An Airbnb Residential Loft Renovation in San Diego

Hi Everyone,

Greetings from 39,000 feet up in the air. Yes, 39,000 feet. I’m winging it back to New York from San Diego. And, we have 176 mph tail winds and are currently flying along @ 684 mph.

 

This post about an airbnb residential loft renovation was not the post I was going to do.

 

And, I began the post last Sunday when I was winging from east to west, going much slower. And, get this. My freaking authentic Apple Macbook charger was too small for the socket. And, since my laptop should’ve been replaced over a year ago, guess how long my battery lasted.

Blimey, sometimes I can’t catch a break.

 

What were you doing in San Diego, Laurel?

 

That’s a very good question. And, before we get into the urban residential loft renovation, I’ll tell you.

A few months ago, I signed up for a high-level internet marketing course with internet marketing wunderkind, NEIL PATEL!

Now, I realize that he’s not exactly a household name, however, his website gets several million page views a MONTH, so I’m betting good money that many of you do know who he is.

 

But, if you don’t. Neil Patel is a 34-yr-old entrepreneur who has created a conglomerate of businesses.

 

His company has seven offices in various cities and some 500 employees. Most of them are working with HUGE brands to create internet marketing plans for them.

 

Da boss – Neil Patel – Agency Unlocked January 2020 in a surreptitious photo I took while he was teaching us two days ago.

It is unheard of that they would ever be working with small potatoes like me. I mean, unless I wanted to pay them a million dollars or something like that. I don’t know what the least amount they will take is, but I can assure you that it’s way out of my budget. His businesses operates in the NINE figures category.  That’s hundreds of millions of dollars, in case you don’t feel like adding up a digit plus eight  zeroes.

 

So, when I saw the chance to sign up for this intensive, called Agency Unlocked, for a total of about $7k, I jumped at the opportunity to be able to work directly with Neil and his staff.

 

As part of the package, during the course of a year, there are three opportunities to work with the team in San Diego. And, there’s also going to be a retreat for a larger group in a warm, sunny spot, I understand.

I found out that there were 29 other people who also signed up for the Agency Unlocked program. Of that number, 18 said they were coming for the 2-day intensive workshop.

 

However, get this. Guess how many people actually showed up? Common’ take a guess.

 

Well, I won’t keep you in suspense.

Four. That’s how many people.

Four students.

Here we are. There are five, because the two people on the right work together. The delightful tall blond Debbie is the only one who lives in San Diego.

 

Neil is the young gentleman to my right. In case you can’t tell, he is super-duper nice. Very down-to-earth and genuine.

I had several pinch-me moments. Incredibly lucky!

That’s because, for two days I sat a few feet from and ate meals with Neil. In fact last night, at dinner, I sat next to him for two hours. Seriously, I had to restrain myself from taking a selfy of us. Of course, there were hours of instruction/information and four members of his staff put my website and social media through the ringer.

 

This was taken yesterday as we were finishing up two very full days. Please note that I have a permanent dent in my forehead from when I had this unfortunate accident.

From your standpoint, are you going to see any big changes around here?

No, you won’t. But, I did learn a lot of the new things which I can implement behind the scenes that will help people find my posts.

 

So, what’s with this urban residential loft renovation in San Diego, Laurel? It doesn’t sound like you’d have much time to do any interior design work.

 

You’re right. I didn’t.

However, I love staying at Airbnb places. I prefer the ones where you have the entire place. And, you usually get more bang for you buck than at a hotel.

I looked at numerous possibilities and ended up booking a place in the Little Italy section of San Diego that calls themselves “Urban Treehouse.”

How intriguing.

The photos looked interesting. Plus, the reviews were excellent. So, I booked it.

 

I arrived in San Diego last Sunday evening just after 9:00 PM local time.

 

Of course, that was midnight for me. And, as I was just too tired to work, I didn’t even try to. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in Cali. I forgot how different it is to the east coast. San Diego is now the 8th largest city in the US and has grown considerably since I was last there in 1977.

Nathan, the other half of Stephanie greeted me downstairs. And, like all airbnb folks, was as charming an affable as they come. He carried my Tumi bag up the five flights of stairs. And, we chatted for a few.

 

Nate mentioned something about starting a family soon.

 

He told me that this place was once his bachelor pad. And, I believe it. Although absolutely fine for my purposes, I told him I’d think about the possibilities if even two people wanted to live there. Could it be adapted for a family of three?

That might be difficult, but I do know of two families in Manhattan who each raised two children in a space, not much larger. But, a different layout.

 

I took photos the following evening. Between the workshop and dinner, I had about 90 minutes to kill, so I took these photos.

 

The front of the building. The loft is way up at the top. So, I guess that makes it the penthouse, as well.

 

Then, you go around to the back of the building to the red door.

 

Once through the door, you make a quick left and then, it’s up the 62 steps. That’s a good workout!

 

I made the trek five times during my stay. Not bad.

 

The front door with a lovely view greets you at the top of your trek.

 

Looking back at the front door once inside. It looks like autumn but this was taken on January 13th.

 

Here, you can see the very tiny kitchen.

