“We worked with basic and inexpensive materials such as the iron shelving in the kitchen, which was bought in an industrial park, pine wood boards, and affordable textiles,” they say.
In total, the cost of the renovation was less than 2,000 euros, although, if they had hired help (which, as architects, they would recommend) it would have come out closer to 10,000 euros, or less than $11,000, still a very reasonable price. The key to keeping within such a tight budget is to approach a renovation as they did: Carefully considering the best way to achieve the goals of the project and always finding ways to keep it limited in scale, keeping any demolition to a minimum (they removed only two partition walls), choosing to restore only part of the floor rather than the entire thing, and designing a kitchen with very basic materials, and no cabinets or drawers.
