When we shared John’s tiny bedroom yesterday (for some reason it was kind of charming at the time) we also got a bunch of requests to see my New York City homes. So here’s a look back at several of the apartments I lived in during my six years in the city, along with a few decorating tricks that might still be useful for small-space living.
Before I get to my places, here’s one photo I dug up of John’s Upper West Side apartment, where he actually had his own room (a revolutionary concept at the time). We once painted a mural on the wall and used up some extra paint to create two simple striped canvases with painter’s tape. We hung them side by side and staggered them slightly—John’s idea. The pillow you see is an old Ikea find that has stuck around in our home for years.
Now on to my places. Over six years I lived across Chelsea, Queens, Brooklyn, Soho and the Village, and each location influenced how I decorated. My Village apartment, a short walk from NYU, felt very metropolitan and bold—lots of bright color to energize the compact space.
The orange backsplash was an inexpensive way to liven up a white kitchen. I was on a tight budget then, so Ikea was my go-to for essentials like a magnetic utensil rack, paper towel holder and glassware. I even made my own square orange fridge magnets from thin flexible magnet sheets and glossy magazine paper—cheap, bright and effective.
That tiny living room and bedroom were where I experimented with green and blue accents—colors I still gravitate toward. Back then my style leaned modern and dramatic; I even assembled a chandelier made from over 100 small plastic pieces. Urban apartments felt like they called for more flair than the calmer, more relaxed décor I later adopted in the suburbs. In short, location influences style: city living encouraged bold, high-impact choices.
I loved a playful DIY piece I made in the bedroom using oversized battery-operated clock hands. I created a quirky numbering system by printing neon sign numbers for 3, 6 and 9 and substituting a small neon-style sign that read “open late” at 12 o’clock. It was an inexpensive, cheeky way to personalize the wall and an example of how small details can make a space feel unique without spending much.
After a solid run in that apartment, the sixth-floor walk-up became exhausting, especially with weekly trips for laundry and groceries. I upgraded to a second-floor studio just a block away. The broker fee and rent felt steep, but I gained an entire 18-by-12-foot room. The space didn’t allow for a full couch, so I found four cool chairs on eBay for $40. I tucked two under a tiny dining table and placed two against the wall to keep the room feeling open—small furniture on a budget can make a tiny studio livable.
One fun, fast update I did in the studio was a painted green stripe around the room. I eyeballed the stripe with painter’s tape and painted it quickly while waiting for guests—I didn’t even use a level. It dried before people arrived and looked surprisingly straight. Practical, low-cost ideas like this can refresh a space in an afternoon. The bird silhouettes on the wall were another DIY: instead of paying $50 for decals, I printed photos of the birds, enlarged them, backed them with cardboard for weight, and taped them to the wall. Simple solutions often work best in rentals.
The bed was essentially the only full-sized piece that fit, aside from the tiny table and chairs. I lined up the painted green stripe with the top of a DIY upholstered headboard to give the space a coordinated, finished look. Little alignments like that make compact rooms appear intentional and polished. Several of these pillows and textiles followed me from apartment to apartment—good pieces last.
If you want a deeper peek, we once shot a video tour of these old NYC apartments, which shows more of the layout and how those small-space solutions came together. Looking back, our tiny city homes helped shape a DIY, budget-friendly approach to decorating that still guides how we design today.