00:00Hey, I'm Alyssa Coscarelli and these are my sweet digs, but I hope you brought a
00:04snack because I do not cook at all. Come on in.
00:10I live in a junior one bedroom in the East Village and I pay $2,000 a month in rent.
00:15I don't have laundry, I don't have an elevator, I'm on the fourth floor of a
00:19walk-up building. I'm really paying for the location and for the fact that I live
00:24alone and it's blissful. I love the East Village, it's one of my favorite
00:27neighborhoods in all of New York City. It's packed with culture and restaurants.
00:32Overall, it just has a certain New York charm to it.
00:39Here we are in my kitchen area. It's definitely more of a kitchenette, but it's
00:44totally fine because the truth is I do not cook at all. I have not used this
00:48little stove one time, as embarrassing as that is. I totally survive on takeout and
00:55other little groceries and snacks. My favorite takeout spot is Sugarfish. I
00:59order sushi probably at least once a week. Since the stove doesn't get much use, I
01:03have this drying rack here that I can place my dishes on to dry and I also have
01:06a little tray just for knickknacks and keys and I can put my drink down here if I
01:11need to. So it's kind of just a little catch-all area. Really all that's in my
01:14fridge is just some kombucha, some water, wine and beer and I actually keep my cereals in
01:22here. Weirdly enough, I like to keep my cereal in the fridge because I don't have
01:27a pantry, number one. And number two, I just feel like it better protects against
01:31cockroaches and mice that I'm terrified of. This fridge takes up so much room. I've
01:35actually considered seeing if my building management will remove it so that I can
01:40downsize to a mini fridge. What do you guys think? Should I toss it? Should I
01:43downsize? Let me know what you think in the comments below. Walking over here into my
01:47little breakfast nook. It's just a good little spot to hang out, especially since
01:51before I had this I was eating on my meals on my couch or my bed and that's
01:56just not something anyone should probably do on a regular basis. So here
02:00off of the kitchenette area is my bathroom so let's go on in. My favorite
02:04thing about the bathroom is the black and white checkered tiles. I think they're so
02:08old-school and adorable. I like to call this the toilet tunnel. It's kind of like a
02:13funny little hallway leading to the toilet but it is good for privacy purposes but I
02:17do try to warn some tall people because I have had friends hit their head. It
02:22feels pretty spacious for a New York City bathroom. My previous bathroom was
02:25pretty much the size of a stall. It's nice to have some space to walk around. It
02:29does the job. Why don't we check out the living space? As you can see my living room
02:35also doubles as a closet. I work in fashion. I'm an editor and I knew I always
02:40wanted to be in the fashion industry somehow. Instead of getting a TV and a TV
02:44stand like any normal person would I decided to use this wall for a shoe
02:49display and I love it. Clearly I have a thing for shoes and clothes and jackets so
02:56that's why I love what I do because it just is in line with my passions. I got
03:00these shelves at IKEA and measured them all out myself, put them up myself and I'm
03:05still crossing my fingers that I'm not gonna come home one day and find them all
03:09on the ground. My favorite pair of shoes, they have to be this red leather boot by
03:14a brand called Byfar. This particular pair is sold out I believe still to this
03:19day. It sucks when people ask me where they're from because I have to break the
03:21news to them that they can't buy them but I kind of love that about them at the
03:25same time. And since it's winter I have all my jackets out. I like that I can see
03:29them all and I can kind of just grab whichever one I want on the way out the door.
03:32Over here I have my main kind of chill area. I have my couch. It's really comfy.
03:39It can fit about like two to three people depending. Instead of a normal coffee table
03:43I found this little side table from CB2 but I like that it doesn't take up too
03:47much space and I can kind of move it around easily. In my next apartment or my
03:51dream apartment I would really like a doorman because I order a lot online and I
03:56get sent a lot of packages and they've gotten stolen from the lobby, they've gotten
04:00opened and rummaged through. So it'd be nice to have someone to be here. That would
04:03be a dream. If you want to take a peek inside my closet. That's as far as it
04:08opens. This is basically my dresses and skirts closet. It's hard to sift through
04:13but what I do is keep a few selects kind of hanging in the front of stuff that I
04:18want to wear soon. This closet holds a lot but somehow never enough at the same
04:22time. Above the two closets there's a little cupboard for extra storage. As you
04:30can see it's very full. Honestly I don't even know what else is back there. We can
04:33wander over into the bedroom now. Over here is my other closet. This comes in
04:38handy for all my tops, jeans, again it's kind of tight. A literal disaster inside
04:43the closet but this system works for me. I think this needs another clean out soon
04:47because it's getting kind of out of control. My favorite part about the
04:49apartment is definitely my bedroom. It gets amazing natural light which is so
04:53important to me and I now have a queen bed. It's an upgrade for my last apartment
04:58where I had a twin bed. It still feels extremely luxurious for me. I found this
05:01headboard at CB2 and I really haven't seen anyone else with it. I find it to be
05:06pretty unique and special and it's also the most expensive piece in my apartment so
05:10far. The bed was $1,200 I believe. Over here I have candles and perfumes and also
05:17some sage. I love sage. My apartment pet peeve would have to be bad smells or food
05:23smells so I always have at least one candle burning. If my apartment was a
05:28pop culture icon it would probably be the Olsen twins. It's boho meets vintage meets
05:34modern and also I think you can see a bit of a fashion influence in it. I've lived in
05:39this apartment for about six months. I absolutely love living alone. I will
05:43admit I was a little bit nervous to kind of take the plunge and I do miss my
05:47roommate but I really like being able to just decorate the way I want to decorate.
05:51I can make a mess if I want to. Obviously $2,000 a month is a lot of money for
05:56someone to spend and despite so many people trying to talk me out of it like
06:00my mom and all my best friends saying no just stay put just stay with your
06:04roommates. I really stuck with my guns and went for it and I don't regret it one
06:08bit. I think it's one of the better decisions I've made in the past few years.
06:11For people that want to move to New York I would say save up your money. It's as
06:16expensive as everyone says it is. At the same time I would say go with your gut. If you
06:20know New York is where you should be and where you want to be then go for it no
06:24matter what anyone tells you just make it happen.
