House Tours- A Chef's 800 Sq Ft Maximalist Home in Brooklyn

Hey, Apartment Therapy. It's Chef Okomen here and welcome to my 800 square feet Brooklyn apartment. Come on in. I've been in this apartment for about two years, but in New York a bit longer. When I moved into here, it was a dream come true because I could finally have a space to live, play, entertain, rent out, do work, all the things. What attracted me to this home was the open concept and also the two different floors so I can play with the vibes of each floor and just create spaces that were really intentional to the work that I do and also the fun that I wanted to have. The kitchen, we have a large kitchen island that has shelving on top that allows me to fit in random books, pots, pans, all the things. But also on our surface, I keep a little tray that has flaky sea salt, black peppercorn, a candle of the week. And usually I keep a project that I'm working on next to it so I can just flip through it as I'm cooking in the kitchen or eating. Today's project, I have the Drew Barrymore magazine and I had a eight-paste spread in there that just wrapped up. We shot it in this house too. And then I have my sad face electric stove, can't control it all, I am such a gas girl. Beef stew for the winter time. I'm always cooking something in my kitchen because I'm hungry, people wanna eat and also it just makes the house feel super cozy. And I just made a pot of rice and beans. Ooh, I think it's done. Y'all better hurry up, it's time for lunch. So I have to get really creative about the way I store things. As you can see, I have a wall right here that has these wooden cutting boards, but this is a great place to just put them on and just not have to worry about cluttering inside drawers. And also I'm saying I use storage every single place. Right here I have all my pots and pans or most of my pots and pans. All right here, got some casserole dishes and also mini-sized fridge, it's not a full-sized fridge, but we make it work. And I even have a second fridge downstairs that you will see later. And I have these beautiful Polaroids that I've collected throughout my life thus far. I'm always taking pictures, whether it's on a Polaroid, my phone. I just always have something in my hand to capture the memory. Also over here, I wanted to take off the doors of the cabinets just to create a more open feel. And I use these hay design crates to store things like spices, including my bold spices from my collection, which you just have to have in your kitchen at all times. My name is Chef O'Coleman, which means there's always food to eat in my house, which means we always need places to sit down to eat. These CB2 bar stools slash counter stools, I was pressed to get when I first moved to this apartment and didn't have any seating. So these counter stools are just so perfect and I can hide them away under this gorgeous Ikea island, which I found on Facebook Marketplace for like $300. This is not $300 at ikea.com, especially with this one. So love Facebook Marketplace. Over here, I have my coffee, tea, morning ritual moments. I found this little tree for mugs right here because I have so many mugs, I never know which one to throw away. So this tree allows me to keep all my mugs in one place. And my favorite thing is my Nespresso espresso maker. So cute in this vibrant yellow that matches my blue pegboard amazingly. You can type in blue pegboard on Google and find it anywhere. This is from Wayfair, but it's not even sold there anymore. So I don't want to set you up. But it has all of my perfect things that I look pretty, but also I use. So it serves as the core and also functionality. We love that. If you look here, big, beautiful gallery wall. You're probably like, how did he do that? How I did it was like just crazy. I literally stepped on the side of the stairs and hung up each thing because the TaskRabbit was too much money. So I figured it out. And look at it, beautiful. A collective moment throughout my life. This is one of my favorite pieces. When I was in New Orleans, my birthday, all my friends joined me. Love this piece. One of the first days of my living in New York City. As you can see, I was so happy. New York, baby. I'm still that happy, so not much has changed. This gorgeous table right here, my boyfriend recently moved in and he brought that with him. I don't let him bring too much stuff now. I don't want to mess it up the design, but this right here is just super gorgeous. I love the blue accents on the chairs. If you see throughout the home, I love blue and yellow. So this fit in perfectly. Love the shape of the table as well. Speaking of blue, more blue in this corner right here. These gorgeous cabinets that I actually got from Facebook Marketplace. Super funny story. My friend Ashley from Trade Street Jam was moving out of New York to go to Atlanta and she was selling these babies and I went to the house of the seller and I was super surprised to see her right there with the cabinets to sell me. So I was like, hey girl, let me get those cabinets. Let me get a discount too. My super comfy Joybird couch, which is actually two day beds together. It's called the Sebastian Day Bed. This is Mr. Waffles right here. You can always find him getting really, really cozy on here. He used to sleep with me during the nighttime when he was a little baby and now he sleeps here all by himself. Such a big boy. Oh. Right here I have one of my favorite pieces in the home. It's like a shelf moment, but I love that I can keep cookbooks on here, my record player, other knickknacks because I live in New York and I have to create space every single place. But my favorite thing on this bookshelf, these affirmation cards. I pick them up every single week. There's a new one. This actually needs to be switched out, so let's pick a new one. Every day I am learning and growing. Say it back. As I mentioned, this apartment is a duplex, so let's go downstairs where all the fun and magic happens. Okay, now we're downstairs. As you can see, that gallery wall finishes up