New York is a city for dreamers and doers. With some of the most talented people in the world all in one place, you get insane competition on everything from jobs to apartments to dating. One of the rights of passage, for any New Yorker, is finding an apartment you adore. It is not easy here, with an available apartment inventory rate of under 1%, an average rent of $4,200 per month, and average square footage of 703 sq feet (or 65 meters) it is no wonder that New York is the fourth most expensive city in the world to live in. 

After living in crowded, dingy, and inconveniently located apartments for the last ten years my husband Luis and I were finally ready to find one that we can call home. In the first two episodes of our apartment video series, we met with Phillip Salem a real estate agent with Triplemint to determine our specific needs and go apartment hunting. Before watching this finale episode, stop and click the first link in the video description to watch our journey because finding a beautiful apartment in NYC is tough! After much deliberation, Luis and I finally agreed on the apartment of our dreams and I can’t wait to give you a tour!

CHECK OUT MY APARTMENT REDESIGN VIDEO!

Thank you so much to Soniya from Dwellistic for helping me redesign my apartment! Dwellistic is an online home decor and styling service that offers creative design solutions to make any space comfortably stylish and functional. Whether you are renting or own your place, they’ll make sure you will live in style (no matter what your budget). Mention my name when making an inquiry with Dwellistic to save 30%!

Watch the video tour above but for more details on specific design and furniture, let’s go room by room!

LIVING ROOM

We are still working on the small details of our living room design, but have decided on a yellow-blue modern theme.

• Couch: A grey, pull-out from Amazon. This is great when we have friends over! We added the blue couch pillows to add more color.
• Yellow chair from WayFair: This is the first yellow pop in the room. We plan on adding more!
• Rug from Overstock: I love this blue and light yellow pattern.
• Glass table from Overstock: A Glass table makes the space look much more airy and spacious. We felt this was a good move for a New York apartment!
• Grey dining room chairs from Overstock: We had ordered dark blue but they came in the wrong color so we decided it worked well enough and kept them!
• Floor lamp from Overstock: We ordered this in the natural wood finish to match the same wood that the table had.
• Blue table lamp from HomeGoods: This blue lamp is from HomeGoods but I found a very similar one on Amazon!
• End table from HomeGoods: Though we bought this from HomeGoods, this one on Amazon is very similar if you like it!
• Hanging Plant Bracket 1
• Hanging Plant Bracket 2
• Rustic Farmhouse 3 tier floating shelves
• West Elm Murray Gold Drink Table

TWO TERRACES

The main reason we selected this apartment from the other options was because of the two terraces. It is very important to Luis and I to have a place to entertain our friends and family. We chose to design the larger terrace for entertaining guests with a big table and couch. Then for the smaller terrace, we designed it as a reading and yoga nook that is more relaxing and private.

• Outdoor couch from Amazon: It is water-resistant and made with beautiful Acacia wood.
• Electric Grill from Amazon: Since our apartment does not allow for other types of grills, we had to go with an electric one. We used it recently and it was great!
• Home Depot trees & planters: We purchased four Emerald Green Arborvitae trees from Home Depot and four white pots. The pots are plastic but look elegant! These trees are great because no matter what time of year or the weather, they stay green and look chic!
• Hedges on walls of smaller terrace
• Black outdoor hammock weave chair
• Bevis Metal Side Table on smaller terrace
• Moroccan diamond blue outdoor rug on larger terrace
• Bamboo plant stand on larger terrace
• Outdoor wooden dining table with six chairs on larger terrace

OFFICE

Since Luis and I work from home we needed to convert the second bedroom into an office that we share. Luis desk is on one side and mine on the other. We painted the walls a light greenish-grey tone to bring out the darker grey sliding door to the terrace and the beautiful wood floors.

• NYC painting by Denis Ouch: I love this local NYC artist and plan on getting more of his work in the future!
• Cabinet from HomeGoods: We use this to store our printer and various office supplies. This one is similar on Overstock.
• My desk (near window) is from Amazon: It has three drawers, which helps me stay organized!
• Luis desk (near wall) is from HomeGoods: His is made with beautiful finished wood and has one drawer, plus an area in the back to hide wires.
• Lamp from Amazon: The wire sculpted lamp from Amazon is great since I work long hours a lot! Plus it is minimalistic, making the space on the desk seem larger.
• Eggtronic wireless charging stone: This is made of marble and is super chic! It charges any Qi-enabled device without wires. I use it to charge my phone.
• Sirius 65W Universal Laptop Charger by Eggtronic: This is the most efficient charging device on the market BY FAR. It has 70 international patents and can charge any USB-C device (phone, computer, iPad, etc.) Use code SARAHFUNKYEGG15 to save 15% on any Eggtronic device!
• Floating shelves: Since we are working with minimal space in NYC, these Floating Shelves were great to keep us organized.
• Floor lamp: One lamp was not enough light for this room so we ordered this elegant lamp from Amazon.
• Valspar Paint: We painted one accent wall Greenish Gray and the other three Simple Gray.

HALLWAY

Luis and I travel a lot. We wanted to highlight that in our space. To display our images on our hallway wall I ordered the iron world map from Hoagard and placed images strategically around it, starting with my home base, NYC. I absolutely love how this came out!

• Hanging Wall Mirrors
• Hoagard World Map
• Verrier Handcrafted Rainbow Chrysler Building Art

BEDROOM

I love how Soniya from Dwellistic designed the bedroom! Right now we have a beautiful “Twinkle, Twinkle” deep blue color on the wall from Valspar Paint.

• Bed frame from Amazon: This Zinus Olivia Metal and Wood Platform Bed with Wood Slat Support worked really well in our old apartment but I’m not sure it will work in this new one. We might need an upgrade!
• Yellow lumbar pillow
• Yellow & white ombre pillow
• Abstract art prints on floating shelves
• Trafford Novelty Floor Lamp
• Gallery wall photo frames (set of 9)
• Ivory and tan raised stripe wool area rug
• Round wall mirror
• Verrier Handcrafted “The Future Is In Your Hands” poster
• Candlewick Duvet Cover & Shams
• 100% Egyptian Cotton Sheets
• Rustic Floating Shelves
• Yaasa Mattress: This is by far the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on. It is memory foam and has a technology to always keep you a comfy temperature. You can check out mattress information on InsideBedroom. 
• Bedside lamp: The pattern on this lamp is stunning and works well with the color, but we just ordered a pair of matching wall lamps that we will be installing soon to bring in more light at night.
• Nightstand from Amazon: This Nathan James Harper Mid-Century Side Table 2-Drawer wood end table worked well in our last apartment but I’m not too sure about how it works here. We might need to upgrade. We shall see!
• Hoagard Wall Clock

BATHROOMS

We have two bathrooms. They are already well designed so we don’t need to do much here, but one has a tub which is wonderful to take a bath in. I did that a few days ago and used the Snooze bath bomb from Bathorium. It was relaxing!

The master bathroom has two shower head options. Having a rain shower head is a dream! I love how it has a glass door and heated floors!

Overall, I feel very fortunate to be able to live in this apartment. It was a long journey getting to an apartment like this in NYC. If you want to hear our story, then watch our video here. We are nowhere near done designing this apartment so if you have any suggestions please comment them below and we will take them into consideration!