Inside ‪@handyman.graham‬ 281 Sq Ft Mid-Century Modern Apartment

Hello? Graham, it's me. Oh my god, Alexandra, is that you? It is. I'm in the neighborhood. How the hell are you? I've been so great, but I haven't seen you in forever. You want to come in and take a look and see how the makeover's holding up? Yes, I would love to. Okay, great. You caught me at the perfect time. I just pulled the cookies out of the oven. I'm going to buzz you in now. Hi. Oh my god, it's so good to see you. It's been forever. What's up? Nice to see you. Okay. Come on in. Welcome back to my channel. I'm Alexandra. I'm Graham. And as you probably know, I made over Graham's entire apartment when we did it together. Graham is going to take us around his apartment, show us how he's been living in it the past couple months, anything you've changed. Let's start with the entryway. Okay. I actually think I want to know about the closet. So I do have some feedback on the doors. Oh, tell me. They're fantastic. Oh my gosh. No, yeah. Here. Can I do? By all means. Let's switch places. You all remember what the doors were like before? You could barely open them. And when you did open them, you could only open it halfway. Look at this. I can open this, the entirety of the closet, so I can reach every single corner. This closet is so organized. And these closet doors were not our original plan. Me and Alana had a different door in mind. If we did the Ikea doors, it would have been the same situation as before where it only opens halfway. Yeah. This way, I love how I can just access everything. And I just feel like the look of these doors, so great. All my friends compliment it. Love it. Okay. This shoe cabinet. So for those of you who don't know, Graham took an Ikea Hemnes unit and totally customized it. This might look like real wood, but it's actually vinyl wrap. And then he also made a custom top for it. If you haven't seen that video, I will link it up here. He actually inlaid a charger. Are you using it? Oh yeah. I've got my room spray. Oh, did I give you this? Yes. Oh. And then you also gave me these sunglasses. So it's like a place to like put sunglasses. I never charge this anywhere else. I just throw it on here when I get home from work. And then shoes. Yeah. Gym shoes. Leisure shoes. Yeah. Are those flip-flops? Work shoes. These give me the ick so bad. They're croc flip-flops? Yeah. Running shoes. But not just for shoe storage. Do you run wearing those? No. These are for speed, all right? If you put these on, that's how you know it's going to be a fast run. Lastly, the vinyl wrap is like holding up like the day I put it on. If you told me this was real wood, I'd believe you. Storage. Are you using that storage up there? I use it all the time. Okay, I love that. Look at this. Don't even need to get on my tippy-toes. Yeah. See, I would need a ladder. Yeah. There's three bins up here. Yeah. So this is my nice hats. So I did find this in a dumpster. Oh. I was going to put it on. No, but I washed it, though. Anyways, these are like my nice hats. Okay? You won't let me put it on? Work hats and work gloves. What are work gloves for? To put on your hands? I don't know. There's no need to smell. Do you wear them out of the... Ew. Do you need work gloves in your entryway? Okay. These are not the questions to be asking right now. Okay. Work... So work gloves and hats. Work hats. Yeah. And then these are hats that I don't wear. They're just like... Collectibles. Yep. I've always wanted to be one of those... He's not letting me try on the hats. Okay. I'm really glad that that's hat storage. That's awesome. I'm a man that wears many hats, so... Okay. And how are you liking the colors and style? I love the color. Like, everybody compliments it. It creates, like, a little moment here. Yeah. I agree. One thing that I wish I had have done with the paint is carry it onto the bathroom door and onto the bathroom trim. In my mind, when I was designing this space, I thought, well, the bathroom is its own space. But then seeing the afters, I'm like, I wish I had have just painted it all out. But I guess we can always do that. Yeah. I think it looks great. Thanks, Graham. Let's head to the bathroom. Do you have to go? Okay. You know how I've built an entire career out of renting and making over people's rentals? I am now in my mid-30s, and I'm going to be honest with you guys. I started this channel in my mid-20s, and now that I'm a bit older, my friends are moving out of the city. They're buying homes. Some of them are buying homes in this city. To be completely transparent, even though it looks so glamorous on YouTube, sometimes I feel like maybe I'm falling behind. I know so many of you watching this video right now can probably relate to that feeling, whether you are single. Maybe you don't have kids. Maybe you don't know if you want to get married. Maybe you're not married. Maybe you don't own a home. Maybe you never want to own a home. And yet somehow you feel like everyone else is doing this thing. Maybe I should too. It makes me kind of emotional. But for me, check-ins with my therapist on a weekly basis fully help me get over those feelings and feel more confident in the decisions that I am choosing to make with my life. That is why I am so happy that BetterHelp is sponsoring today's video. A therapist will listen, they'll ask you questions, and they'll help you to see things from a different perspective. Truly, I