really nice divide,” O’Neill says.
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“It has a sliding door to shut out the washer noise and keep all the messy stuff away,” she says. “I’ve painted the walls in there in the same gray-green as the guest bedroom and a shelving unit in the living room, so it ties the look together.”
The oak cabinets are from a big-box store. The tall cabinet on the right houses the refrigerator, and there’s a small dishwasher next to it, plus a single oven and an induction cooktop to the left.
The oak shelf was custom-made and has a lip at the front to hide an LED strip. The LED has a diffuser that prevents glare.
As you can see from the previous photo, the step up was already there, due to drainage needs for the bathroom, but it helped with the layout. “It creates this really nice divide,” O’Neill says.
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Before: The kitchen needed some love.
After: The detail that really elevates the kitchen is the pine batten paneling on the back of the peninsula, which introduces pleasing vertical lines. “With the pine cladding, I just wanted to do something quite inexpensive and easily available, so these are off-the-shelf, plain, softwood battens secured to a plywood back, then just whitewashed.”
O’Neill kept the boiler (partially seen on the wall to the left in the previous photo) in the same position to save money, and simply boxed it in using more paneling.
The peninsula is only 24 inches deep. “Many people think a kitchen island has to be big, but this does all the things you need it to,” O’Neill says.
There’s no breakfast bar. “With the level change, it wouldn’t have quite worked, as you’d need really tall stools,” O’Neill says. It makes a good bar area on social occasions, though, with friends able to stand there with a drink. “And sometimes I stand on that side to work,” she says. “It’s quite a good level to put the laptop on, because it’s much higher, so it’s like a standing desk.”
To keep costs down, O’Neill didn’t change the living room floorboards, but simply sanded the orange varnished pine to lighten it. The kitchen flooring is 24-by-24-inch concrete-look porcelain tiles.
Though they were not original to the home,O’Neill reinstated the window shutters seen in the previous “before” shot after this photo was taken.
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O’Neill kept the boiler (partially seen on the wall to the left in the previous photo) in the same position to save money, and simply boxed it in using more paneling.
The peninsula is only 24 inches deep. “Many people think a kitchen island has to be big, but this does all the things you need it to,” O’Neill says.
There’s no breakfast bar. “With the level change, it wouldn’t have quite worked, as you’d need really tall stools,” O’Neill says. It makes a good bar area on social occasions, though, with friends able to stand there with a drink. “And sometimes I stand on that side to work,” she says. “It’s quite a good level to put the laptop on, because it’s much higher, so it’s like a standing desk.”
To keep costs down, O’Neill didn’t change the living room floorboards, but simply sanded the orange varnished pine to lighten it. The kitchen flooring is 24-by-24-inch concrete-look porcelain tiles.
Though they were not original to the home,O’Neill reinstated the window shutters seen in the previous “before” shot after this photo was taken.
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The rhythm of the pine paneling is replicated in the verticality of the backsplash tiles. “I got these because they have that look of being handmade, even though they aren’t, and are more affordable than zellige,” O’Neill says. “They have a slightly lilac-y tint to them.”
Between the kitchen and living room, O’Neill has slotted in a dining area. The chairs belonged to her grandmother. “They’re in pretty ropey condition, but they go quite nicely,” she says. The oak-veneer table is one of the few pieces of furniture O’Neill purchased new.
The windows have been upgraded to improve heat loss. “I got a local guy to replace all the windows with slim double glazing. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from the original ones,” she says.
The windows have been upgraded to improve heat loss. “I got a local guy to replace all the windows with slim double glazing. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from the original ones,” she says.
The orange fireplace tiles are original. “They’re kind of love or hate, but I think they work really well,” O’Neill says with a laugh. “The whole palette is quite earthy, and there are lots of plants, artwork and antique furniture, so the tiles go and are quite a striking feature.”
The ceiling medallion is original. On the right of the fireplace, a secondhand pine cabinet hides the TV.
The ceiling medallion is original. On the right of the fireplace, a secondhand pine cabinet hides the TV.
It took a long time to choose the off-white for the living room walls, and O’Neill tried out a lot of paint colors. “The previous color was lovely, but I wanted to make it all light and bright,” she says.
“This has a slight pinky tone to it, but it’s also stony — not too cool,” she says. “It makes a lovely backdrop for the different timbers — the oak, which has an orangier tinge, and the pine of the TV cabinet and floorboards.”
Wall paint: Rolling Fog Pale, Little Greene
“This has a slight pinky tone to it, but it’s also stony — not too cool,” she says. “It makes a lovely backdrop for the different timbers — the oak, which has an orangier tinge, and the pine of the TV cabinet and floorboards.”
Wall paint: Rolling Fog Pale, Little Greene
A gray-green shelving unit runs the length of the room and holds everything from books to favorite pieces of pottery. “I had the cabinet custom-made from MDF and painted, so it’s really simple but designed to fit my things,” O’Neill says. “It was a cost-effective way of getting a really big shelving unit.”
