by Furnishly | Jul 14, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Name: Erin Kerr and cat, Cowboy
Location: Prospect Lefferts Gardens — Brooklyn, NYC
Size: 750 square feet
Type of Home: One-Bedroom Apartment
Time lived in: 6 months, renting
Freelance interior designer and Hem’s East Coast Business Developer, Erin Kerr, had been living in a studio apartment before quarantine. “After spending almost a year quarantining in my studio apartment that faced a brick wall, I knew I had to take advantage of the New York Covid deals. I had the typical big one-bedroom dream apartment wish list but with a studio-sized budget,” Erin explains. “This space checked all of the boxes, and the price was only $45 more than my studio. I had a month of overlapping leases, which was fate because a week before my move, my (not yet packed) studio’s plumbing erupted at 5 p.m. and flooded my kitchen — waterboarded roaches included. My incredible friends showed up an hour later, we rented a truck, and panic-moved me (via tote bags!) until 2 a.m.”
Erin’s Cool and Colorful 750 Square Foot Brooklyn Apartment | House Tours
Though she hasn’t been renting this rental for much time, she says she’s always working on some sort of project around the apartment, so it hasn’t taken her too long to decorate. “Amy Sedaris once said that you probably won’t get your full security deposit back, so make it worth it. I might’ve taken her advice too far, but I’ve always been very DIY-oriented and this is the perfect space for me to work on new projects, work from home, experiment with color, host dinners, and grow with,” Erin writes. “There is rarely a moment where I am relaxing here; I’m always working on some project (painting the walls, changing the lights out, and a few too many DIY projects), usually with a podcast or sitcom playing in the background. I feel very lucky to have the space to incorporate the work of my furniture designer friends, and plenty of room for my ever-growing chair collection (and Cowboy’s 4 p.m. zoomies).”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Like if a Danish grandpa and primary school teacher grandma had a grandkid who loved Memphis Milano
Inspiration: I’m obsessed with design history, so I’d have to say Anni Albers, Ray Eames, Aino Aalto, Alexander Girard, Finn Juhl, Nathalie du Pasquier, and Peter Shire, but I am currently loving the work of Kangan Arora, Tekla Severin, and Sonnhild Kestler.
Favorite Element: The south-facing windows, oversized rooms, and the linen closet sold me on the space; but my favorite changes I’ve made are the 60’ of shelving in the dining space and the abundance of color. I also adore the neighborhood, this is my third year here and it’s mostly residential with mom-and-pop shops. I’ve gone to my local hardware store so often that now the two owners tease me by yelling, “Oh no! She’s back!” when I walk in.
Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge has been spending just under half of my income on rent (but living alone is more than worth it!). Also many of the walls are brick and/or concrete and are a nightmare to drill through; one day I’ll wall-mount the TV.
Proudest DIY: I have DIY’d most of the apartment: I reupholstered the pink velvet and squiggle lounge chairs, made my dining table top for the Eames base, made the 2×4 plant/coffee table and some of the stools, re-grouted the bathroom floor, and painted the top row of tiles black to give it an old-Hollywood vibe. On my way to pick up tacos I found the yellow dresser on the curb, forced my 70-year-old father to carry it down the street with me and up a flight of stairs, and spent a few weeks restoring it over the summer. Six months later (to the day), I found the swan-like mirror in the exact same spot (on my way to pick up tacos!).
Biggest Indulgence: I’ve been collecting most of these pieces for years, but the tambour media cabinet, living room rug, and Matisse lithograph were the pieces I have spent the most money on. I much rather save for months and months to buy the pieces I love, than to buy an interim piece that I feel neutral about and eventually replace. Although it was free to me, the Oyyo rug in the bedroom was from a past job and is my one true love; I pined over it for years after seeing it in a shop in Helsinki.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? I’ve tried to make every inch of this place mine. It’s such a great space, I want to be here for years and to make the most of it. I immediately dived in with painting, putting up shelves, and changing hardware. I think I painted the bedroom, blue wall, and bathroom within my first two weeks here. I’ve worked in furniture and art that I love, pieces from my friends and family, and luckily feel like there is still so much more to do. Maybe it’s not super unique, but it feels personal. I’m also lucky enough to have worked for several furniture companies, and have been hooked up with heavily discounted pieces — or free, like every piece of furniture in the bedroom (except for the squiggle chair!).
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? I specifically purchased the shelving, living room rug, and media cabinet for this apartment, and I adore them. But my favorite pieces are the ones made by my friends, like the Wiggle Mirror by Alisa Wronski, Little Man Lamp by Superlamp Studio, and leather Gradual Chair by Ben Kicic. One of my favorite things about working in the New York furniture world is how connected everyone is and, for better or worse, how the connections are strengthened through Instagram, especially during lockdown.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: Oh, I absolutely do not know and would love any and all advice. I’m very scatterbrained and aesthetic-driven so behind the closet doors is a lot of chaos. My only real advice is color coordinating books, but not in a gradient, and if you’re putting two colors next to each other (like blue and pink), move one pink book into the blue book to prevent it from looking overdone. I don’t know how people can organize alphabetically; I only remember what the covers and spines of books look like.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Don’t be afraid to paint a rental; you can always paint it white when you move out! Buy what you love and the correct size rug, and a color palette feels more curated.