will go to a therapy appointment, my brain will feel so chaotic, and I'll come out feeling like, wow, I just feel so much more at ease, less anxious, and just clear in my thinking. BetterHelp is on a mission to make starting therapy that much easier. All you have to do is fill out a questionnaire and you'll be paired with a therapist in as little as a couple of days. You can also easily switch therapists at any time for no cost if your therapist isn't the right fit. With over 7,000 reviews and a 4.3 rating on Trustpilot, BetterHelp is a platform that you can trust. Click the link in my description box or go to betterhelp.com slash gator to get 10% off your first month of therapy. I have to say, I really love this room. I love it. I saw a lot of comments about the mirror being too low. The reason why the mirror's this height, we didn't want the mirror to be right underneath the sconce. When I'm shaving, brushing my teeth, I'm always just leaning over anyways, so I'm always at perfect height, never had any issues with the mirror at all. Okay. I was ready to be like, let's move it today. Well, thanks for putting that to rest. And you guys, if Graham does want to move it up. I don't. I know, but if you do, it would be so easy for you just to move it up. If you guys haven't seen Graham's video, he did a whole DIY making this mirror. I love it. That's like $22 all in. Another thing that I saw a lot of comments about is this sink. Now, I did talk to Alana a lot about the size of the sink. And the reason we went for maybe a smaller sink is one, because this space is just small, but you really wanted a concrete sink. And this was the only one that was going to fit on the vanity. Alana and I were like, okay, it's a bit of a smaller sink, but he has more space to put things on the counter. Which I do. You should have seen the size of the sink I had in my last apartment. Okay. This is big in comparison. Really? Yes. I will say, just seeing it in this space, I think we could have gone for something bigger, but it wouldn't have been yellow and fun. Personally, I think the size of the sink is perfect for shaving because it fills up the basin, so I'm not wasting a ton of water. Okay. So it's a little bit more environmentally conscious. I know that might be a stretch for some people, but honestly, it makes me happy. I'm not wasting a ton of water. And secondly, yeah, there's a ton of space, so I can put my toothpaste, my floss, deodorant on the counter here. If there was a bigger sink, I wouldn't have room for that. So it does get a little splashy, but what I do is I just pop this cloth here, and it just prevents any mess. See, these are the things I know you guys want follow-ups on, and this is great. And this, also above the toilet, I feel like added so much storage for you. Yeah, I also saw some comments about the medicine cabinet opening the wrong way, but this cabinet can only open the one way. You can't switch the door over. I have zero issue with this. Whether or not the door opens on the right or the left, when it's not in use, it's always closed, so it'll always look good. Yeah. And then an upgrade here is that I put a backing to the drawer and put this anti-slip shelf liner in there. Love it. That's it for the bathroom. Let's go to my most favorite room in the house. The kitchen. I love this kitchen. I just feel like this kitchen was such a 180 from where we started. Do you like it as much as I do? I love it. Dream kitchen. Anytime I see pictures of your space, I'm just like, these floors are so great. They just pop. I think the people want to know, are they holding up? Yeah, they're holding up great. We love wall pops because they're a bit thicker. These are individual tiles, so I think that's probably why these are also holding up. Any damage that happens to a single tile, you can just replace it easy with a hairdryer. So you would just pull the tile up. Reinstall it. I would say if you are going to do this floor yourself, order a couple of extra tiles so that you can replace them. This fridge, a work of art. If you guys have not checked out Graham's video, please go watch it. We'll link it right here. Click it. I was truly floored when I walked in and saw this. Pardon me? This is wild. And these handles, just absolutely stunning. I was worried about the durability of the handles, but I'm pretty aggressive with it and it's fine. And the vinyl looks like it's brand new. So easy to clean. Wow. Amazing. One thing I didn't really foresee before the makeover was, I had always envisioned a little coffee station here, but then when I got planning, I was like, oh my gosh, she has all these coffee accessories. And so I needed to put your kettle up there. Do you bring them down when you're making coffee? No. I grab my coffee. Yeah. Measure my beans. Yeah. And then I pop it up top. Sorry, you being tall is really so right. Yeah. So the kettle, yes, it is unsafe to have boiling water high up. I'm aware of the dangers there. I'm also like pushing my hand on a table saw like an inch away from a spinning blade. Like I'm aware of like many dangers in my line of work. I'm very careful when I use the kettle and I am tall enough so I can see if it's on, if it's off, if it's on or not. And no one else is using it. So it's just me. I'm really happy it's working for you. Love that you got flowers. They're pretty, right? These are actually my favorite flowers. No way. I don't know how you