A KonMari Cleanse Allows This Couple to Live Comfortably in a Small NYC Home

Name: Erica Riha and fiancé
Location: Upper East Side — New York, New York
Size: Under 500 square feet
Years lived in: 2 years, renting

My fiancé and I moved into our Upper East Side apartment a few years ago after living in a much larger Queens one bedroom. We both work on West 57th Street and moved to have a shorter commute, the trade-off being less space; I’m an interior designer so I knew I could handle the challenge. It took me over a year to get the floor plan of the apartment the way that it is now.

We recently went through a KonMari cleanse, which has helped allow us to live neatly in our tiny one bedroom. Since living in this space we have learned to constantly tidy, from the moment we wake up to a quick pick up before bed. My decorating choices are almost all function-inspired, like our first custom “built-in” bench over the radiator which took us almost six months to finish… ultimately we wanted a space that we could relax in after a busy day being out in NYC.

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Modern farmhouse meets city function.

What is your favorite room and why? We don’t have many rooms but I’ll pick the living area since we spend most of our time there together watching movies, eating dinner, and enjoying days off. I also just love the way that it came together after a lot of rearranging, selling, and buying new furniture.

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? Kitchen! It’s so tiny and it works but it would be so great to be able to cook at the same time in the same room as each other. Our kitchen now is the smallest I have seen in NYC.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? My bar cart!

Any advice for creating a home you love? Surround yourself with things that make you happy not things that you purely saw on Instagram or Pinterest; get design inspiration from these places but make it your own!

Thanks, Erica!

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