How She Made A Small 450 Sq Ft Nyc Walk-Up Apartment Feel Like Home – Full Tour

Hey, I'm Jillian and welcome to my 450 square foot apartment on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. Come on in. So welcome to my grand foyer. As you can see in a New York City apartment, there is no grand foyer. So because I can't really put a nice little catch-all table to put my keys or everything, I try to hang as much as possible in this apartment and utilize all the little spaces. So I have too many gold gilded vintage mirrors in this apartment, but the first one you're going to see is right here. So this is the, hey, I'm leaving, make sure the hair is big and happy and, you know, go out into the world. So this is the little foyer. I also, throughout the space, have a lot of oil paintings. So I try to start the walkthrough of the apartment with a gold gilded mirror, oil painting, and now you're going to see copious amounts of both of them throughout the space. So also in this space, I have about 99 to 98 percent secondhand thrifted things in the apartment. So this is one of the first things. I actually found this on the side of the road. And in New York City, you'll find a lot of really good stuff on the side of the road. So yay, especially if you're on a budget, which I am. And I have a little bit of an obsession with glassware. So everything secondhand, gorgeous little pieces that I love to give a second home to. Another thing I found in the trash, this incredible 1960s chair. I don't understand why people throw out pretty things. So I give it a new life. And what's crazy about this corner is there were massive shelves when I moved in, covering this space. And the second I toured the apartment, my first question was, can I demo the shelves? And he goes, good luck. I said, thank you. First day I moved in, I took a sledgehammer, boom, broke through the shelves. And now I can actually utilize this little corner. The space has been configured so many different ways that originally the bar cart usually lived in this corner. It fits perfectly, but depends on the day, the month, my mood. I'll move it back and forth. But this is one of my cute corners with all my thrifted finds. This is actually my father. I love that. So one of the things you're going to gather from being in my space is that I am a maximalist. If there's a place, I'm going to put something there. It's not for everybody, but I love it. And that's the way I like to do my decor. The thing is, this is one of the only blank walls you will see in the apartment. And it is because I am an actor and model here in New York City. And after the pandemic, we now have to film at home. So I have camera equipment hidden throughout this apartment. And this lovely wall turns into my filming space. The trunk goes away, a massive backdrop. My tripod goes there. I have lights over here. So when I'm filming, this space doubles as my studio. So that's why it's blank. But in the meantime, more oil paintings, because why the hell not? This is the only antique in the space that actually comes from my family. Everything else I have found at flea markets, side of the road, Goodwill, whatever. This is from my grandparents' house in DC when they were living there when my mom was a teenager. And then when I was growing up, it was in their dining room. After my grandpa passed, my grandmother bestowed the mirror on me. And this is my prized possession. She's very old and she's beautiful. And she's gold gilded. She matches with everything else in the apartment. The one disappointment in this apartment is this couch, the green velvet couch that I think every person has saved on Pinterest. I have a beautiful 1960s black leather couch that unfortunately was two to three inches too big to fit through that door. So this is from overstock.com and she's beautiful, but she one day will be in a different home and not mine. And then I have an obsession with trunks. I have two other trunks that are currently with this design hidden under my bed. Usually all three live over there stacked. And they're my, they're my storage. I have all my winter clothes in there. I have filming equipment in there. I have a little bit of an obsession with trunks because this is a suitcase, essentially. This has traveled probably more places than I have. Maybe it's from Canada, you know, maybe it went where you guys have come from, but yeah, you'll see, you'll see all the little old things in the apartment. One of the themes in this apartment is turning things that are renter standard here in New York and upgrading them and making them beautiful. For me, I've done a lot of renter hacks that I can reverse back when I move out. And one of the things, and one of the things I highly recommend if you're renting is to change the light fixtures. All the ones that I have found have been from estate sales and Facebook marketplace, except this one, this one was from Home Depot. And this is the first one I will change when I find a better one, you know, for me in this apartment, you'll