While renovating a 6 unit apartment building in Rockford, Illinois we found that residents appreciated having different finishes in their apartment.
The floor plans in this building are mirror images with external entry to each unit. This is definitely appealing to our residents and creates an element of privacy.
The main differences in each unit were the hardware finishes, countertops, and flooring.
For most units we painted the cabinets white. Of course that was the trend to help make the space look larger and brighter.
This is the first unit, which turned out great besides going way over budget. There are always lessons learned when renovating multiple units. We were able to learn from our mistakes and stay within budget in the other units. In the bathrooms, we were able to find a modern vanity with the faucet included from Home Depot, which we used throughout the remaining units.
Another cost-saving alternative was refinishing the tub…I was skeptical at first but this proved to be a great solution to replacing the pink tubs we encountered in this building!
This was the only unit where we painted the cabinets a dark brown. The residents who moved into this apartment loved the finished look. I think the brown cabinets went well with wood tones in the laminate flooring. After the first couple of apartments…and a discontinued light fixture, we also started to change out the light fixture to make the kitchen feel unique.
The countertop in this unit did not turn out the way we envisioned. We added a multicolored backsplash to pick up some of the woodtones in the floor (although you can’t tell it from the pics). This helped to balance the room and was also appealing to potential tenants.
Creating one of a kind apartments isn’t as time or cost intensive as it might seem. Keeping a list of ‘go to’ items and then rotating and mixing and matching them goes fairly smoothly. We’ve found that different apartment designs are extremely appealing to tenants and it’s fun to design and see a variety of completed projects for us too!
