the evolution.

Hi there. I am back. After some issues with my laptop that my friend graciously fixed, it is not longer held hostage, and therefore I can now access the photos that I wanted to share! Im putting blame on said friend and not the fact that I was partially to blame aka lazy.

Today I wanted to share how the bedroom space has been evolving since moving into our apartment. There are subtle changes that are currently in place, but the photos below are what it looked like in the first weeks of life in Brooklyn Heights. Trying to figure out what goes where, what looks good with what, what else can I get rid of so that this place is not as cluttered!

bedroom

Yikes, hello pile of laundry waiting to be put away. Okay, so honestly the above photo does not show complete chaos that moves in usually are. Thanks to our awesome friends who helped us with the move and because the apartment was so small we were able to get things (mostly) in there places by the end of the move in day. The photo below (phase 1) is a more accurate description as to what this room really looked liked.

evo

Now Ill just briefly go over the different phases our boudoir went through in the first few weeks as seen in the photos above. Because you guys care. RIGHT?!?! Right! Okay pfewww.

PHASE 1.

Bed is in place, few accessories placed onto radiator, and bed linens on. Random frames and lots of laundry to be done are not part of the design scheme!

PHASE 2.

Laundry got done! Frame put up above bed. Shelf hung as nightstand. Frame and books hung above radiator. Side table being used as entry catch all.

PHASE 3.

Orange pillows went bye bye aka parents basement. Black and white photograph hung above nightstand/shelf. Black out shades were attached into window frame.

PHASE 4.

Different dark navy pillow covers and a burgandy throw. Attempting to de-clutter above radiator aka removing books and replacing them with “stuff” on the windowsill.

In its final stages of that week (we’re no where near being in any final stages) below is what the bedroom looked like. I attempted to streamline as much as possible. That included the color pallete that is turning into a navy/black/and white combo. The duvet cover my boyfriend already had so I decided to add it into the mix and I am liking the darker tone in there. We (the boyfriend) put up the shelf/nightstand on my side of the bed as well to create some more symmetry. There are a few new acquisitions on my side of the bed as well (btw my side is the more feminine side aka the right side of the image) I’ll probably go into those things in a little more detail, especially since theres a simple DIY in there. Oh and also what you can’t see in the image is that we (my dad) installed a new light fixture! This made a huge difference as fellow renters no that landlords rarely put up a decent looking fixture its always those ugly too shiny brass ones with the glass done. Barf. Cant wait to show you how the fixture looks like in a later post.

6.25b

So what do you guys think so far?? Would love to hear if you think these changes were positive or if you liked the earlier versions better. Without seeing the rest of the space yet I guess it would be hard to formulate an opinion. But I swear things are really starting to come together!

Cant wait to share more tomorrow…

the plan.

Before we saw our apartment the broker who showed it to us said it was too tiny for two people. But after seeing other tiny places in the area that were in typical shoddy NYC condition entering now our apartment felt dare I say big. Obviously it was not a big apartment at 266 square feet but the sun rays were shining in and we saw the freedom tower from all the windows and well thats basically want sold us. Our hearts melted and our brain were probably a little confused.

When we sat down to make our decision, we were deciding between the above mentioned studio and a much larger studio about a 5/10 minute walk away from it. The larger apartment was in a doorman building, with an elevator, had bike storage, and roof top deck. Sounds awesome yes? No brainer right? WRONG. Our hearts (this sounds so sappy) were still thinking about the smaller place and we envisioned ourselves in that apartment.

Envisioning ourselves in this apartment ultimately meant reducing the amount of stuff we had, but we wanted to make sure that the things we actually needed were able to fit. So we created a list and being designers drew out a rough floor plan from memory to try and create a furniture arrangement.

Here’s what we came up with:

IMG_1632

Image

Okay, so I cant find what we did with the floor plan, but here are two perspectives that I quickly sketched.

We knew we had to fit a bed most importantly, additional storage for the boyfriends clothing since he graciously gave up the two closets for my wardrobe, and some sort of seating. We attempted to see if some of our existing pieces would work and so it was like putting the pieces [of a very small] puzzle together. It seemed to work on paper so it gave our brain the assurance that our heart did not need. We ended up going with the smaller space and are very happy that we did!

