Studio Unit Makeover (30 SqM / 323 SqFt) | Industrial MCM | Part 1 | Studio Ploy

Hello everyone, my name is Jrone. Welcome to Studioploy. After exactly five months today, we're finally back with another makeover project. A lot has happened from me having to stop working for over a month early this year after having my worst skin asthma ever. But what's more exciting is we're finally back with not just one but two adjacent studio units to makeover. Initially, Drew, the owner of this apartment, wanted the two units to be combined by creating a door between the two units. But unfortunately, it'll fall as major renovation which I don't currently do as of the moment due to the limited workforce. I believe I initially declined but he reached out to me again and told me that he wants me to still do it and forgo combining the unit as he plans to eventually rent out the spaces. This makeover is going to be very interesting as we are going to have two separate units for the living and dining spaces and another one dedicated for the bedroom. So in today's video, we are going to make over the first of the two units which is going to be dedicated for the living and dining spaces. The unit measures approximately 30 square meters including the balcony. His wish list includes a 45-seater dining table which also converts as his working area. Another one is the sectional sofa and a shelving unit to display some of his book collections. Another special request is to cover the walls with cement finish. Actually, he wanted the two units to be fully covered but I told him it'll be too expensive and will be way beyond his budget. The owner allocated a little over 400k in pesos for the two units. What's more challenging here is for the first unit, we're only allocating less than one-third of the total budget for the two units as we have allocated or allotted some of the major upgrades for the bedroom. With a budget of more or less 125k exclusive of the fridge, microwave, and tv, we are going to make this unit look like it had a full budget spent to it. I came up with this space plan and mood board based on the client's wish list, interest, and of course one of major considerations, the budget. We are going to marry two design styles for this unit as he wanted the industrial look and also loves MCM-inspired furnitures and accessories. I also took notice that he loves taking pictures of the city skylines. Here's actually some of his fantastic shots of the So I thought of including a painting or a framed photo by skyline. However, I later came up with a decision to instead do a focal wall with the NYC skyline mural which I will be doing for the first time. What he knows is I'll be including a painting or so but not to fully cover a wall. By the way, as much as I would love to also upgrade the balcony, unfortunately we are working on a budget so it will be kept untouched for now. Also, you might again notice that we don't have any cooking range or cooktop in the kitchen. The owner only requested for a microwave though provisions are already in place if he decides to purchase one or a portable cooktop for that matter. After the exchanges of emails, he approved of the proposal and we immediately request for the Jumping into the actual process, I'll be showing you the makeover buy phase. So for the first phase, we are going to do the cement finish wall for the kitchen. It'll be an open layout so we're creating ways to divide spaces by means of paint and accent walls. In this case, I'll be applying again the same product I used on my previous projects as the client specifically want these first units. If you haven't watched my tutorial for this, I'm using Davis Wall Art Industria. This is a little tedious to do but I really love the texture that it provides as it's also very durable and helps fill up micro-cracking. For those who want to do this for their spaces, it comes in two parts, the liquid and the powder. I usually do a mixture with more liquid for the first coating as it's easier for me to apply it on the wall with a little flowy consistency. You can apply this to painted walls, wood, and cement fiberboard. For the surface preparation, since the wall on this apartment are painted in flat, I only need to do a little sanding and misting for the product to stick durably in it. I did two applications and let it dry overnight. The following day, I do the sanding to remove those sharp edges and to soften the texture a bit. The final step is to apply the top coat for that extra protection and added durability. A few days after, Asibar came in to install the customized open shelving for the kitchen. We opted for this style as we wanted a more industrial feel to this display kitchen and it perfectly gives this contrast to the cement finish wall which will also serve as our backsplash. Together, it will be a perfect backdrop for our dining area. From blue to dark blue then black, I finally decided to go for charcoal black as I originally planned to create a moody vibe to the living area. It will also serve as our visual separator to the living and dining and will also perfectly highlight the mural wall. I am going to give the rest of the unit a fresher look with white paint. After testing out some paints, I've decided to go for a warmer tone of white with marble mist to perfectly contrast our accent walls. I always keep the airy vibe to this space even with the addition of some darker tones as you would usually see in my previous makeover projects. Both units were unoccupied for I believe over 2 years so there were some thermal cracks and areas where paints are already peeling off. I rectify the parts by scraping off the damaged portions by applying a wall putty to cover it then sand off the excess before paint application. I believe most condos here do this, installing a faux baseboard with paint that creates boundaries and therefore making the unit look smaller. I also find the technique very dated and creates unnecessary focal point instead of hiding imperfections to the trim. I decided to cover it with a primer before painting it over with marble mist. Then I proceed painting the edges and the trims so it'll be easier to paint the walls later on. I also painted the exposed sprinkler pipes for it to blend with the walls since we are not going to do claddings to hide it. Then I went on covering the rest of the walls with three coatings of the satin finish paint to fully hide the plain old flat paint. This wasn't part of the proposed plan but after painting the walls I noticed the