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
Adrienne Breaux
House Tour Editor
Adrienne loves architecture, design, cats, science fiction and watching Star Trek. In the past 10 years she’s called home: a van, a former downtown store in small town Texas and a studio apartment rumored to have once been owned by Willie Nelson.
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by Furnishly | Jul 14, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
Name: Sarah Duncan and my husband
Location: Brooklyn, New York City
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 575 square feet
Time lived in: 6 months, renting
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: My husband and I live in a recently renovated one-bedroom apartment of a six-story building that was built in 1928 in the beautiful neighborhood of Kensington. It’s our first place together since getting married two and a half years ago (we lived with family previously) and it has been so special for us to finally have a space of our own and create a peaceful environment. Decorating our home these past few months has awakened a desire I’ve always had for interior design and has inspired me to get into that field.
My husband and I are very creative and love the arts. I love doing DIY projects because it taps into my creative nature. You see it reflected in the images and artwork we selected. Many of the photographs were taken by my husband and most of the artwork (like the painting above our sectional) was made by me. We feel it’s deeply personal and reflects who we are. With our color palettes, we love the airiness of the white and light grey with the touch of color with the blue. I am sucker for gold because I love the feel of luxury it brings to a space. I also love plants and the life and color they bring into a space.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Clean, airy, bright, classy and cozy
What is your favorite room and why? My favorite room is our living room. One, because it’s the first space that is finished lol. But mainly, it’s so calm and peaceful, especially in the morning when the sun is at its brightest. I’m a firm believer that your physical space is a reflection of what’s within. My husband and I pride ourselves in being peacemakers and love that this room really personifies that.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The last thing(s) I bought were the frames I used for my gallery wall (they were all purchased from Michaels) and the Pure White vase set on our dining table from West Elm. I plan to get a couple more.
Any advice for creating a home you love? Take your time to create the space you want to live in. It’s very tempting to want to get everything all at once. I know I had to fight that urge many times. But taking my time to sit in it and imagine what I wanted this space to be really helped. And it’s okay to change your mind about something. I’ve had a few things that I realized wasn’t going to work for the space and that is okay. Or sometimes I try moving things around in different places until it feels right. The most important thing is that you are happy and at peace with the space that you rest in.
This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
by Furnishly | Jul 9, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
Name: Haley Boyko, my partner Nick Sylvester, and our three dogs, Maya, Emma, and Penny
Location: Brooklyn — New York City, New York
Size: 3 bed 3 bath duplex
Years lived in: 2 years, renting
Footwear designer and freelance illustrator Haley Boyko and her partner, Nick Sylvester, found this apartment on StreetEasy. “We were sold on this space because it was in a newer building, but still a small building with only eight tenants.” Located near Prospect Park in an affordable area for the couple, they lucked out with this apartment that’s actually a three-bedroom, three-bathroom, three-outdoor space duplex. Haley explains that the first floor is the dining/common area/kitchen, living room, office, bathroom, and terrace, and the second floor is their main bedroom and bathroom, along with a larger terrace and a roof deck.
With an abundance of bedrooms, they were able to use two of them for other purposes beyond sleeping. “The third bedroom is used as my office space, and then the second one we decided to turn into a separate living room,” explains Haley. “My office is packed with work stuff, but also with creative hobbies of mine. I have tons of paints, canvas, a rug tufting frame/tufting guns, silicone to make my own molds, resin to cast those molds, and a handful of instruments. Both of us are super creative so we have a lot of creative activities in the house! The office room was initially supposed to be like a fun creativity room, but after quitting my job as a footwear designer in December 2020 and decided to start my own company, it has officially transitioned into being my home office space.” Her company, Hello Boyko, is an apparel company she describes as incredibly colorful and whimsical and is launching this October.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: My style is pretty colorful and eccentric. I really truly believe that bright colors enhance your mood and I have always been drawn to color. I wanted to create a space that was whimsically tasteful, if that makes sense. I feel like cartoon chic is a stupid but accurate way to describe my style. Most of the art in the house is prints or tapestries that we have collected over the years along with some larger geometric paintings that I did!
Favorite Element: When we first moved in I immediately put bright yellow contact paper on all of the kitchen cabinets and loved how it brightened up our space. Over quarantine I decided to paint the door frames yellow as well and I think that quickly became my favorite touch on the space. I’d say my other favorite element is my closet! I have lived in New York for 10 years and never had a real closet. I had a tiny tiny one in my first place and then in other apartments it was just rails and dressers. This is my first real two-door closet and I was so beyond thrilled to have one. I keep it open at all times because looking at my colorful color-coordinated closet brings me so much joy. I legitimately don’t own any neutral clothing and we pretty much don’t own any neutral furniture or home decor either. To me, yellow is like a neutral.
