00:01Oh hey! Welcome to my sweet digs! Come on in!
00:05Hey, I'm Elisa Kreisinger. I'm an executive producer at Refinery29
00:09and I host and produce a podcast and video series called Strong Opinions Loosely Held.
00:18We pay $3,400 for our mortgage every month and that's actually less than we were paying in Brooklyn.
00:24So when we were looking for homes, we realized that we could get an entire house with a backyard
00:28and a garage and a driveway for less than we were paying for a one bedroom.
00:33The house is technically 1,500 square feet plus the basement.
00:38I live with my partner in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. It's a suburb of New York City, about 30 minutes
00:44outside of New York.
00:45We both moved from Brooklyn and we both grew up in New Jersey.
00:49So it was important when moving back to New Jersey that we move someplace that was accessible to both of
00:56our families
00:56and Glen Ridge just happened to be it.
01:02This is our living room, dining room, open kitchen floor plan.
01:07This area really was the room that sold us on the house.
01:11We were really happy to see that the previous owners had taken down these two walls
01:17and made it that open concept floor plan that we really wanted.
01:20The aspect of our life that definitely influences our home the most is our desire to entertain.
01:26We love entertaining.
01:27We love having people over and having an open concept where you could see everybody was really important to us.
01:34The most sentimental piece of furniture that we have in the house is a 1950s German radio record player.
01:41I found this on heavy trash night my senior year in college, in the summer, put it in the back
01:46of my car
01:47and I stored it at my parents' house and it's one of my favorites.
01:51It has a really warm sound, very inviting.
01:54My partner Meg took this on our vacation to Key West a few years ago.
01:59We go to Key West every winter.
02:01Don't ask me ever to take that down because it's literally bolted into the wall.
02:08We did not have a formal dining room in Brooklyn.
02:12We had a teeny tiny table.
02:13My partner Meg and I have lived here for about three months, right?
02:17November, December, January, February, March.
02:20Oh my God, April, May, June.
02:22No, July.
02:24Whoa, eight months.
02:27Okay.
02:28My partner and I have lived in this house for eight months.
02:32We moved in in December right after Thanksgiving.
02:35It was really important for us to have a space and be settled for the Christmas holiday
02:40so that we could host our families together.
02:42We didn't exactly have any furniture and they didn't have a place to sit.
02:45And so for us having a dining room table where we could seat more than two or three people
02:50was really important.
02:51So it was great to be able to go to Target and find something like a full dinnerware set
02:56that was totally within our budget, very much within our style,
02:59that made us feel like real adults.
03:04This is one of my favorite spaces in the house just because we spend a lot of time cooking.
03:09And that was one thing that we weren't really able to do in Brooklyn
03:11because our kitchen was like the size of this island.
03:15So now we have this big, beautiful kitchen.
03:17I haven't cooked yet, but it doesn't mean I won't.
03:20I'm still getting around to it.
03:21We put a lot of personal touches into the kitchen.
03:24We changed the backsplash.
03:25We changed out the hardware.
03:26I love just finding cool objects that have a great style or design purpose,
03:30like these little baskets to be able to put things in.
03:33Same with the matching little dish rack here.
03:36I just love having the stuff out that adds some personality and design aesthetic as well,
03:41which is why I love these over the door organizers.
03:44You can never have enough cabinet space.
03:48This is our bedroom.
03:51We did invest in a grownup bed with a headboard, which we were very excited about.
03:58But what's even better is this awesome made by design at Target comforter.
04:02It allows Meg to stay cool.
04:04I'm able to stay warm and we're both happy.
04:08Hers and hers walk in closets, which I'm not going to show you because that's where all of our stuff
04:13is.
04:13That's why our house looks so clean, but come on into the bathroom.
04:17We love this bathroom.
04:19Um, yes, I know no double vanities.
04:22I know.
04:23I realize this is going to sound a little bougie, but I would just love a double sink and a
04:28double vanity.
04:29I mean, there's two people.
04:31You need two sinks.
04:32The one cool feature about this tub is that it actually fills from above.
04:44So a really nice relaxing place to come in after a long day, take a bath, take a nice hot
04:49shower and just recharge for the next day.
04:54This is our laundry room.
04:56So this is one of my most favorite rooms in the house because in Brooklyn, our laundry was a teeny
05:01tiny closet.
05:02And now we have a full room with a sink and tons of closet and storage space.
05:08I don't even do the laundry in my relationship, but I so appreciate this room because it is so clean
05:15and organized.
05:16So we might not have double vanities, but we do have hers and hers wine fridges.
05:22I love this room.
05:23I know I said the other rooms were my favorite, but this is actually my favorite.
05:28So like I said, we love to entertain.
05:31One of the coolest things that we found were these stackable wine glasses.
05:35They save a ton of space and they allow us to have so many more glasses on hand for all
05:40of our guests, which is really cool.
05:42I found the house one night watching my home TV shows scrolling on my home finding app.
05:49And we made an appointment to go to the open house on Sunday.
05:53We made an offer Monday evening and the offer was accepted Tuesday afternoon.
06:00We spent the majority of our life savings.
06:03Don't regret it at all.
06:05And we were excited to finally find it.
