A family spent $69,000 turning their garage into an apartment so their son could live rent-free while launching his startup

Christina Starmer's son wanted to move out of the house after graduating from high school.

She and her husband converted their garage into a studio apartment where he could live rent-free.

Their son focused on his startup while he lived there, and the Starmers can now rent out the space.

Many parents go above and beyond to support their kids — but Christina and Jeff Starmer took it to another level when their son wanted to launch a startup just after graduating from high school.

They decided to turn their garage into a studio apartment, giving him a free place to live while he focused on his work.

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The project was a boon to the young founder — and allowed the Starmers to stumble into a lucrative side hustle.

In the fall of 2022, the Starmer family was on the cusp of transition.

The Starmer family.Christina Starmer/Her Home Reno

Christina and Jeff live in Jacksonville, Florida, where they own CenterBeam Construction, a company that renovates historic homes. They have two kids, Chloe Starmer, 29, and Lyman Starmer, 21.

In the fall of 2022, Lyman was on the cusp of graduating from high school. He planned to move out of his parents' home after graduation and devote himself to launching his startup, Deli, which uses AI to help people with the house-hunting process.

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But Christina, 55, was concerned her son couldn't afford to live on his own and start his company, particularly because rent was high in their area in the wake of the pandemic.

"He was having to figure out how to get programmers and stuff like that, and I was like, 'You don't have any money and any money that people do put into your company, you don't want to spend that on housing,'" she told Business Insider.

The family's garage offered the perfect solution.

The Starmers' garage.Christina Starmer/Her Home Reno

The Starmers have lived in their home for 19 years. During that time, they added a separate garage to the property.

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The partially finished, 378-square-foot garage mostly served as a storage space for the family, housing things such as bikes, workout equipment, and a second refrigerator, though it had electric and plumbing capabilities that had yet to be hooked up.

Since they were no strangers to construction and home renovation, Christina suggested turning the space into an apartment where Lyman could live rent-free. She and Jeff could also list it on Airbnb when their son moved out, giving them another income source.

"He was working so hard," Christina said. "We started a business, and I know what it takes to start a business, so I'm like, 'I would give my kids all the opportunity in the world.'"

It was a no-brainer for the whole family.

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The Starmers started working on the renovation in November 2022.

The exterior of the garage.Hurt Photography

Christina said she initially set a budget of $48,000 for the remodel.

She and Jeff were able to serve as their own contractors for the project and do most of the labor themselves, outsourcing work only for changes to the electricity and plumbing.

Their daughter, Chloe, helped her parents with the design and layout of the space, visiting them on weekends to help with the renovation, and Lyman contributed to physical work such as tiling and framing.

The structure originally had two garage doors, and the renovation kicked off with closing up one of them.

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"The other garage door remains today," Christina said. "That way, if somebody else ever wanted to convert it back, they could have a garage that they could drive in."

The completed space functions like a cozy studio apartment.

There's a kitchen with bar seating.Hurt Photography

When you enter the apartment, you walk right into the kitchen, which has a small island with bar seating, a refrigerator, a stove, and a dishwasher.

Maximizing space was a top priority as they renovated. For instance, the kitchen was designed with a built-in pantry.

"While we were framing, I was like, 'I know it's a 2-by-4 wall, but I think I can make a pantry out of this 2-by-4 stud here,'" Christina said. "So instead of just drywalling it up, we made a large, long box and put some doors in the front."

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"I put wallpaper in the back and a couple of shelves, and now all of a sudden, you have a pantry for canned foods," she added.

Bringing light into the living area was a challenge.

The living area connects to the kitchen.Hurt Photography

A small living area sits across from the kitchen, and it includes an air conditioning unit.

Christina said the biggest challenge with designing the living area was the limited natural light in the room, as the whole apartment had only one glass door and one window. The glass door was in the bedroom, which was separated from the living area by a wall, so the Starmers decided to add an internal window to the space.

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"We went to one of those old salvage yards and got a glass door from like the 1900s, turned it sideways, and it became a window in between the two rooms," Christina said.

