This Baker Turned a 1925 “Landlord Special” Rental into a Dreamy Home
Adrienne Breaux
·8 min read
Ashley Huston, the founder of DreamWorld Bakes, has been living in this 730-square-foot rental apartment in West Philadelphia for almost eight years. "Before I moved in, I would say the apartment looked old, bare, your typical run of the mill landlord 'special,'" Ashley begins. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Everything was painted some variation of white (each room a different shade, annoyingly), and the floors had some stain thrown on them. But there was so much potential: high ceilings, lots of space in all the rooms, especially the bathroom and kitchen, nice hardwood floors, and a big yard," Ashley continues. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"People always ask where I got the mounted deer head from," Ashley explains. "I got it from a friend who was moving, and she picked it up from a home sell. Score!" Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
Ashey says her proudest DIY happened when she "finally decided to paint my bedroom. It was during the pandemic, and I have been wanting to do it for years. I thought I was going to get into so much trouble with my landlord, but he was actually impressed!" Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"My belief is that if you paint your walls, you have to paint the ceiling as well. I think the current trendy term for that is 'color drenching,' which is right up my alley." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I think when I moved back to Philly from the Peace Corps, I knew I wanted to live in West Philadelphia near Baltimore Avenue in an old, grand Victorian," begins Ashley of her favorite element. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"And I knew that apartment I lived in had to have a bay window so I could sleep in it. I would say that's my favorite element." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I love waking up in my bed nuzzled between all the windows. And I put my heavy curtains up and drink my coffee surrounded by the sun and trees. It's heaven." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I think the biggest challenge for sure is that with old homes come old home problems," Ashley explains. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Over the years there have been so many leaks, wiring issues, heating issues, you name it. But you can't beat the charm of an older building. It's got good bones." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Everything new these days is so drab and gray and everyone's place looks the same. I for sure don't have that problem." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I would definitely say I am a DIYer-on-a-budget kind of designer. I’ve been here for almost eight years now, and there is always something I want to add or improve." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"The way I approached designing my apartment was tackling it room by room." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"One of the last things I renovated in my apartment was adding color to the kitchen walls." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I had been avoiding it because kitchens can be so annoying to paint with all the cabinetry and appliances. But I thought: I've come this far." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"If I ever leave this place, which I'm sure is likely soon, I want to look back as a work complete, that's down to having the perfect toilet seat." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
When asked about any design rules Ashley has broken in her home, she wrote: "I’m a huge fan of going against hard angles in my home. I want each room and each space I create in my home to make sense and feel visually balanced and calming, a perfect vignette. So a lot of my furniture is based on a bias, which I think works." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I would say my design style is a mix of maximalist, mid-century, and contemporary," Ashley writes. Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"When I was designing the back room (den/office), I jokingly said the aesthetic was 'desert mod,' but it totally works." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"Every room has a bit of a different feel and some are more out there than others, but it’s all pulled together by a through line of certain colors (desert pink/terracotta and green)." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"The home itself you can tell has a very vintage feel to it. But I threw in unique pieces and time over time to give it character and personality that's fitting to me." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I was born in Arizona; I haven't been there since I was a kid but I think some part of the desert is still in me." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
"I like colors and textures that remind me of nature, so I think that's always seen in how I design." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
For the first few years of chef and baker Ashley Huston living in this 730-square-foot, rental apartment in a Victorian house from 1925 in West Philadelphia, it was base of operations for DreamWorld Bakes. What first started as a micro-bakery, DreamWorld Bakes has grown in popularity and is now a customer-facing brick-and-mortar bakery and café in Philadelphia’s East Kensington area.
"For the longest time this was the first home of my bakery, DreamWorld Bakes. Eventually it got too big to do out of my West Philly home, although West Philly is typical for its bigger kitchens and bathrooms in the city. But it was nice to work from home and bake so many things here. I had to get another fridge. It got a bit tricky with storage towards the end. Especially the one weekend I had four wedding orders." Credit: Carina RomanoCredit: Carina Romano
The bakery moved out of the apartment, but Ashley’s been renting the space for seven years now, and in that time has created a warm, colorful, and creative space. “When I moved back to Philly after living in Tanzania for two years, I knew I wanted to find something I could really make a home and put some roots down in,” Ashley begins.
“I had some prerequisites: an apartment in a Victorian building, a bay window, and a claw tub. It took me so many months to find a good place. I searched and searched online for almost a year, but no one was listing what I was looking for. Eventually, I decided to try it old school and I walked around the neighborhood I wanted to live in and took down numbers off ‘For Rent’ signs. After many cold calls and viewings, I eventually found a place.”
Ashley reports that the second-floor apartment needed a lot of work, and while it was technically a one-bedroom, because she couldn’t afford to live by herself when she first moved in, she arranged the space more like a two-bedroom so that she could get a roommate. “[T]he living room and bedroom were both so big that I sold it as essentially two studio bedroom arrangements, which totally worked,” she writes. “For the first half of my time here, my bedroom also served as my living room, which it’s still arranged as today.”
These days, the busy business owner needs all the space for herself, and so the other room is now a den/office space, but she made sure to have the kind of seating arrangement that also acts as a sleeping space because “having space for out-of-town guests is important to me.”
Ashley’s passion for design is evident in her home, but it can also be seen in the bakery as well as the apartment above the bakery, which Ashley rents out on Airbnb. “I recently color washed all the walls in my new bakery as well,” she begins. “It took FOREVER. But I’m really proud of them. Secretly I wish if I wasn’t a baker, I would be an interior designer. So when people come into my apartment, or bakery, or Airbnb and compliment the design, I get really proud and want to cry (happy cry).”
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