6 Ideas for Living in a Small Apartment: Life Hacks from New York

Family couple Renata and Roman are owners of a small flat in New York. They updated the interior of their apartment on a budget, organized storage well and are ready to share their experience of how they managed to live comfortably in a small space.

1. Do Away with Full Renovation

To make the apartment feel more spacious, Roman removed a wall and combined the kitchen with the living room. During the setup process, the couple updated the floor covering and whitewashed the walls. To keep the kitchen looking fresh, Renata replaced the facades of the old kitchen cabinets. The result was beautiful, fast, simple, and budget-friendly.

2. Install an Island or Bar Stool

A great idea for additional storage, a workspace, and zoning the kitchen area in their apartment was an island. The open bar counter visually makes the space feel light, while maintaining its functionality. In addition, the couple chose a round dining table that Roman adapted for working purposes as well.

3. Use Decor

Art pieces, vases with flowers, textiles, and upholstered furniture – the easiest way to bring life into an interior. To avoid cluttering a small space, the couple uses decor as effectively as possible. At the same time, their apartment is far from boring, and most of the paintings were created by the owners themselves.

Wall hangings can be more than posters and paintings. For example, Renata uses this foldable stool as a mirror, and it takes up almost no space.

4. Organize Proper Storage

Convenient storage in a home is an essential component for future order. For example, on the kitchen Renata organized spice storage in small tin jars, and cups and plates are easy to stack on top of each other.

There was enough space under the large double bed for storage. All items were packed in boxes with handles, making it easy to retrieve them and preventing dust accumulation.

Life hack: a stack of books next to the bed replaces a nightstand.

Thanks to high ceilings in the apartment, the family couple created an attic space for storing bedding and clothes from the bedroom side. They covered it with a roll-down curtain.

5. Plan Storage in the Bathroom

In a small bathroom, there was no room for wardrobes. Therefore, the couple used the door and hung hooks for towels on it. They also placed open shelves above the toilet for storage.

This is not a vanity unit, but rather a regular cabinet bought in a vintage store. The family couple modified it slightly and use it for storing household chemicals. What do you think of this idea?

6. Use Glass Boxes

Renata stores her jewelry in glass display cases and boxes. This solution doesn’t clutter the space, all jewelry is visible, yet protected from dust. Take note!