Video Terry Elisabeth June 15, 2020

Here is my small southern California studio apartment before and after tour! My apartment is a little over 400 square feet, and I sure maximized every inch of this space with lovely furniture and decor on a super small budget!

Are you ready to get your spaces in order and take control of your financial future? Click here for access to my freebie library!

The Before Pictures

Let’s be honest … at first glance, this apartment did not appeal to me at all. You can see why in these pictures that were taken from the rental advertisement.

view of empty small studio apartment from entrance with refrigerator facing away from the kitchen and into the living area; at the end of the building, you see the floor subdivided into a tiled and carpeted area; small studio apartment tour before and after
This is the view upon entry to the apartment (check out the refrigerator facing away from the kitchen).

Upon entering this studio, it is immediately apparent that the apartment is even smaller than the pictures depict.

Immediately after entering, the bathroom is to the left.

view of bathroom from doorway which includes a small vanity and medicine cabinet; small studio apartment tour before and after
Yes, the vanity cabinet was peeling (see bottom left).
view of the shower past the toilet; the shower is relatively large for this small studio
The one thing that is surprisingly large about this studio is this shower.

Continuing the tour, just passing the awkwardly placed refrigerator is the tiny kitchen.

view of the kitchen with the refrigerator separated from the kitchen area; small studio apartment tour before and after
You will notice a slant in the floor at the entrance to the kitchen (so … no, we could not turn the refrigerator).

If you look closely at the countertop at the front, you can see a lightened spot. Somehow, the finish of the faux granite countertop had rubbed off. On the rest of the countertops were knife marks. And, then there is that weird gap on the refrigerator wall where that darker block of paint is which is making the refrigerator look even more set apart and out of place. Why? Why is there this random color-blocking?

Here is a closer look at the carpeted area near the rear of the apartment.

view of the carpeted area to the rear of the apartment
Did you notice how each of the window blinds is a different finish and material?

And, we have one more space to the left.

view of the nook with a closet which is also in the carpeted area at the rear of the apartment
Did you notice the low ceiling?

When my daughter and I saw this little nook, we figured this would end up being all closet space or office space.

The After

With my new place completely transformed, it’s fun to write this blog and joke about the awkward before pictures. Seeing the potential for this place in the drab before pictures is understandably impossible for most. However, as you can see in the after pictures, this place became surprisingly cheery!

collage of pics of Terry Elisabeth's apartment after it has been furnished and decorated displaying the vast difference in this small studio apartment tour before and after
You can find detailed pictures in the previous blog posts along with the full tour in the video linked above.

While this post series (my previous post was all about my daughter’s tiny bedroom) is an overall tour of each room/area in our tiny studio, I will eventually go into more detail about the organization of each room/area in detail. I hope you enjoyed my small studio apartment before and after tour!

In my next post, I share all about my favorite cleaning tools. If you have been inspired by my clutter-free tiny living room, office, kitchen, dining area, bathroom, laundry room, master bedroom, and my daughter’s bedroom on a budget so far, be sure to gain access to my freebie library here so that you can get your spaces in order and take control of your financial future!

Happy Organizing!

Terry Elisabeth, Creator of “Terry Elisabeth’s Lifetime Budgeting System” &
Author of “How to Organize Any Space in 7 Simplified Steps“