Name: Alexandria Carter
Location: Nolita — New York, New York
My apartment is the perfect eclectic mix of old and new. When I first moved to NYC two years ago, I immediately furnished my apartment with practical IKEA furniture. As I started walking around the city, I discovered a lot of beauty in antiques and used objects. They seemed to have an air of wealth that came from a history and a past life. I would stumble upon great pieces and as time went on, I replaced some of my utilitarian staples with eclectic pieces, rich with a soul of some past that I would never know.
My apartment now is a small studio, no bigger than 600 square feet. An IKEA closet gives me room to store my abundance of clothing. By furnishing my apartment with tons of mirrors, my apartment give the illusion of being larger and brighter than it is. Semi gloss white walls also aid to this effect. Some of the great pieces I have found over the last 2 years are a 1930s antique dressform I found from a store in Hudson, New York, an old German mechanical clock that I purchased from eBay, a rotary dial telephone from the Hell's Kitchen Flea, an old Singer sewing table with the sewing machine inside from The Angel Thrift Shop on 17th Street, my stack of vintage books mainly from the dollar shelf at the Housing Works Thrift Shop (most of which I have read and will read) and a stool I found as trash on the street and painted and sanded to give it a worn finish. Apartments and homes should reflect who you are as an individual. Mine is just that, an old soul living in a young body. Simple and clean, yet full of life and one of a kind.
Thanks Alexandria!
• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE Check out past house tours here
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
• Are you a designer/architect/decorator interested in sharing a residential project with Apartment Therapy readers? Contact the editors through our Professional Submission Form.
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Shaw's Original Fir...
How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Aw, this is so pretty! What a nice, clean place.
it's a great use of a small space...and everything is so 'pretty'.
if i didnt have a design-challenged husband, i suspect my place would be filled with 'pretty things' too.
Oh, what a bright spacious looking studio!! I love what you've done with such a small space!
Very inspirational space!
The color scheme is fantastic: white, gray, black, and pink! It just feels so feminine and stylish. I think it would make a great backdrop for a Chanel ad. Couldn't you picture it?
P.S. Makes me want to dig out my old toe shoes. I hope I still have them.....
I like white, but I see nothing special about this space. It's Pottery Barn 101.
Your room is very ethereal. Beautiful! I love all the personal touches. Great job! :)
good start to the post, and good use of reasonable-cost resources, but 1. a floor plan would be nice, 2. the other side of the space in a picture could help to visualize use, 3. don't understand the a/t emphasis on vignettes, 4. is there no bath?
"I discovered a lot of beauty in antiques and used objects. They seemed to have an air of wealth that came from a history and a past life."
"By furnishing my apartment with tons of mirrors, my apartment give the illusion of being larger and brighter than it is."
"Apartments and homes should reflect who you are as an individual."
Wow, Alexandria, that's all really profound! I'm so glad you could share your apartment and your exceptional design wisdom with us.
Love it!
Very nice touches -- love the antique phone next to the ballet shoes and the vertical stack of books next to the dried flowers.
Looks spacious and clean, but it feels very cold and stark to me. I tend to go for more colour though.
I love the vintage feel! So pretty!
Alexandria has a long way to go, but I can see her aesthetic forming. I suspect her style will evolve toward something like this, http://tinyhouseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/victorian.jpg (which I love)
Alexandria, you have a gentle, inspiring way about you. I admire your talent greatly. Home is a wonderful place...and I know it means much to you. Stay sweet, and clean, and live your life and inspire many many others. sincerely, mary
wish we could see what's on the other wall.
I agree...less vignettes and more pictures of the overall space. Aside from that, I think she has created a lovely home.
Looks like the kitchen might be half the square footage of the entire place.
Is this a studio? Just the room with the bed and the kitchen? Where's the IKEA closet? Not much storage space and you've obviously pared it down well.
I like the starkness of the white, but little pings of color might give it some oomph.
I see these book stacks are really popular now - no bookshelf, just pile your books on the floor in a stack. Not sure how that works if you live in an earthquake temblor zone! :)
Truly lovely way of looking at the home and world around, bring in things people have left out and start them on a new home journey.
When the tour is limited to only 5 photos, why in the world are two of them vignettes?? I can't even tell if I like the place because I can't see it.
Only in New York would one place their perfume next to the microwave. Ha.
It's funny that people think there's more to see. This is a tiny space! Photo one shows one half of the apartment, and photo three shows the other. That's it folks! Why *not* add a few vignettes? What else is there? The bathroom door? (Personally, I love the vignette shots. So pretty.)
i really love the stack of books, and the use of the letter A... oh and the fluffy white rugs... found objects with soul, so true..
who makes those rugs? or something similar to them?
@creative license - I thought the same thing at first, but she describes it as "no bigger than 600 feet" and if those two pictures are really it, I think we're talking more like 200. My first assumption was that there's more that we are missing, but maybe the "no bigger than" should read "much much smaller than"?
Either way, I love the airy feel of this place, and the mirrors are used to great effect. And the vintage dress form is awesome!
Um, yeh, 600 square feet in Manhattan is not a small studio. That'd be more like a two bedroom.
@emho: you can find those rugs at Ikea.
Nice space!
oh its so sweet! I love it!
very lovely, I miss getting those dollar books from Housing Works I still have some I've been meaning to eventually read. :\
I like the black & white theme.
this is so fantastic! love the softness, the black phone and the ballet slippers. makes new york seem the way I want it to be.
Beautiful, romantic, pretty & simple!
Thanks so much for all of your kind words. Also, I made a small mistake. My apartment is 300SF. I mistakenly wrote 600 and I am sorry for the confusion. This is all there is. One room. To see more pictures of my apartment and the progression, check here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28125814@N04/sets/72157610643504155/
this is really lovely. you have a sense of style, not a "look". very sweet and real.
If anyone interested, check out my NYC antiques blog with everything from cheap thrift store finds to collector items to daily inspiration. You can see where I found some of these pieces!
http://thejunkhaus.wordpress.com/