See Inside a Cozy Brooklyn Apartment That Rents for $3,600 a Month
Holly Li and her partner signed for this two-bedroom, 700-square-foot apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, sight-unseen. “We were moving to NYC at the time, and worried about being able to find a place. We did a video tour of this apartment the day it came out, and were notified that we had gotten it as we were taxi-ing, getting ready to embark on a long flight. We bought plane WiFi *just* so we could wire our deposit and not lose the spot,” she writes.
“Three years later and this apartment is one of the best things that ever happened to us,” Holly continues. “It’s a home base for our friends; it’s housed our families for holidays and family weddings.”
“My partner and I treat designing the space as a love language: Every few months, we take an evening together to subtly rearrange art or furniture, just to breathe new life into the space and find renewed inspiration,” Holly shares.
“Our friends joke that we’re obsessed with school — in my design work, I love to employ ‘textbook’ or ‘academic’ design systems, and it’s true of our space too: Between the library cart, locker, school chairs, and randomly strewn textbooks, our apartment’s central visual theme is probably the schoolhouse. I love how playful kids are allowed to be — and I love learning — so ‘schoolhouse’ feels apt,” Holly continues to describe.
“My partner and I are also both Chinese American, so we have a few Asian touches throughout the house: Communist posters (I love to collect them), lunar calendars, etc.”
Resources
LIVING ROOM
- Green Canvas — DIY
- Library Cart — Craigslist
- Rugs — Purchased in Morocco
- Ashtray — Houseplant
- Couch — Bludot, but purchased on Facebook Marketplace for $50!
- Godzilla — DIY
- Revolutionary Man — Facebook Marketplace
- Japanese Pennant — Antique
- Key Holder — Fruit Super
- “NO” Sign — Park Life in San Francisco
- Locker — Big ReUse in Gowanus
- “Conference Center” Sign — Vintage
- Orange Console — CB2 from Facebook Marketplace
- Mart Stam Chair — Antique Store
DINING ROOM
- Table — Biergarten
- School Chairs — Stooped!
- “GET F%@#” Print — Aesthetic Union in SF
- Saul Steinberg Art — Estate Sale
- Coffee Bar — Partner Made It
OFFICE
- School Chair — Stooped
- Decor on the Desk — Mix of Antiques (oil pastel paintings) or International Finds (Mexican tin frame, Japanese figurines)
BEDROOM
- Quilt — Antique
- Paper Lamps — DIY
Thanks, Holly!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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