Simple Updates Saved This Designer Thousands on Her Renovation

Original article posted at Architectural Digest by Carly Olson.

In 2011, when Leslie Barrett purchased an apartment in a modernist Allyn Morris building, she knew she was buying into the architect’s vision. Built in 1972, what Leslie calls the “Corbusier-meets-California” structure is nestled into a hillside above Los Angeles’s Echo Park Lake. The project was conceived as ambitious, low-cost housing, and even Morris himself once lived in her unit, which offers expansive views and outdoor terraces that make the two-bedroom, one-bath space feel larger than its 900 square feet. But Leslie’s love for the space didn’t mean it was immune to a necessary refresh. As the cofounder and partner of interior design firm Studio Sucio, Leslie was an ideal steward to re-enliven the important space. (Previously, she was a project architect at RCH Studios and director of design for Kelly Wearstler, working on hospitality projects.) Sucio is Spanish for “dirty,” which, for the firm, means open to different influences—Leslie uses the words “impure” and “contaminated” with pride. “Our philosophy is about a kind of découpage of elements and ideas,” she explains, not super stylized or bound by rules.