Working within a limited budget, Israeli interior designer Eliat Dar has renovated and extended a small 60-year-old Jaffa apartment using affordable materials and built-in furniture.

The 50-square-metre apartment, which was purchased by its owners as an investment, is due to be rebuilt in three years but will be let out to tenants in the meantime. With this in mind, the owners did not want to invest too much money in its refurbishment.
Working within a very low budget, Dar made minimal structural changes and used inexpensive materials to complete the project.

"Since it was not clear who would be the tenants, it was decided that the apartment would have to fit both a family and single tenants," said the designer. "the main goal was to create an open, bright and airy 'loft' and with a pleasant, spacious and modern public space including a wide range of storage possibilities." The wall between the lounge and the apartment's closed balcony was removed to create a larger living space, and a built-in padded window seat that spans the entire width of the room was added.

Some of the apartment's original features, such as a concrete post and a brick wall, were kept and restored in order to preserve its character. Meanwhile others were replaced, such as the flooring, which was swapped for whitewashed oak-coloured laminated parquet laid in a herringbone pattern.
Due to budget constraints, Dar was unable to move the sewage receptor from its original location, so...