Biggest Challenge: We always try to stay on a budget when we move. We brought with us a lot of the furniture from our old apartment in Fort Greene, and then bought a few new things here and there. All of our storage cabinets in the living room are from IKEA and I just spray painted them to be the colors that I wanted. I know its not for everyone, but I truly love IKEA. They are the one affordable home goods place that actually makes vibrant furniture that’s affordable. I ALWAYS gravitate to the kids section of IKEA because I have rudimentary taste when it comes to homeware, but a lot of the kid stuff can easily translate to an adult home!
Proudest DIY: I do as much myself as possible, But I think my proudest DIY was the yellow contact paper on all of the cabinets as well as the terrazzo contact paper on the kitchen counter. It was a massive pain and was a pretty big project but I love how it turned out and nobody ever notices that it’s contact paper. I think for anyone who is looking to personalize a space, contact paper is such an incredible thing! It comes in so so so many colors and finishes and really allows you to make a space YOU when you are a renter.
Biggest Indulgence: I have this ridiculous embroidered hot pink chair from Anthropologie that is probably the nicest piece of furniture we own. It retailed for over a thousand but I got it for around $250 on sale so I couldn’t resist! The funny thing is that that is the ONE piece of furniture we didn’t want the dogs on, but lo and behold, it is the most popular pet chair. So as a compromise we just put a blanket on it because the dogs run the house and we are both fine with that.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? For the first time ever, we were able to sort of create separate spaces in our apartment. Classic New York is having the living room in the kitchen in the dining room, etc., and we finally have a place where we could separate it a bit by using the extra bedroom as a living room.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: I really believe in collecting things over time. I love having a space feel comfortable and like home immediately, but I also don’t think you need to rush in buying things just to fill a space. Take time and buy things that you are really drawn to. And if you ever come across a piece of furniture that you like but don’t like the color, PAINT IT. It’s so easy to change the color of something and make it yours to fit with your space and style.
What’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? I wish someone 10 years ago would have just told me, “if you want to paint the room, PAINT IT!!” I was always hesitant to paint a space since it was never a “long term” home, but I think people really overreact about the permanence of paint. I think most landlords would not care so long as you paint it back. I think a few days of work changing it back is absolutely worth the potential years of joy it will bring! And as I said before, CONTACT PAPER. It is truly amazing and everyone who is a renter could use some. Such a fun, simple, and non-permanent way to personalize your space.
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? My favorite products are all of our colorful art pieces as well as a few interesting and unique homeware items. We have a vibrant knitted blanket from an artist called Zoe Slachter that brings me so much joy! And also this incredible set of three mugs that make up a face by ceramic artist Mariana Silva. They are handmade out of porcelain and are truly some of my most favored possessions.
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
Adrienne Breaux
House Tour Editor
Adrienne loves architecture, design, cats, science fiction and watching Star Trek. In the past 10 years she’s called home: a van, a former downtown store in small town Texas and a studio apartment rumored to have once been owned by Willie Nelson.
Follow Adrienne
by Furnishly | Jun 21, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission.
Name: Tiffany Lucke, my husband Matt, and two cats (Gully and Golly)
Location: Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York
Type of home: Railroad Apartment
Size: 800 square feet
Years lived in: 5 years, renting
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: Myself, my husband Matt, and our two Maine Coons cats Gulliver and Goliath (Gully and Golly) live in a small railroad apartment in the heart of Greenpoint Brooklyn. I work in museum education at an NYC design museum, Matt is an analyst at an international bank, and Gully and Golly are professional snugglers with a specialty in troublemaking. The apartment that we live is in a unique space in that it is an open plan railroad design that presents a lot of unique challenges and also opportunities! Despite the fact that I come from an artistic background, Matt has definitely been the creative visionary for our home and I have contributed my Craigslist and thrifting skills to bring the vision to life.
We both have a broad range of interests and hobbies, which are reflected in our home. The art on our walls spans from a Pop Art Lichtenstein print to original vintage Jugend covers and our decor represents an eclectic blend of mid-century modern, Hollywood regency, and French Provincial. Our identities don’t fit cleanly into a box and neither does our style!
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Bright, Eclectic, Comfortable
What is your favorite room and why? My current favorite room is our newly re-done kitchen (but it’s a close tie for first with our living room!). Matt and I have always loved spending time together in the kitchen cooking, making cocktails, and listening to podcasts. Now that it’s been updated with fun new floors and bright white counters, our kitchen’s light airiness has made it my favorite place to be!
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? I recently bought a pony-tail palm plant that my cats Gully and Golly are obsessed with. Our home is filled with dozens of plants, many of which are off-limits to our cats. This one is non-toxic and was added to our home with them in mind, though! It’s so much fun to watch them run into the living room every morning and check on their plant before doing anything else.
Any advice for creating a home you love? Let the limiting factors of your space inspire creative inspiration! Some of our favorite and most unique parts of our home were a design solution in response to a challenging part of our apartment. Another thing that has been important in our space is taking our time and not rushing things to come together before we had the time or finances to do it right. Waiting and watching for the right piece of furniture or art to come along at the right time rather than settling for the next best thing has made such a difference.
This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
