How to turn a “granny apartment” into a modern and stylish home: without a lot of effort and money

You shouldn't think that Soviet apartments are absolutely hopeless.

According to the expert of the online publication BelNovosti, designer Yulia Tychino, even a “granny” Khrushchev-era apartment can be made stylish and modern with the help of a few steps.

Don't worry, they won't take much of your time or money.

Restore furniture

Soviet furniture is high-quality and durable, so don’t throw away your old chests of drawers and sideboards, but rather repurpose them.

Here's an example: if you strip the paint off a worn-out dresser with a solvent, polish it with sandpaper, replace the hardware, and paint it, you'll end up with a unique piece of furniture.

Update your upholstered furniture

To give a sofa or armchairs a second life, it is enough to reupholster them with new fabric. The main thing is that their frame is strong. During the renovation, you can also replace the filler if the furniture is not very rigid.

Paint the walls

No amount of furniture can change the situation if the walls in the room look unpresentable.

The easiest way to transform a room is to remove the wallpaper and paint the walls – you don’t even have to level them to get original loft-style elements.

Paint the tiles

If finances do not allow replacing old tiles, simply paint them and renew the grout. To do this, sand the well-cleaned surface, apply primer, and finally paint.

Work on the kitchen

And again, paint will come to the rescue, which will give the kitchen cabinets a more beautiful and presentable look. When working on the kitchen, do not forget about the tiles on the apron, which would also be nice to update.

Leave the carpet

Vintage rugs are very popular and expensive these days, so consider placing one on your living room or bedroom floor after dry cleaning.

For reference

The first generation of Soviet standard industrial housing construction – sectional (less often corridor) large-panel and less often large-block, brick-block, volumetric-block multi-apartment residential buildings, series of which were developed in the USSR in 1955-1963.