House call: Artist's live/work space

"I'm obsessed with yurts," explains painter Paul Jacobsen, who frequently depicts what he calls "eco-huts" in his large-scale works. "I'd love to move to the country," he adds. But the 2,000-square-foot two-bedroom apartment in industrial Williamsburg—which he shares with his girlfriend, Natalie Kaire, a book editor—is hardly wigwamlike. One sun-filled wing serves as his studio, where he turns out photorealistic images from scanned pictures, including a shot of a baton-wielding policeman from the Republican National Convention.

When they first moved in together, the bedroom was right by the street. "It was really bright, and you could hear cars at all hours of the night," Natalie says. "I wanted to move out." Paul's solution: Turn a former roommate's space into a bedroom and extend the studio. When he got a contractor's estimate for $8,000—not including the cost of renting a Dumpster—the self-professed cheapskate decided to take on the project with the help of his stepfather, a union carpenter. They spent the next few months literally moving walls. Though a chunk of Sheetrock nearly collapsed on his stepdad ("That's why you shouldn't do this yourself," Paul explains), they managed to beef up the office area and soundproof the bedroom. The latter they accomplished by repurposing a wall and using plenty of insulation to double the thickness of the original.

Beyond construction, the couple also recycles their decor: All of the furniture was scavenged from the curb or from friends, such as office chairs rescued from a Dumbo Dumpster. As Paul explains, "I think the only thing we've bought is our bed and mattress."

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