need to also cover the inner part of the main door and balcony door for the space to look more cohesive and airy. Both doors are made of metal so I used a water-based quick drying enamel also in marble mist but this time in glossy finish. For these doors it took me five coats to fully cover the original dark brown paint. I also went on covering the door jamb with the same gloss paint. When I first saw this unit I immediately thought of having a special focal wall but I wasn't sure yet then the specific design until I was able to get to know more of the client. I'm going to mix this metal and paste into five liters of water. The first step is surface preparation. It needed to be clean dry and evenly absorbent and smooth. Then the materials and adhesive to be used. As per the label I only need five liters of water for heavy and thick wallpapers. It must be installed perfectly as possible so I make use of a line level laser as my guide in keeping the installation aligned since most of these walls were not really in perfect 90 degree angle. This is going to be my first time doing this. The challenge part is on how I'm going to be able to install the wallpaper on my own 2.4 by 3.5 meters. It'll be a full one piece nine square meter wallpaper as I wanted it seamless. Faithfully following the instructions from the paste and wallpaper suppliers I started applying the paste on both wall and wallpaper. My plan is to start from the upper left corner overlapping at least an inch then unrolling to the right corner but it wasn't as easy as I thought it was that my first attempt failed. For the second attempt I folded the wallpaper in two. My idea here is also to start on the upper left corner and hang the upper part then work my way down but it was again an epic fail. Finally I admitted with this size I could not do it on my own and realized it would have been easy if I did three panels but I still want it seamless still. Glad Milk came in with me that day so I asked for her help. I just needed to stick and hang the upper part so I can easily work on the adjustments. The paste dries slower than usual so I took advantage of it by eliminating the imperfections. Finally the third strategy worked with some help. Then I work my way down making sure the wallpaper is properly stretched out and everything are properly in place and smooth with less to no bubbles. I also make sure to secure the corners and edges by reapplying the paste then I trimmed off the excess from all ends. I left it to dry for four to eight hours after installation then sealed the edges and corners with a paintable clear sealant to secure the corners and edges. Track lighting was also one of the unit owners wish list. I thought it would also perfectly fit the industrial MCM style. This lighting method is very flexible because it allows you to position the track system in different layouts. For this project I wanted to create a showroom coffee shop vibe for the living so my idea is to create a square layout above it to make the area feel more open therefore creating the illusion of space. By the way I would like to thank all of you watching my videos. I was able to purchase two new additional tools this orbital sander and a detector that I could use for DIYs and future makeover projects because of your continued love and support to this channel. Going back since we're working on a budget I came up with a simple hack to replace the two tracks with a painted wood with the same matte black color of the tracks so we could still achieve the layout that I want without the additional costs. I already anticipated this would happen to the connection for our track lighting since we are not going to do drop ceiling to hide the wirings but I already have an initial solution in mind which is to cover it with a UPVC wire molding. Here I needed to double check this spot before drilling and completely install the square shaped track system to avoid hitting a wire since the spot is very close to the smoke detector. With due consideration on the size of the space and the power capacity I installed three track lights on parallel ends with the purpose of illuminating the tv area on one side while highlighting the wallpaper mural on the other side. My initial plan was to cover the wiring with a UPVC wire molding but I tried a sample of it and I don't like that it's quite noticeable especially the shadow that it creates. Dropping the ceiling was out of option as previously mentioned since it'll be out of budget and it will fall under major renovation work. My practical solution is to cover it first with duct tape, then wire mesh, then wall putty creating a much rounded cover to camouflage it then painting it over with the same flat white used for the ceiling. It does not create much shadow that you won't actually notice it on the actual unless I'll point it out. For the dining area my idea is to make it a little cozy by installing a pendant light on top of the dining table. I also wanted it to have this layered effect with our living area's track lightings. The provision for the kitchen lighting won't fall directly to the center of the dining and is much closer towards the kitchen so I came up with this idea to sort of create an exposed wire effect by adjusting the pendant light using a stainless steel ceiling hook that I got online. By the way, I got the pendant light from Nord Lux and installed a tricolor bulb that the owner can change by turning on and off depending on the use and client's mood. The original design idea for the TV area is to install a long floating shelf but I asked Drew if I could change it to a TV cabinet instead to also add some storage space. I like this cabinet's clean line and warm wood tone plus it has plenty of storage spaces with two drawers and cabinets. I needed to position the TV cabinet first before installing the TV so I would be able to space it properly with the dining and specifically with the sectional sofa. The size of the TV is also carefully thought of with due consideration of the unit size and distance from the sofa. Choosing the perfect TV size for your space is not only for aesthetic purposes, it is also important to have the right size and distance for an optimal viewing experience. On here, I chose to install a 50-inch TV. They say rooms don't get bigger to accommodate larger TVs so find the right size for your space. I always love giving an interesting dimension to a space. Adding this 80-centimeter diameter Linbin mirror from IKEA simply elevates this space. Oftentimes, people