One young couple gave their designer free rein to enhance and maximize their space.
Written by Haley Longman
Design by Marina Cheban Interiors
Photography by GeoCV
Marina Cheban’s 30-something clients Leyla and Adam Bilali had three requests when gut renovating their Hoboken condo—create a ton of storage, add a third bedroom, and make sure everything is white on white on white. It wasn’t an easy task since they couldn’t increase the square footage of the space and found getting permits from The Hudson Tea Building’s board took longer than expected. But after a year-long renovation process once they purchased the home in August 2017, the end result was worth the wait, giving them the open, modern and bright 3-bed, 3-bath they were hoping for.
The first order of business was transforming bonus space next to the outdated galley kitchen into a guest bedroom. From there, they knocked down a wall, heightened the kitchen ceiling to match the high ceilings throughout the home, and converted the kitchen into an L-shape that completely opened up the living area. “Usually when people open up a kitchen they have it facing the living room horizontally, but Marina changed it to vertical to give us more space,” says Leyla. “I’m so happy we did that.”
The couple also trusted their designer with the cabinets. “I suggested we add double-height cabinets and a rolling library ladder and they were totally for it,” Cheban says. “I love clients that are totally game.”
The built-ins continued throughout the living room and into the master bedroom to maximize square footage (and cleverly cover the HVAC units), and two out of the three bathrooms were completely redone. “Leyla likes gold so we incorporated it in the guest bathroom,” Cheban says; they also stole some space from that large bathroom to build her a custom California Closet. Chrome Brizo fixtures and a mosaic marble floor were installed in the master bathroom and modern features like remote-controlled window treatments from The Shade Store were implemented throughout. “It’s a smart home,” Cheban adds.”You can control all the light switches from an iPhone!”
Then came the décor, inspired by a palette that was both color- and gender-neutral. “I don’t like the industrial look so we tried to add touches of color to make it less masculine,” says Leyla, who wanted pink accents, much to her husband’s dismay. “All white made it neutral. Adam was immutable to everything, as long as there was no pink!”
And though there were some minor compromises along the way, Leyla admits they couldn’t have gotten their dream home without Cheban’s insight—and the feeling was mutual. “I often work with couples on totally different playing fields,” Cheban says. “They’ve been together since high school so it was an easy process. She knew where she could push him. They were a pleasure.” And we’d say that certainly shows in their collaboration.