Although our space is turning out quite different then the original plan/sketch we’re fitting all our needs/likes into our apartment and more and the little plan we put together was the push we needed to seal the deal.

the apartment (before).

When my boyfriend and I decided that we would be moving in together I was ecstatic. What a big step in our relationship! How is exciting will it be to search for OUR place! But I was not at all prepared for the terror that was apartment hunting. Now, I am aware that looking for a place in NYC is no walk in the park, even though my last experience seemed like a piece a cake in comparison. In all honesty part of our misfortune was our own doing as we starting looking for places too early and were not ready to commit. We also had a trip to Asia already planned for the two weeks prior to when my boyfriends lease was up in April so that basically gave us 2 weeks to find an apartment. We looked online almost everyday, called brokers, walked around the whole sha-bang. We applied for many an apartment but for one reason or another were screwed over by either a broker, a landlord, or a rich Swedish music producer. Long story short we were having the WORST luck.

At some point we got in touch with a broker who dealt with properties mostly in the Brooklyn Heights area. After seeing a few apartments around there we fell in love with the area and concentrated our search to Brooklyn Heights. We eventually landed our apartment, after missing out on the apartment 3 floors down that we originally wanted and then an apartment next door as well. The apartments we missed out on were larger than the one that we ended up with but we were so exhausted from our search and fell in love with the area already  that we said yes as soon as we found out it was on the market.

Our lovely quaint apartment is located on the 5th floor in the back of a brownstone only a few blocks away from the promenade. What it lacks in space it definitely more than makes up for in location. And what may seem like a pain of being on the 5th floor (it certainly was on move in day*) being up so high gives us the pleasure of a sun-drenched apartment with a great view! The apartment is a 266 square feet studio with a separate kitchen and bathroom. Its shared between two people but I love it so, although it did take a little bit of work to get it to the love part thus far, and there is still more to do to make it a real home.

Here are some photos of the apartment that our broker originally sent to us, and basically what we moved into but with the appliances in their rightful places.

Bedroom/Living Space minus the stove in there.

Bedroom/Living Space minus the stove in there.

Bedroom/Living Space

Bedroom/Living Space

Other side of Bedroom

Other side of Bedroom

Kitchen

Kitchen

 

Other side of Kitchen and Bathroom

Other side of Kitchen and Bathroom (yes there was a toilet in our kitchen : /)

 

*Big thank you to my friends who helped me lug up all my and my boyfriends things up many flights of stairs because I am too cheap to hire movers. I love you guys so.

the introduction.

My name is Lilly Fuks, the latter being the funny name part. I studied Interior Design in college and work in the high end residential (serious design) part of this field which contrasts greatly with what my real world design life is like. To put it in layman’s terms 2,000.00 side table = clients budget and 20.00 side table = lillys budget. Both worlds allow for a lot of creativity but obviously it is trickier to design a space and make it look like a thousand bucks with only some change in your pocket.

So, I recently moved to Brooklyn Heights… into a MUCH smaller apartment than my previous one… with the addition of my boyfriend. After an exhausting two months of looking for a place to begin a new chapter of our lives together we settled on our little gem of a place in an area that we’re falling in love with more and more each day we explore it. Point of this is that not only did I go from a S P A C I O U S apartment in Williamsburg to a much smaller space, but there was also someone that was to share that same space with me. If an interior designer and architect(boyfriend) couldnt make this space work, then no one could, luckily we’re not only making it work, but loving  smaller space living. This blog will be a way for me to document the progress of making our little gem into a home that suits the both of us. Hopefully once there is a reader out there beside myself, it could maybe encourage one of you to enjoy the process of downsizing as well while I do the hard part of figuring it out.

the start.

Ive procrastinated quite some time on starting this blog that took a whopping 2 minutes to create, and now it is here. Im not sure if this blog is for me (as of right now it is since I will be the only one reading it) or you (non-existing reader) but I think the point was the get it started and see where it goes. I recently went to a lecture by Joi Ito who is a college drop out turned MIT director, his “go get em” attitude was the boost I needed to get this started. He spoke about practice over theory which is the idea of creating something and seeing where it goes and adjusting it to suite your needs or others needs once you know where it can take you/them. So this is the start. Of a blog about my funny last name (its not pronounced as you may think) and the fact that I am an interior designer so yeah there will be a lot of that too.