Going Swedish

The story begins in 2005. Lin was living in a late-1800s four-unit brick row house on a historic street near Central Square that seems to be a magnet for architects. “There are about half a dozen living nearby,” she says. “It’s both a community and a great location.” Lin had bought the building a decade before and had moved into the apartment that occupied the first and second floors. When she decided to buy a home in Brookline, she realized that her old apartment would need serious updating to be a proper rental. Lin, who was then working full time for a large firm, took on the project in her spare time, including a new kitchen.

Because the room is small and has only two windows, Lin, who has a master’s degree in architecture from MIT, was careful to maximize light and to create storage and working space as economically as possible. To save money, she bought many materials in a place you wouldn’t necessarily expect an architect to shop. “IKEA makes it easy to be budget-minded and good-looking, too,” she says. “I designed and drew up elevations and plans, then went there to pick out cabinets, building materials, hardware, and appliances.” Her bill came to about $7,500. “I even hauled a lot of it in my little hatchback, because we were in such a hurry to start,” she says.

Lin had interested renters, Marie and Arnaud Lucas, relocating from Texas before the job was done. To accommodate their work schedules, the couple moved in before the kitchen was finished. This turned out to be a boon for Lin, because they became active, helpful collaborators. Also invaluable, says Lin, was builder Roger Abrams of Cambridge, “the most creative carpenter I have ever worked with. There is never a joint out of place, which is why the kitchen looks so good.”

Lin’s scheme for the kitchen included using both birch-veneer and red-laminate panels from IKEA to cover some walls and cabinetry. Panels are butt-jointed, glued, and custom-edged in thin birch. Abrams suggested pre-finished black crown molding, baseboard, and wood trim, and Marie Lucas chose apple green for the remaining wall space. It was Lucas’s idea, too, to use a leftover strip of red paneling for the backsplash.

The expensive parts of this remodel were the finish-carpentry labor for such niceties as the curved, floating island countertop and Lin’s splurge on a $2,000 Viking range. Yet the total rehab cost, including plumbing, electrical work, floor sanding, painting, carpentry, appliances, and materials, came to about $19,300 -- a triumph, considering the room’s individuality and polish.

Since then, Lin has left the professional world of big architectural projects and started her own firm, Bigelow Design Concepts, where she’s happily specializing in small-scale residential jobs. “I’m most content working with clients in single- or two-family houses,” she says. “I love the personal collaborative process.”

Estelle Bond Guralnick is New England editor for Traditional Home magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com.