High ceilings make the space feel bigger than it is.

The bedroom in the apartment.Hurt Photography

"The garage was originally built with a hip roof, which makes the ceiling higher," Christina said.

The ceilings are closer to 11 feet instead of the typical 8 feet. Plus, there are some exposed beams for a touch of character.

"It feels so much bigger," she added.

The apartment even has a washer and dryer, though Christina has one regret about it.

The bedroom has a full-size washer and dryer.Hurt Photography

The apartment's bathroom is across from the bedroom, and it sits a step above the rest of the space.

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"The plumbing was already stubbed out there, so we didn't want to have to jack up concrete and stuff," Christina said of why there was a step.

Instead, they just raised the whole bathroom by about 7 inches, which saved the Starmers money and allowed them to create separation between the bathroom and bedroom.

They also put a full-size washer and dryer in the mini hallway between the bedroom and bathroom, stacking them atop each other just across from a closet.

Christina put a drawer beneath the machines for storing detergent and other laundry supplies, which she said still "bugs" her to this day because it made the dryer a little too high to reach easily. A step ladder easily solves the problem, though.

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Designing the small space wasn't an easy task.

The garage is in the backyard.Hurt Photography

Christina said designing the layout for the apartment was the biggest hurdle of the project, as she wanted it to feel like a true studio despite the limited square footage.

"We wanted a really good flow in a super tiny space and for someone to not feel boxed in," she said.

She tried to avoid some of the pitfalls of mini spaces, like creating a bunk bed that's too small to stand up in or ultra-slim stairs.

Instead, she focused on creating a one-story space that felt spacious and inviting.

The renovation ended up costing about $69,000 and took about four months.

Christina Starmer, Jeff Starmer, and Chloe Starmer.Hurt Photography

Christina and Jeff wrapped the project in March 2023, creating a space that worked for their son while he finished high school and launched his career.

It will also be easy to rent out eventually. "We haven't put it on Airbnb yet, but that's coming," Christina said.

Though the project was over budget, the Starmers still saved tens of thousands of dollars by working as their own contractors.

"If you do hire a contractor and you are paying all of that labor, which comes with trim out, framing, installing cabinetry, and all that stuff that we did ourselves, you will definitely be in that $120,000-ish range of today's market," Christina said.

Lyman moved into the apartment when it was finished and lived there until he relocated to New York City this year.

Lyman Starmer.Christina Starmer/Her Home Reno

"My parents turning their garage into a studio apartment gave me the one thing first-time founders never have enough of — runway," Lyman said. "Skipping roughly $1,500 in monthly rent for almost two years meant I could funnel every spare dollar into Deli, the AI home-search platform I was building — hiring contract devs, covering cloud bills, and stretching our early runway instead of a landlord's pocket."

"I had a door I could close for all-night coding marathons and investor Zooms, yet I was still close enough to step inside for dinner or a quick pep talk," he added. "That mix of independence and family support turned a simple remodel into the launchpad for my startup."

Christina said the transition to her son living in the apartment went smoothly, and she was grateful she could make things a bit easier for him.

"When he started living outside, in the mornings, he would come in and have coffee before he went to school, even though he had a coffee pot out there," she said. "Then in the evenings, by the time he got home and showered and worked a little bit, he would be back in and we would all eat dinner together."

"I thought it was lovely," she added.

Now, the rest of the Starmer family is helping others transform their garages.

The Starmers turned their garage experience into a side hustle.Tommy Hurt Photography

The Starmers shared videos about the apartment project on their social media platforms, and the videos went viral, amassing millions of views on TikTok.

Because of the interest in their videos, Christina, Jeff, and Chloe decided to share what they learned about renovating small spaces online. They sell plans for garage conversions on their website,Her Home Reno. In June, they also launched an online course to teach novices how to take on a project like theirs.

Christina said they'd sold hundreds of plans so far, and she hopes their knowledge can help others make the most of their spaces.

Read the original article on Business Insider