O’Neill made the model atop the cabinet for a former architecture project. “That was back in the days when I had time to make models,” she says with a laugh.
Cabinet paint: Waxed Khaki, Dulux Heritage
O’Neill made the model atop the cabinet for a former architecture project. “That was back in the days when I had time to make models,” she says with a laugh.
Cabinet paint: Waxed Khaki, Dulux Heritage
The curtains are simple cotton, and O’Neill just bought an oak dowel to create the curtain rod. The sofa is Ikea but came from a marketplace site. “A couple were getting rid of it, as they’d just had twins and it was too low for them to breastfeed, so I got an almost brand-new sofa for next to nothing,” she says. “I just changed the feet to oak to marry up with everything.”
O’Neill put new column radiators in all the rooms, which happily chime with the vertical lines throughout.
O’Neill put new column radiators in all the rooms, which happily chime with the vertical lines throughout.
O’Neill’s bedroom is painted in a similarly pale, calming shade, but she used a pinkish purple on the wardrobe. “I just thought I’d go a bit bold with that,” she says.
The wardrobe was made to measure, as the walls are “a little bit wonky,” O’Neill says. She couldn’t quite decide what she wanted for the doors, so left them off initially. She’s since put some on (see the next photo).
Wall paint: Skimming Stone, Farrow & Ball
The wardrobe was made to measure, as the walls are “a little bit wonky,” O’Neill says. She couldn’t quite decide what she wanted for the doors, so left them off initially. She’s since put some on (see the next photo).
Wall paint: Skimming Stone, Farrow & Ball
O’Neill eventually decided on louvered doors for the wardrobe. “They were off-the-shelf pine doors that I cut to fit and whitewashed,” she says.
The bedroom fireplace is the original Victorian one with a slate hearth. “I like the slightly rough, worn look,” O’Neill says.
The Ercol oak bed is one of the things O’Neill splurged on. She fitted a slim oak shelf above to display pictures and other treasures. “It’s a nice way of mixing it up,” she says. “I quite often change the things on there.”
A small row of hooks to the side of the bed keeps things tidy. “I bought a couple of these in the antiques market — one for the hall and one for in here,” O’Neill says. “I think it’s nice to hang up clothes rather than piling them on a chair.”
The bench was custom-made, to be used partly in the bedroom and partly for extra seating in the dining area when needed.
The bench was custom-made, to be used partly in the bedroom and partly for extra seating in the dining area when needed.
The guest bedroom, also the home office, is painted in the same green as the utility room and the living room shelving unit. “I just wanted it to feel a bit cozier in here,” O’Neill says. “It’s the reverse of the other rooms, which are all light but have elements of this color in the furniture.”
The green works beautifully as a backdrop for the various timbers — the pine floor, oak bed and reclaimed side tables.
The green works beautifully as a backdrop for the various timbers — the pine floor, oak bed and reclaimed side tables.
The room has a beautiful leafy view and is very quiet, so this is an ideal space in which to work. There’s a desk in the right-hand alcove and shelving to the left for spare bedding and office paraphernalia.
“I can’t leave my bike downstairs because of fire regulations, so that’s hung up,” O’Neill says. The cabinet stores items that aren’t used very much, so access isn’t an issue.
A lovely mix of natural tones and wood continues into the bathroom, with a vintage mirror, olive wood bowls and a sycamore vanity.
The vanity top is protected with Osmo oil. “I’m careful not to get too much water on it, but it’s a year old now and has held up really well,” O’Neill says.
The vanity top is protected with Osmo oil. “I’m careful not to get too much water on it, but it’s a year old now and has held up really well,” O’Neill says.
The home is perfect for O’Neill. “Even though it’s only a two-bed flat, it has everything it needs and you can tidy everything away quite easily,” she says.
Renovating the home has given her a real appreciation of it. “Taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room was one of the really interesting things,” she says. “Even though it was a very old timber stud wall with lath and plaster on it, inside they’d filled it with rubble, and within the rubble we found interesting artifacts — little drinks bottles, matchboxes and even a cigarette card that dated to around 1900.
“In the process of renovating, you come to be more connected to the building, because you find out interesting things about it,” she says. “It’s been a proper labor of love.”
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Renovating the home has given her a real appreciation of it. “Taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room was one of the really interesting things,” she says. “Even though it was a very old timber stud wall with lath and plaster on it, inside they’d filled it with rubble, and within the rubble we found interesting artifacts — little drinks bottles, matchboxes and even a cigarette card that dated to around 1900.
“In the process of renovating, you come to be more connected to the building, because you find out interesting things about it,” she says. “It’s been a proper labor of love.”
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Read more stories about homes around the world
Find design and remodeling professionals near you
Shop for home products
Apartment at a Glance
Who lives here: Architect Lizzie O’Neill of EJ Studio, who did the redesign
Location: Redland, Bristol, England
Size: Two bedrooms, one bathroom
Before: The first job was to knock through the wall, seen here, between the living room and kitchen. Rather than taking out the whole wall, O’Neill went for a smaller opening and retained the beautiful cornicing.