In this new weekly feature, Rebecca will be blogging her one room "cure" of her new digs in Crown Heights, Brooklyn for the next month. Welcome, Rebecca!
Good "Housing Karma" does not always appear to us in the form of affordable, sunny one-bedroom apartments in the West Village, but sometimes it does. Or, did, for me. Yep, that's right: before I ever set foot in the West Village (or had any idea what it was!), I was given the opportunity to live in a low-rent one bedroom apartment on Greenwich Street, and by myself, at that...
(I'd say, less "Housing Karma" and more like "Manna from Heaven"!) I spent my first year in New York tearing up and down the Hudson River on my bike, skipping over to friends and work on ancient cobblestone streets, and picking up all kinds of delicious items of furniture off the curb to fill up my spacious first home. And before I knew it my lease was up and the next best situation was a room in Crown Heights, Brooklyn: where the Good Housing Karma fairy still shines through my window, but where at the moment I find myself drowning in a deluge of boxes and books.
My new room is already filled to the brim with cartons of leftover clutter, and is more than a few old screens and a paint job away from the simple sanctuary I need it to be to thrive in my gloriously populated new home with eight of my friends. (Yes! Eight!) Enter: Maxwell and Ursula to the rescue, with a bag of organic bananas and a brain full of ideas to help me transform my room over the next six weeks. Dream, Strategize, Organize:
Step One: The bones. Fix the broken screens, the shoddy paint job. Not just for color, but for a fresh start. Clean the windows. Simplify, giving away what isn't absolutely necessary. Fix the bones - the physical space to build on in the coming weeks.
Ha! Easier said than done! As we talked, the piles around me seemed only to grow, and I felt violent urges to chuck the rest of my unpacked boxes at random. But Max assures me - one step at a time, and when I've given myself a clean slate to build on, it will all be worth it.
First stop, the laundromat.
Checklist for week one:
* Sort through wardrobe
* Deal with half of the boxes of clutter
* Sort through books
* Remove torn screens and clean the windows
See you next week!
Rebecca "the winsome clutterer" Bea
Check back weekly for updates on Rebecca's Progress...
As someone who is going to be downsizing from a large loft apt. to a smaller apt. (although not by NY standards) in just 3 months, I think I will enjoy this feature immensely. I can feel my own panic starting to set in already....
view Angie in Montreal's profile
kudos! can't wait for the updates!
view brunocerous's profile
Nice looking room - will be nice to see it develop.
view Gallivant's profile
wow, you are pretty luck to have a room with so much natural light. can't wait to see how this develops.
view foodinmouth's profile
I don't know whether to congratulate you or to console you... going from the West Village to... Crown Heights?? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
view hejiranyc's profile
I'm going through exactly the same thing, but in reverse. From a 1100 sq. house in Atlanta to a 2900 sq. ft. house in the mid-west. For the last 2 months I've been living in a sea of boxes lacking the focus and conviction to get stuck in...
Where IS my copy of Apartment Therapy? In a box of course..
view hdtex's profile
Welcome to the neighborhood! Your room looks lovely and those windows are just awesome.
@hejiranyc - I'm not quite sure I understand your comment. Can you elaborate on why Crown Heights is such an awful place to live? I've lived here for three years and I love it.
view suziegoombs's profile
the apartment looks like quite a find and the blog is interesting -- can't wait to see what you do with both
view JonathanB's profile
I can't wait to see how your room evolves. When you have not one but two G-R's as your advisors how can it help but be great. Watch where Ursula sticks the other half of her banana.
view bobbin's profile
Wow, i love this place!
view Sleek's profile
Oh I can't wait! I just moved yesterday from a 1bd to a studio. So much to do. Hopefully this will keep me motivated and inspired.
view Lexo's profile
crown heights, represent!
maybe hejiranyc can only appreciate fully gentrified neighborhoods. good--stay away and i'll keep paying my cheap rent for a ton of space, excellent transportation to said neighborhoods, and prospect park within spitting distance!
view frontiersperson's profile
yes yes. Crown Heights is a terrible place to live. Its far too quiet, and there are absolutely no good West Indian veggie takeout places, and... uh... everyone is mean here! Stay away! Its scary! Boo!
view FromTheFuture's profile