right here towards the end of the stairs. But then, boom, we have these gorgeous wooden shelves that I pay to want to do because I am not that handy beyond the gallery wall above us. It does have a few different displays of my favorite cookbooks. Fun fact, my BFF, Hayley Thomas, hired me to shoot her cookbook when we were 17 years old. Back in the day, that was my first experience coming to New York, and I was like, yeah, I need to live here. So shout out to Hayley for giving me the opportunity. Then, how can you miss this gorgeous blue Smeg? Funny story about this, my mentor, Erin McDowell, used to live in New York City, but now she lives in Kansas. And she was like, hey, Will, you want a new fridge? It's a little broken, but if you can pick it up, it's free. So yes, I was in my U-Haul, picking the Smeg up with me and my friend. That was two years ago. I finally got the fridge fixed two days ago. So it used to be leaking all over the floor with water that I was cleaning up, but hey, it's a free Smeg. What can you do? Now, right here, I have this cart that rolls around, it's on wheels. I use this to do a makeshift cooking studio that's right here if I'm doing video or photo shoots, gorge, but also just general storage that I use for overflows of appliances and different things that I use for dinner parties and cooking every day. And then right here, I have some gorgeous glassware, drinkware that I have displayed as well. This is one of my favorite pieces. When it comes to the glassware, I got it from the MoMA Museum and there's like a set of six or eight and they're all mixed match. I love mixed match stuff, as you can see in my home. Now on to living room part two. I like to keep things cozy, relaxed, chill, fun. So I was like, why not have a second living room? And it still has that theme of blue throughout it as well. Super comfy velvet couch that I actually got on Facebook Marketplace and they didn't tell me that it was on a six-floor walk-up. So the couch literally got thrown down the stairs, six floors, and I was like, if it does not break, it's meant for me. And as we see, it didn't break. It's a little wobbly though, don't tell nobody. These gorgeous two-arm chairs are from Wayfair, actually. I was on a budget when I first moved in here and these did the job. But as you can see throughout the space, I just need lots of seating. And I think it's really important to note that you can create functionality and create a beautiful home that's also affordable as well. You don't have to have everything from the big name stores, but also it's important to do like a mix of highs and lows. Throughout the space, you will see that I have lots of shelves to store my plethora of cookware. So think about when you have a lot of cookware or plates or serving where anything in your home, you can make the decor as well, but you can also use it when it's time to entertain. Like this is a orange pot that I can make a soup in, but also it's super gorgeous to keep as decor right next to my blue pot right here. Both of those are from Great Jones. It's the Glossy's collection. And I was part of the launch campaign. So once again, work playing into home. Throughout the home, I have lots of gorgeous art from really talented artists, but I also like to put things in frames like my recent accomplishments. This is a fried pork chop sandwich idea for the Washington Post. And also I am a food photographer as well. So throughout the space, you will see different photographs that I've taken of food that are just simply gorgeous that I want to show off. And art is going everywhere. Even when it comes to a rug, this is an entire face, like an abstract face that's in a rug. And I also bought this like the week I signed my lease for this apartment. As you see, I was very excited to move in and they had like a Black Friday sale and rugs are very, very expensive. And I got this on a major discount. The store I got it from is not a business. So sad face, sad face. My favorite part of the basement slash studio, my 12 foot dining room table made in India. And every single season I changed the table spread to give, you know, give the season. So right now we're in winter, so I got the blues out. But this summer I had a little pink action going. Behind here, we have all of my props that I use for photo shoots, video shoots, production as a whole. So I have lots of CDs off the table. I believe it's at least 10 CDs at all times. But also this space, I rent on peer space for folks to come have dinner parties, birthday parties, celebrations. I keep it to like limited 12 to 15 people so it doesn't get too rowdy. And that's an important note to have if you want to rent your space out. Rent it out to people that you know will keep it clean, not break things. And also try to limit the amount of people in your space as well, because this space can't really accommodate 50 people. But it can accommodate 12 and it also helps to pay for things like rent, extra tableware, and other things that I just want to buy for the home. Not gonna lie, I do not always have baked treats for guests, but when apartment therapy comes over, you betcha, I got cookies. The bathroom is fairly small, so I had to get really creative with storage. I have storage over my toilet, which allows me to keep a lot of things like deodorant, lotion. I also love putting my soap and lotion on the wall above the sink. It gives you that hotel vibe. The whole entire house is very maximalist. I wanted the bathroom to get very clean, refreshed, and just make it like a spa. The general concept of home to me means a place where I can gather with friends, family, my boyfriend, my dog, and just be in a place of peace and serenity. As I've curated this space within the past two years, I've just continued to learn that I can't put boundaries on myself, on the things that I love, the things that I want to do. And this space, it just shows that. It's a collage of my life. This is real life, not a hotel, not something in a magazine. This is the place I come to every single day when I call home.