A creative couple’s Silver Lake project was a hard lesson in construction costs and a fun experiment in sourcing secondhand finds.
Felipe Lima and Ash Fenton were quickly growing disillusioned with the Los Angeles real estate market. In search of a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home on the city’s Eastside, they found that move-in-ready listings were being snapped up, often for double the asking price.
Ash Fenton and Felipe Lima purchased a duplex in Los Angeles’s Silver Lake neighborhood and spent $98,340 revamping its downstairs unit.
Photo by Roman Koval
So instead they started looking at fixer-uppers, and, in 2022, purchased a 1950s hillside duplex in Silver Lake with a trove of original, if not exactly in-vogue, features: linoleum floors, a 75-year-old gas stove, and tiles in color combos like pink and maroon and blue and cream. One of the units, a basement apartment with its own entrance, had the potential to evolve into a warm, inviting space for guests or renters—if Felipe and Ash could do something about its dark, cramped interiors.
Hay dining chairs were purchased on Craigslist from a restaurant that was going out of business.
Photo by Roman Koval
The kitchen cabinetry is Ikea and the orange handles are from an Etsy seller.
Photo by Roman Koval
See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: Their $98K Los Angeles Basement Reno Came In at More Than Double What They Planned
Related stories:
