00:00Hey guys, I'm Maria. Welcome to my sweet digs, Upper East Side of Manhattan, and I pay $1,800 a
00:07month for my itty-bitty studio up here, which, by normal human person standards, is an obscene amount of money,
00:15but by Manhattan real estate standards is actually a steal.
00:20Come on in.
00:28The first store that you'll get to is my bathroom, and as a former beauty editor, my bathroom is very
00:34important to me.
00:35I've got these great shelves that I got at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Total storage beauty here.
00:42I have all my beauty products lined up in the way that I use them, all my serums, all that
00:48type of thing.
00:48My favorite part is this little sign that says, you are better than unicorns and sparkles combined.
00:55Love it. I always try to remember that.
00:57This is my closet, but it's not very pretty in there at the moment.
01:01It's actually the only closet in the entire apartment, so in here is my cleaning supplies, my clothing.
01:07I have all of my suitcases and stuff up here.
01:10It's kind of filled to the brim, so I don't have a pretty closet like a lot of other people,
01:14but it does the job well.
01:16Whenever I tell people how much I spend on my studio, they are shocked that I pay as little as
01:23I do,
01:23especially considering the outdoor space, the fact that I have laundry in the building, and a separate kitchen really makes
01:30it kind of worth my while.
01:32Now, if you'll follow me this way into the kitchen, again, itty-bitty space.
01:37I only have these cabinets, one little bra in here, so again, the name of the game is find storage
01:45elsewhere.
01:46So I hung up this amazing Ikea rack with all my pots on it.
01:50I have my serving bowls, my mixing bowls, my tea kettle, my soup, my knives are on the wall.
01:56I'm someone who actually really enjoys cooking.
01:59I'm one of the rare New Yorkers who uses her kitchen.
02:02I don't keep sweaters in my stove like some famous New Yorkers have said they do.
02:07Now, on to the living area of my apartment.
02:12This is basically it.
02:14I really wanted the space to feel as open and as calm as possible,
02:19especially because it is such a small space, I wanted to kind of make it feel as open and flow
02:25as naturally as possible,
02:26which is why you'll see that I have pieces that kind of link together and make the space move in
02:32a really fluid kind of way.
02:34Instead of having a side table for my couch and a side table for my bed,
02:38I wanted something that kind of pulled both parts of the room together,
02:43and this also doubles as amazing storage.
02:45But I use this as my end table.
02:47I keep my extra linens in there, candles.
02:50And the great thing is when I do have people over to entertain,
02:54I can use this as a buffet and everything on top of it goes into the bathtub.
02:59That's my little secret of how I keep things organized here.
03:03This apartment, believe it or not, I actually took a ton of planning.
03:07I signed the lease on this apartment a month before I was able to move in.
03:11And I was living at my parents' house at the time.
03:14So this whole wall was planned out in my mother's basement.
03:19We were laying pictures down on the floor, measuring between them.
03:23And then as soon as we got in here, she hung this whole thing with command hooks.
03:28It's like the easiest thing in the entire world.
03:31It's great and it looks beautiful.
03:32But the only con is now I can't move around my furniture ever because I have a focal point.
03:38My favorite part about my apartment is definitely the blue chest of drawers that I have.
03:44My mother found it on the side of the road when I was a junior in high school.
03:49And it was wood, the wood was gross, it was stained, and she really polished it up.
03:55She painted it and turned it into this gorgeous piece of furniture that's actually followed me around to two or
04:01three apartments.
04:02My mom made it for me pretty much, which makes it super special.
04:05It's irreplaceable.
04:06I love it here.
04:07I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.
04:09I'm a big fan of blankets and textiles and like layering of blankets and textiles.
04:17So I actually have this little throw.
04:19I have a quilt and then I have two blankets underneath.
04:22I love a cozy bed.
04:24And then on my windowsill is my little altar that I have with my sage.
04:30I like to sage my apartment every equinox just to kind of keep the energy flow in here really nice.
04:35And then my plants to keep the air nice and fresh.
04:39Let's go outside.
04:43So people ask me all the time how I actually found this place.
04:46It's a great story.
04:48I'd been looking for three months.
04:49I was living at home in New Jersey just to kind of give myself a little bit of breathing room
04:54because apartment hunting in Manhattan is insane.
04:57And I had an offer in on another apartment, but I saw this one on Craigslist.
05:02And I saw the balcony and I saw that it was in like my exact perfect neighborhood and in my
05:09price range.
05:10And I jumped at it.
05:10I actually was the first person to see this apartment.
05:13I came with all of my paperwork and I signed on the spot because I just absolutely fell in love
05:18with it.
05:27That's it.
05:28Thank you guys so much for coming by and checking out my sweet digs.
05:31Now get the hell out of here.
