How We Completed a Family Apartment Renovation in 3 Months

A secondary apartment in the Moscow region, Balashikha, which the young couple bought, had a "poor" renovation, according to the head of the family Boris. The only thing that attracted the future owners was the possibility to carry out their dream layout redesign.

Designer Ekaterina Fedyaeva was responsible for creating the layout plan. All work, from the design project to the final move-in with belongings, took three months. So, what exactly was accomplished in such a short timeframe?

Designed Storage Systems

The first priority in the new home was to learn from the mistakes of the previous apartment's organization and design storage systems for the many belongings of a large family. During the redesign, space was allocated for a large niche where a spacious wardrobe was placed on one side and a 60 cm deep cabinet on the other side. By the way, similar cabinets are also in the corridor and children's room. Thus, all belongings of this large family not only fit perfectly but even have extra space.

Quickly Decided on Color

To avoid wasting time on trials and errors and not having to repaint walls due to incorrect paint choice, they approached the selection of the right shade seriously: they visited the store for color matching several times, made color samples and applied them to different walls in the apartment. In every apartment, natural and electric light fall differently, so the same shade looks different in each one. The couple tried several gray options and chose the one that didn't darken or turn green. They were satisfied!

Invited Friends

To save time (and money!) on ordering expensive interior items, they reached out to friends in woodworking workshops. As a result, they got a bed, a shelf in the living room, and the main element of the hallway setting the tone for the entire apartment—a full-height mirror with a wild walnut slab frame.

Organized the Process from the Start

The most time-saving approach was: they bought the apartment with a view to future redesign, so that combining the kitchen and living room could be easily approved. They immediately hired a designer and planned the placement of partitions. After that, they finalized the redesign plan (this took only a week!) and handed it over to workers who "demolished" the old apartment and removed all waste in just two days.

Chose a Uniform Floor

Initially, they wanted to lay tiles in wet zones, but ultimately decided on engineered wood flooring throughout the apartment, even in the kitchen. The floor was finished with varnish and has not changed at all in two and a half years—even in the wet zone. This saved time on purchasing and installing various materials.

Did Not Complicate the Kitchen

The kitchen unit and ceramic sink were chosen from IKEA, and everything was delivered and assembled in a couple of days. The entire process, which usually takes months, was completed in just three days. The kitchen turned out practical and never failed. The design is still the same as we all love—Scandinavian.

Shared Responsibilities

Aida and Boris are a well-coordinated team. Both understood that the renovation needed to be done very quickly, so they organized themselves to the fullest. Each took on their own area of work (Boris handled the technical and engineering side, while his wife focused on design) and carried it through to completion. This allowed them to plan and implement several stages of the renovation simultaneously, which ultimately made the process twice as fast as it usually is for such a space.

Chose the Same Tiles

The same tiles as on the kitchen floor were used in the bathroom, and the bathroom floor was laid with the same tiles as the hallway floor. This saved time on material selection and logistics.

Watch the video we made about this family: