Interior stylist and designer Merie Subryan always wanted a home with character. In 2016, Merie’s husband, Alex Sierra, a sound and retail display designer, walked past a former piano factory in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, that was advertising an 850-square-foot loft condo. Before viewing the home, the couple hoped to find the period elements and architectural finishes that Merie loves, only to discover that the apartment’s original details had been stripped and replaced with a generic aesthetic, aside from one large column that remained from the original floor plan. Ultimately, the 12-foot-high ceilings, abundance of natural light, huge street-facing windows, and sole remaining original column won Merie over. “I was really excited and felt like this was a project where I could bring back the integrity of the home while making it a warm, creative, and inspiring place for my kids to be in,” she says.

Within a week of closing, the couple found out that they were soon to welcome their first child and realized they would need to reimagine their home’s layout. “When our daughter was born, we really had to home in on what was important to us, and a big one for me was having a small carbon footprint,” says Merie. She and Alex saw the potential for their one-bedroom to accommodate their family for years, with the right tweaks.

Over time, they decided to give their daughter their massive bedroom and convert a living room nook into their sleeping space, swapping out their king-size bed for a full-size one. When the family expanded further with a baby boy, the couple tweaked their home a bit more. In the bedroom, they created a nursery/office on one side of the room, with the other side devoted to their daughter’s bedroom. They added an acrylic divider with an opening—affectionately known as the “portal”—that allows the kids to move between the spaces.

Merie and Alex didn’t have a specific budget in mind when revamping their home but wanted to invest in new and vintage designer pieces and custom furniture designed by Merie and built by Alex to create a sustainable and long-lasting home. Purchases included the Ekstrem chair by Danish designer Terje Ekstrøm for roughly $4,000, a vintage J-149 sofa by Erik Ole Jørgensen for around $1,400 (reupholstered for $815), vintage Moroccan rugs for $800, and a vintage lamp by Giuseppe Cormio for iGuzzini for $400.

$24,637

Living Room

$1,499

Bed Niche

$2,560

Kitchen

$530

Phoenix's Room

$1,080

Nursery/Office

$800

Rugs Throughout

Grand Total: $31,106

In the kitchen, the couple removed some cabinets, painted those that remained, and added concrete plaster themselves. They also added stainless-steel legs to their kitchen island. Bought for $2,600, shelving in the kitchen, nursery, and living room allowed the family to utilize the apartment’s considerable vertical space without compromising the natural light.

Having mastered the art of finding configurations that adapt to the family’s needs, Merie and Alex have no plans to move into a bigger home, even as their kids grow. “I think our space is big enough to still be close but also have privacy,” Merie says. “And I love our loft and really like the neighborhood. We have everything around us, all our friends are near, and it’s a great place to have kids.”

Project Credits:

Designer: Merie Subryan / @merie_subryan

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Budget Breakdown: For $31K, a Brooklyn Family Makes Room for All in an 850-Square-Foot Apartment