knew. You also made some cookies in your new air fryer. Yeah. I'm obsessed. They're looking a little burny. Cheers. Hard as a rock. Your batch last week? Perfect. I made cookies last week. I used the proper oven. Oh my gosh. And when I made these in the air fryer, I didn't realize the frickin' air fryer function was on. So they just got blasted. They taste good. They do taste good. The flavors there. They just might chip a tooth. I might need to wash it down with some coffee. That was really good. Yeah. The walnut really pops when you're burnt. It's kind of like that smoky flavor, you know? Okay. Moving on. Okay. It looks like you've added a couple appliances. Love the KitchenAid. I'm in my baking era. He really is. The kitchen has inspired me to spend more time here and actually bake. That makes me want to, I don't know, cry a little bit. And then you changed the light. Changed the light. I did love the battery-powered light that you put there. But I moved it to the living room for a good reason. So I just brought back the old light that I had here to begin with. Cool. Baskets. Do you use them? I honestly do not remember what's up here. Oh. Okay. No, I was actually wondering where these were. My tennis balls. Because it's tennis season. Sewing kit. So, yeah. I'm actually going to keep that down. Okay. Oh, and then you added this plant, it looks like, too. It seemed like something was just missing from this area. I love this kitchen so much. I'm so happy you got to be in it. Also inspiring your baking era. Like, I couldn't ask for anything more. You found your tennis balls. It's meant to be. Let's move on to the living room, which some of you have dubbed your most favorite makeover we've ever done on the channel. Wow. Okay, so people love your living room. I can understand why. It's cozy. It's warm. I always say this, but sometimes it's like the smallest things that make the biggest difference, and I feel like this door is the perfect example of that. It totally added so much character to the space. When I found it on the sidewalk, I was like, this is something special. And the fact that I was able to take this amazing sidewalk find and put it in my apartment is so satisfying. Do you mind if I show you just how, like, spacious and organized this is now? Okay, wow. And it's large in part due to the door. Why is that? I'm so glad you asked. So, I went to the dollar store and I got these brass hooks. Okay, love it. Sweaters, work jacket. This is not mine, but other people's jackets. If you look over here, there was some hooks here before, but now I have my mop, broom, vacuum, which I need to bring back to the workshop. Wow. The AC is in here. Clothes. Oh, and then I wave. The light. Yeah, motion sensor. What's up there? Towels, sheets. Don't remember. I'm, dare I say, super proud of you. Thank you. They're truly, like, this is so great. Also, I love that you were able to add more storage onto the back of the door with those hooks. That's great. Also, I added that shelf up there. This was a last minute decision because I thought you needed more storage. So, do you have your extra cameras up there and stuff? Yeah. Let's see what we got here. I kind of forget. CDs and tapes. Oh. Because, you know, of course. Of course. But it looks great up there. Love it. We can't skip over this beautiful table. I think this is my favorite DIY you've ever done. Thank you. Are you finding that you're keeping the table down? I keep it down 99% of the time. I just love the way it looks when it's down. Nothing against the Mona Lisa. But I don't know what I would do without this because, like, I just move this off to the side. Yeah. I pop this up. Yeah. Fold the chairs, put them out of the way, and I can clean, like, under the table. It makes just cleaning a lot easier. And then that's why you used that light over here, which I think works. So you can actually move it around when you're folding the table up. There wasn't any electrical on the wall. Having the battery-powered light here is great for eating late at night. One thing I missed that I was reflecting on after is I think using this wall to hang your chairs would have been a great solve. I know that's the idea, but I always have these chairs out. I never put them away. Got it. If you guys missed Graham's DIY video, he shows you how he made this table. He also shows you how he installed it into the wall. Obviously, if you live in a rental, this probably isn't possible. We did it because Graham knows how to reverse it if he needs to. But it was fun that we got to experiment with that in your space, because we don't usually get to do that. I noticed you added storage under the sofa, which is really smart. Every guy's got a box of cords, right? It's a lot of cords. What? What are those for? In the event that there's an apocalypse and someone needs to charge their phone. You'll be the guy. I got you. Okay. Where were those cords before, though? Because, like, I didn't see them. These are all my wires. And what are the wires for? Oh, in the crates up top. Yeah, you got it. Cool. Okay, well, I'm glad you found a solution. Great tip. Under sofa storage. What, to keep all the cables? Not cables, necessarily, but just... I think that's a great tip, too. Okay. Is this your fan? It's an air purifier. Oh, love that. Yeah. Is that why it's not dusty in here anymore? No, it's super dusty, yeah. Oh. It's because I come home from the workshop... Great. When