think that creating dimension in a room means just filling it with stuff but that isn't true. It's not about having things, it's about what you have and where you put it. Creating a cohesive looking space is always a challenge especially if you're working on a budget. Oftentimes, I found nice items but the finish does not fit with the style of the space. Whenever I'm in this kind of situation, I don't replace them right away and instead create solutions by upcycling them. One example is this gold lamp. I love the style but the color won't fit the theme so I painted it over with black and it now looked elevated and cohesive with the space. This next DIY is one of my favorites. I've been seeing a lot of this on Pinterest and interior design pages. We are going to create a plinth or some would call this as pedestal in concrete finish to also complement our overall style. A plinth made of travertine would cost me around 25,000 pesos but this one would only cost a fraction of the total cost of less than 2,000. I'm creating this out of marine plywood that is already pre-cut based on my desired dimension. I also wrapped it with a fiberglass wire mesh for the concrete finish to durably adhere to it. By the way, we'll be using the same product I used on creating the cement finish wall. I did two coats to fully cover the wood. I also gave it a not so polished application of the mixture as I wanted this plinth to look a little organic. Next project is our cement ball paperweight. Using a 12 centimeter diameter styrofoam balls usually used for craft making, I did five coats for this. To make it as a perfect paperweight ball, I applied the cement finish mixture about these five times to add weight to it. For our last DIY, we are creating three cement panels out of a customized one by four feet canvas panels with plywood backing. This is going to be very easy. We just need to fully cover the canvas. Two to three coats for this one would be enough. My idea for this is to make it as a concrete cladding creating a sort of gallery wall style with the TV and make it a little interesting instead of just the TV or the usual claddings. I leave all of our cement finish decor to fully dry for two days then sand it to remove those sharp and unpleasing parts. Then applying two coats of the top coat for that additional protection and added durability. Last phase before the styling is to finally complete some needed items for installation. Instead of the usual metal or glass, I went for the painted wooden black for our shelving unit and covered the under part with contact paper in gray to achieve a modern industrial look. For the bathroom, we're installing this mirror with shelving. This caused me a little delay as it initially ran out of stock and was only made available days before our extended reveal. I almost overlooked this part so this was actually covered a day before the reveal. I'm using a gray contact paper to cover the cabinet door the same color as the under part of our shelving unit to make it more cohesive. When I painted one of the walls with charcoal black, I already had this in mind to make it as a backdrop for this Vit's Joe shelving unit from Ikea. My idea here is for the shelving to blend with the wall and for the items to be displayed as the main highlight. For the sofa, we initially decided for a different style in a sort of midnight blue color but it got sold out before we were able to finalize the contract. I proposed to have this as our option as the size and style would also perfectly fit this space and is very flexible. The console part of this sectional sofa can be adjusted on either ends depending on your preferred space orientation. I decided to put the console on the left side complementing our shelving unit. Curtains are wonderful elements at home which greatly enhances the ambience and style of the space while also functions as protection from sunlight, filter from airborne particles, and your home privacy. To make the space look bigger and cohesive and also to complement the overall style of the space, I went for light gray and white combination for the curtains. If you notice, the red was installed as high as possible to make the space look high ceiling. I also extended both ends to make the windows appear to be bigger than the actual size. These are simple tricks you can also do at home to elevate the overall look of your space. One of the best ways to define or anchor a space is with an area rug. When there's no natural division between rooms, area rugs can be used to create them. Area rug can help anchor the furniture in a room which helps to create a cozy intimate space. For example, this living room rug should be large enough to fit the sofa, action chair, and coffee table or at a minimum have the front legs on the rug. Without the rug, it can feel as though the furniture is floating in the room. For the final piece is this foldable table set that I got online. Its design is very functional and at the same time stylish. My only concern is it looks boring having all parts in the same wood color. So I actually have this chair upcycled to make it look more sophisticated and would perfectly complement the space. I will put the link on the description box if you haven't watched my DIY video for this one. While doing the space plan for this unit, aside from creating a cohesive looking space, I make sure that aesthetics and functionality blend well together. A properly designed space plan for dining and living gives room for individual activities as well as social accommodations when needed. With this in mind, I also want the owner to be proud of this space as it brings positive energy and vibe to people. It is a crucial part of the home that symbolizes strength, status, power, unity, and a community with family and guests. That being said, I wish to thank Drew for trusting me with this makeover and for giving me the creative freedom while keeping in mind his wish lists. I hope I did not deviate much from his style and design statements as I took inspirations from his collections and interests. And please let me just share my thoughts on always feeling like having an old friend from a new person with every project that I do and that it gives me this feeling of excitement and comfort with every result thereof. Most importantly, when I see joy and satisfaction from client friends. Stay tuned for the second part as we convert the adjacent 30 square meter studio unit into Klein's dream bedroom. Thank you guys so much for watching. See you next time.