 

A partial wall separating the living area from the bedroom.

 

The bedroom with the queen-sized bed turned sideways.

 

Nate cautioned me that this is only colored water in the bottles. This is a very clever solution to hide an ugly building across the way.

 

I don’t know what’s going on with that diagonal steel beam. And, i don’t know why the windows are smaller here.

 

One of the windows opens is a means of egress which goes out to a lovely balcony. The diagnonal beam is also on the exterior.

 

Another view from the balcony of the downtown area adjacent to Little Italy.

 

And, a stunning view of the port of San Diego from the balcony.

 

And, about 20 minutes later.

 

And, then, I forgot all about it, still thinking that I was going to do a different post deconstructing one of our favorite designers.

 

However, today, when I woke up, I though, I don’t know how I’m going to get that post finished in time for tonight. I enjoy posts like that, but they require a lot of time and energy.

But, how about if I tackle this 550 square foot urban residential loft renovation?

Just one problem.

No tape measure.

 

However, at the intensive, we were given a handsome leather bound note pad. I looked at it. Yes, it’s about 12″. As an aside, that was my breakfast to the right of the notepad. aç·a·i, they call it. It’s a berry that they turn into a kind of sorbet and then I added granola, a touch of almond butter and honey and berries. It’s frightfully yummy and refreshing.

Ah… those Californians really know how to eat. All the food I had while there, was INCREDIBLE!

But back to earlier today, with my “ruler,” I went around and “measured” the space.

 

I came up with a total space of about 23 feet x 24 feet. If I’m off by a few inches here and there, it’s okay for these purposes. The design is conceptual.

 

Oh, by the way, I asked Nate what this place would sell for if it was for sale.

He said about $800,000!

Now, I like what Nate had done. It’s sophisticated and charming. However, if two people are living there, there would not be nearly enough storage. And the kitchen is basically large enough to hold some beer in the fridge and warm up the take out pizza.

***

Okay, it’s nearly 10:00 pm and I just got home. That was a very fast trip! Very lucky.

 

But, just about 8 hours ago, I ran around with my notebook measuring the space.

And, then I counted the beams and used other visual cues to corroborate my measurements. I believe that they’re pretty close.

So, let’s first look at the urban treehouse floor plan, as is.

 

But, before I go over a few things, I want to make it clear that this is a very nice place to stay when visiting San Diego.

The purpose of this exercise is to see what could be done to make the space better.

The bathroom is fine as is.

However, the bedroom is a problem. Because the space is only about seven feet deep, the queen-sized bed on a wooden frame is turned sideways.

 

In addition, the living room is quite large.

So, what I wanted to achieve was to make the bedroom large enough to turn the bed so that we could have a headboard against the wall. To do so, I stole two feet from the living room and added it to the bedroom.

 

I also wanted to add a lot more storage.

 

This might be fine for a 29 yr old bachelor, but if it was a couple, there really is not enough storage.

Therefore, I added some chests to either side of the bed. And, another small dresser on the wall where there is currently a full-length mirror.

I also added a lot of lamps to the space. While the track lighting does an okay job, there are still some dark spots.

Then to the right of the closet which also included a stacking washer/dryer is a little work space. That is where the little wine bar is currently.

The biggest changes are in the living area, however.

 

 

 

Let’s begin with the kitchen.

 

I got rid of the island and instead put built-in counter space underneath the row of windows to the right of the front door. I figure that people living here are doing more casual dining. If there are more than two people, they could perhaps use a folding table/chairs.

I put in a 30″ range. It could still be a 24″ but there’s room now, for a larger range.

And, on the left side is a larger under counter fridge. You won’t see the top as indicated. To the left of the fridge is the sink. I love it when the sink is in front of a window.

To the left of that is an open counter-top height area for seating.

I added a sectional for lots of seating for relaxing and TV watching. Behind the sectional is a custom very long table. There I would display plants, pottery and some appropriate accessories. Nothing too cluttered.

 

Can we still keep the bottles? Probably not if we do the sofa table.

 

Then, I added built-in storage where the TV is. It could be open or closed. Or, some of both. The point is, that it adds some much needed storage space.

I’m really liking these changes! I think that for two people, this would be a charming loft space.

Oh, about the noise. There is a noisy restaurant across the street, but they’re gone by midnight. And, there’s the train and you can softly hear the planes which are coming in for a landing only about a mile away.

 

There is a lovely fan which also provides heat or air-conditioning.

 

And, one of those white noise machines. Between the two of those, they blocked out all of the noise. So, I was fine.

In addition, there are windows that block out sound. I’m sure that they are wildly expensive. My friend Lotte Meister has them in her New York City home.

I imagine someone reading this also has them installed.

For Lotte’s incredible home in Rye, NY click here.

 

I hope that you enjoyed a glimpse into my San Diego trip and some of the ideas I had for renovating an urban loft apartment.

Please don’t forget to vote for me for the Modenus Designhounds contest. You can vote once a day until 5:00pm on January 18th, 2020.

Thank you so much! I very much appreciate your support!

xo,

 

PS: please also check out the newly updated hot sales!