I come home from the workshop, I'm wearing my overalls covered in wood dust, having a little air purifier there is nice, and it just adds, like, a little white noise in the background. Record station. Yeah, so I put a lava lamp there. It's just kind of like the vibe, 70s vibe, you know? Nostalgic. Yeah. I have to say, I'm most proud of this edition. I've got a lot of friends that listen to vinyl. Yeah. They come over, and they love this setup. They're cool friends. But it's actually, like, I got a couple new records, so it's, like, kind of made me want to listen to vinyl. You're truly a case study in, like, why I do what I do. Because I just feel like when your space is cluttered, when things just aren't, like, thought out and intentional, you just use them less. And my goal was to make you feel good in your space. I could be studied. Truly. I love it. Let's head into the bedroom. I love your bedroom. Wow. I love that you said wow as it was the first time you were seeing it. Every time I enter this room, it's, like, the first time I ever see it. I personally love the paint color. I know I chose it, but it's just different than any color we've used. But the people want to hear from you. Yeah. I mean, everyone has their preferences on color. Like, what's your favorite color? I just have to change something. No. Sorry. The... The zippers? Yeah. Just leave them. Leave them. The zippers are all upside down. I'm sorry. It's really bothering me. I love the paint color. Okay. I love the dusty green. Literally, when I was painting it, I was like, this is amazing. No one would ever say anything negative about it. Let's talk about your bed. I was a little nervous about adding a headboard because I didn't want it to block the glass too much. But I think it works. Do you miss the non-fluted glass? No. When it's, like, getting dark and you can start to see the headlights and the taillights of cars going by, it's really quite amazing to sit on the other side of that. It's, like, very golden. I love it. With, like, different colors. Yeah. It's really cool. That's cool. But it still lets a lot of light through. Yeah. Which is great. One thing I would probably change if I had to do this bedroom over again, I think I would have gone for a bigger dresser. We really wanted to thrift something. Because of timelines, we had to go with something a bit smaller than I would have liked. Yeah. I do love this unit. I do agree. It's a little small, but I love how much stuff I can put on it. Yeah. And it's really nice. I just think this size, maybe a tiny bit wider, a bit taller, just to give you some more storage. So maybe that's something we do down the line. If anything, I just need to get rid of stuff, and then it won't be so jam-packed. I think one of my favorite changes to your bedroom, from a functional perspective, is the window treatment. We did these beautiful bamboo shades, but then we also did the fluted peel-and-stick privacy film. I drove past your house on Saturday and could not see... Uh... No, like, on my way somewhere, and could not see anything. She literally sent me a photo of her waving and stopped out front. That's true. I feel like from a functional perspective, before, it was so exposed. Everyone could see in. The natural fiber Roman shades are really great, because they still let a lot of light through. I do like to have them up for the plants. At night, you should pull them down, and they're super easy to put up and down. Okay, one last find I wanted to highlight is this bedside light. Graham was supposed to DIY a side table, and it didn't end up fitting, so we went for something on the floor. But this light is so great, because it's USB-powered. Because I couldn't put a bedside light for you, I just thought that was a really good find. I love it. Does it give you enough light for reading? Totally. And it's really nice when there's no other lights on in the room, and it's just this little guy. It's very, very pretty. Glowy. Yeah. Okay, well, I think that wraps up. No, it doesn't. Oh. Do you know how I clean the apartment, usually? I'm guessing with a vacuum? That's correct. But where's the vacuum? I don't know. Hey, Google, turn on vacuum. No. There's no way. Hey, Google, turn off vacuum. I need one of those, I think. On that note, thank you guys so much for watching this series. This series was wildly successful, but I also so enjoyed doing this with you. Aw, thanks. Yeah, it was really nice. We just had so many more liberties that we could take. So many more laughs. So many more hashbrowns. So many more hashbrowns and coffee and Uncrustables. Live premiering the episodes was so... I'm doing typing, because chatting with you guys was so fun. Thank you guys so much for watching. Thanks for coming. Thanks for having us. Oh, I was talking to the camera. I was just saying thanks for having us, everyone. We will see you next time. Thanks so much. Bye. Okay. Great job. Oh. Thanks for coming. Should I see myself out? Yeah. I'll get you to the door. Bye. Okay, bye. You too, Carla. Can I have a cookie, though? Yes. Thank you. Bye. Thanks. Bye. You should have seen the size of my sink and... Sorry. The size of my sink. What is with this coughing? I gotta run a marathon in a week and a half. Okay. I'm not sick. Yeah. You got stuff in your teeth. All right. I had a feeling. Yeah. No. Hold on. I got it. Yeah. Okay. No, that's okay. Okay. He's so excited about it. He just love it. Shh.