Hey guys!
I’m Maria.
Welcome to my sweet digs.
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I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan
and I pay $1,800 a month for my itty-bitty
studio up here,
which by normal human person standards is an
obscene amount of money.
But by Manhattan real estate standards
is actually a steal.
Come on in.
The first door that you get into is my bathroom.
As a former Beauty Editor,
my bathroom is very important to me.
I've got these great shelves that I got at
Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
Total storage.
Beauty here.
I have all my beauty products lined up
in the way that I use them.
All my serums.
All that type of thing.
My favorite part is this little sign that says:
You are better than unicorns and sparkles
combined.
I love it.
Always try to remember that.
This is my closet,
but it’s not very pretty in there at the moment.
It’s actually the only closet in the entire apartment.
So in here is my cleaning supplies, my clothing.
I have all of my suitcases and stuff up here.
It’s kind of filled to the brim.
So I don’t have a pretty closet like a lot of other people.
But it does the job well.
Whenever I tell people how much I spend
on my studio, they are shocked that I pay as
little as I do especially considering the
outdoor space,
the fact that I have laundry in the building,
and a separate kitchen really makes it worth my while.
Now if you follow me this way into the kitchen.
Again, itty-bitty space.
I only have these cabinets.
One little drawer in here.
So again,
the name of the game is find storage elsewhere.
So I hung up this amazing Ikea rack
with all of my pots on it.
I have my serving bowl, my mixing bowls,
my tea kettle, my soup…
My knives are on the wall.
I’m someone who actually really enjoys cooking.
I’m one of the rare New Yorkers who uses her kitchen.
I don’t keep sweaters in my stove
like some famous New Yorkers have said they do.
Now onto the living area of my apartment.
This is basically it.
I really wanted this space to feel as
open and as calm as possible especially because
it is such a small space.
I wanted to kind of make it feel as open
and flow as naturally as possible which is why
you’ll see that I have pieces that kind of
link together and make the space move in
a really fluid kind of way.
Instead of having a side table for
my couch and a side table for my bed,
I wanted something that kind of holds both parts of
the room together.
And this also doubles as amazing storage.
I use this as my end table.
I keep my extra linens in there.
Candles.
And the great thing is when I do have people
over to entertain, I can use this as a buffet.
And everything on top of it, goes into the bathtub.
That’s my little secret of how I
keep things organized here.
This apartment, believe it or not,
actually took a ton of planning.
I signed the lease on this apartment
a month before I was able to move in.
And I was living at my parents’ house
at the time.
So this whole wall was planned out in
my mother’s basement.
We were laying pictures down on the floor,
measuring between them.
And then as soon as we got in here,
she hung this whole thing with command hooks.
It’s like the easiest thing in the entire world.
It’s great and it looks beautiful.
But the only con is now I can’t move around
my furniture ever because
I have a focal point.
My favorite part about my apartment is definitely
the blue chest of drawers that I have.
My mother found it on the side of the road
when I was a junior in high school.
And it was wood.
The wood was gross.
It was stained.
And she really polished it up.
She painted it and turned it into this gorgeous
piece of furniture that’s actually followed
me around to two or three apartments.
My mom made it for me pretty much
which makes it super special.
It’s irreplaceable.
I love it here.
I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.
I’m a big fan of blankets, textiles,
and like layering of blankets and textiles.
So I actually have this little throw.
I have a quilt.
And then I have two blankets underneath.
I love a cozy bed.
And then on my window sill
is my little altar that I have with my sage.
I like to sage my apartment every equinox
just to kind of keep the energy flow in here
really nice.
And then my plants to keep the air nice and fresh.
Let’s go outside!
So people ask me all the time how I
actually found this place.
And it’s a great story.
I’ve been looking for three months.
I was living at home in New Jersey
just to kind of give myself a little bit of breathing
room because apartment-hunting in Manhattan
is insane.
And I had an offer in at another apartment
but I saw this one on Craigslist.
And I saw the balcony.
And I saw that it was in my exact
perfect neighborhood and in my price range.
And I jumped at it.
I actually was the first person to see this apartment.
I came with all of my paperwork and I
signed on the spot because I just absolutely fell
in love with it.
That’s it.
Thank you guys so much for coming by
and checking out my sweet digs.
Now get the hell outta here!
Thanks for watching!
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