tiny apartment. manhattan living room.

  
Not so little Baby Hank.

Restoration Hardware inspired print making cabinet.
Custom made by Carl Kocis.
Curtains: king size sheets from Lot Less.

Close up of rough cut pine with H&M home candles. 

Candles

North facing window to Grand St. (chinatown / little italy / soho area)

Restoration Hardware inspired coffee table push cart.
Custom made by Carl Kocis.

Make shift mantle.
Pipe & old beams from a demo of another apartment in our building.

The East wall.
Salon station that my husband built on the left & custom hutches to the left & right of the mantle/tv.
Vintage wheel above the tv from the BK Flea.

 

We have zero closets in our apartment so we have 2 of these custom armoire.

Best ikea hack! 

Standard Ikea Mongstad mirror on hinges, turns it into a door which hides our 1 closet. 

Ok, so we do have 1 closet.

Leather couch acquired from Craigslist, somewhere in central jersey for $400.
Pipe and wood shelves with spotlights on a dimmer switch.

Check out my Kitchen to see more!

tiny apartment: manhattan kitchen.

Living in Manhattan certainly has his advantages and conveniences, but one of the most compromised luxury of mine is definitely the space.  It can be very frustrating and challenging at times, but generally all worth it end.  I'm currently living in a 7-floor walk up (yes, you read that right) apartment bordering Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho & Nolita.  

When I look across the street I see Di Palo's Italian Meat & Cheese shop, to my left Ferrara's Italian Bakery,  I can hop down the street for a super cheap Chinatown massage (it's really not that shady)  or walk to the bank past a questionable fish market through a  sea of Chinese people freaking out over $2 socks from a street vendor. What's up with that?  And then of course all of your classic shopping on Broadway is just a few more steps the other direction where you will find things like Starbucks, TopShop & H&M.  It's really is a great location with so many different identities! I can't imagine living anywhere else. 

Which brings me to today's post.  Luckily my fiance is incredibly handy and he has the most innovative ideas when it comes to saving space.  He get's so creative that sometimes I don't even understand his vision until it's complete.  Having limited cabinet space he built a 3-tier shelving system with a pipe on top (see the last picture) to hang pots off it.  Basically everything in our kitchen is visible so I have to keep it aesthetically pleasing.  

Keep checking back for the rest of the apartment as I plan to photograph the rest soon.

There is 1 ikea hack that is pure genius.

SHOP SIMILAR

 Here are some of my favorite things in the kitchen, 

some of them aren't exact but similar... just incase you like what you see. 

1. Handmade Copper Tumblers 2. H2O Tumblers  3. Ikea Dinnerware  4. Warm Tobacco Pipe Candle 5. KitchenAid 5-Quart Mixer in Pistachio 6. Copper Pitcher 7. 100 Foods to Stay Young 8. Make Your Place 9. Meatless

my mint green metal canisters are sadly sold out but they were from pier1. 

if you are ever able to track them down they match the pistachio kitchenaid perfectly. 

inspiration.

In honor of my own very recent room renovation, I've decided to add some of the photos that have inspired me. If you're looking to redecorate, maybe you'll get a few ideas!

Carrie Bradshaw's apartment - after she redecorated.

To the best of my knowledge her paint color was a custom mix for the set but is very similar to Benjamin Moore's Electric Blue. I almost painted my room this color but thought it was a touch too in your face. So happy I wen't with Buckland blue.

Carrie's apartment - in it's original state as seen in the series.

LOVE this charming teeny-tiny kitchen.

Especially for an NYC apt. I wish I would have done this in my first apartment, but since there were 3 people living in our little studio, similar to cave dwellers... they would have never allowed it. :)

inspiration boards...

I think these are great if you need an inspiration board, I actually think this cork board image is where my jewelry/thumb tack board derived from... The top one is a little cluttered for me, but still very cool.

The room of Blair Waldorf

Coco Chanel's Paris apartment

Holly Golightly's apt in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

My old Chicago apartment... Much more spacious than my current dwelling. Oh well.