Our first Brooklyn apartment

My husband and I moved into our first NYC apartment in April 2022. This was my first big move away from home, and since then a lot has changed—We got married, had a baby(!), and I started following my interest in artmaking and interior design.

I've always loved curating interiors, but this apartment feels special. Over the past 2.5 years, I've worked hard to collect and arrange beautiful, meaningful pieces into the space alongside more playful elements like legos (my husband loves legos).

In this blog post I wanted to capture the essence of the space and talk about what makes it so special.

First and foremost, we have to talk about the natural light. Whenever possible, I will always prioritize living in a space that is kissed by the sun, ideally in both the morning and afternoon. In this apartment, we get morning sun in the bedroom and afternoon sun in the living room. It's my favorite. I recently added a crystal sun catcher to the living room window so we are graced by tiny rainbows when the light catches. It's little touches like this that make a space feel cared for, and it's something I advocate for everyone to start doing in their own spaces. You and your home are in conversation, and when you care for it, give it love and attention, you'll start to notice things and make changes that allow your space to feel more balanced, more cozy, and more like home.

I didn't start out with a clearly defined color scheme in this space, but time has shown that it wants to be a mix of greens, teals, reds, pinks, and purples. The green couch is what started this trend. We agonized over the couch purchase. Couches are expensive! But we love this one. It pulls out into a sleeper sofa to more easily accommodate friends and family visiting from afar.

Soon after purchasing the couch, my husband and I found this beautiful hand stitched quilt at a little shop in Soho. It was expensive, but something about it called to us, and we are so glad we brought it into our home. There's really nothing like a good quilt.

The coffee table is something I bought off Craigslist all the way back in Albuquerque. I just think it's beautiful and such a unique shape. When we moved to Brooklyn I hired a moving company to haul a bunch of our stuff here. A lot of people choose to start completely fresh in a new place, which logistically makes sense, but I am way too sentimental for that. We kept a lot of art, including the carved wooden mirror and the woven tapestry. These pieces once belonged to AJ's parents, so they hold a lot of love and memories. The colorful chandelier is also sentimental; my mom bought it for me at a flea market. The women in our family love flea markets and estate sales, and the chandelier is a reminder of that part of my heritage. I often wonder how far back our love for curating beautiful spaces goes.

Most of the art in the space is a collection of my own prints and drawings, along with a few pieces from friends and mentors. I love that I can create pieces that are exactly what the space needs. Many of them I don't frame, partly because quality frames are expensive, and also because I kind of like the rough, artistic look of simply using tape or clips.

I also want to briefly talk about patterns. When we moved in I felt drawn to stripes and grids. The curtains in the living room and our bed sheets both had a grid pattern. Then we found that black and off-white Ikea rug (on the sidewalk!) and put it in the bedroom. For my birthday last year my mom gifted me the striped pillow shams on the couch. I still love the stripes, but recently I've also felt drawn to floral patterns and polka dots. So I'm slowly incorporating those patterns into the space, and thus far it doesn't feel too busy. When done slowly and carefully, changing things up can feel refreshing without being disruptive.

Since having a baby our space has changed a lot. We had to make space for a whole new person! We shifted around the living room to include a play mat and the dresser in the bedroom now doubles as a diaper changing table.

I could go on and on about how much I love our home, but the kettle is on and the baby is hungry, so I must go :)

← Blog