notice there's a lot of things that might be a little quirky or need repair. And as I find something more special, I replace, I'm not in the market just to walk in and have an apartment that's out of a catalog. Everything is curated and it's found when it's meant to be found. So one day I will find a beautiful vintage chandelier, and this will go on Facebook marketplace to another home, like the couch. And because the space is so small, welcome to the dining room. You know, it's New York, you make do. Found these Facebook marketplace, two different sellers, found this on Facebook marketplace. This is one of my favorite things. It's the Samsung frame TV. I love it because it looks like art and it doesn't look like an intrusive, just black box of a TV. This is different art I've collected over the years. And then welcome to the library, thrifted every, every single thing, thrifted some of my favorite books and plays. So one of my holy grail thrifting pieces that was always on my list. I always have a list when you go thrifting, you never know, was a Victorian fireplace screen. So in New York, if you're lucky enough in an old building, you will have a beautiful ornate fireplace that you cannot use. But one day I will have that and the Victorian fireplace screen will go to its rightful home. But I just think it's so beautiful. Oh, I love it. So one of the holy grail things about this space is it has really high ceilings. It's probably like maybe eight, nine foot ceilings, maybe more. I don't know, but they're high and the closets actually are that high too. So that filming equipment I mentioned before up here, I'm able to put massive lights in the backdrop and hide it because at the end of the day, you don't want to stare at your work when you're just trying to relax in your living room. So I love the fact that I can just collapse everything and hide it away. And welcome to the bedroom. So I got very lucky with this space because this bedroom, you can't really see it now, but it gets the most sun in this, in this unit. It's a very dark apartment, but most days this room is flooded with sunlight and it's, it's a big bedroom for old school New York apartment standards. So I feel very lucky. And I have two windows. So, and there's a tree outside that window, which is very rare in New York. So I really, really love this room. I was lucky enough to partner with a paint company called Lick with painting this room. So this is green 18. And, uh, it's one of the more colorful rooms in the apartment, more gilded mirrors, because I just can't help myself. And it was $10 and you can't say no to perfection. This is my desk, my vanity. Anytime I need to just do any clear thinking, this is, this is where it's happening. And funny enough, this chair is one of my favorite pieces in the apartment. It's a beautiful sixties chair. It matches the couch that unfortunately will not fit into the apartment. So one day this will be in the living room with the beautiful couch. So another really cool thing, these really awesome lamps, they actually come from the original Lord and Taylor in New York city. And before it closed, they were doing a big sale on literally everything in the store. And this is from the Bobby Brown makeup counter. So they're great lights. I use them as my makeup lights. I mean, they used to be makeup lights and now they're my makeup lights, but it's very cool to kind of have a piece of a little piece of New York. I'll give you a New York city tip when it comes to radiators utilize them. So for me, I found this great piece of marble, put it on top. And now I'm able to utilize my radiator as a side table because you make space wherever you can. It's one of my biggest tips. And one of the things that is also a hack that you might've seen throughout the apartment is I put electrical tape on the windows to make it look like the windows. What I think it's called painting, painting. Yeah. Window painting. I actually have to redo it because I didn't think I was going to be here for a fourth year. So I need to straighten up the lines a little bit. It's looking a bit janky. So please don't judge me on that, but it's one of the other hacks I have to give you. So this is the newest piece of lighting in the apartment found this at an estate sale. And I think it would go better in a bathroom or a kitchen, but for right now she's living here and cut glass and brass, you know, you know what I like already viewers, you understand it's, it's an addiction. Really. One of the things in the space also, I wanted to keep it very airy. I really think when it comes to bedrooms, you can add that hotel calmness, fluffy white pillows and bedding. So that's what I tried to achieve in here. So, as I said previously, I love having personal photos throughout the apartment and I made this cork board from a vintage frame that I found. And what's really nice is I wake up every morning and the first thing I see is the people I love and the things that inspire me. So I change it around every so often, but I have, you know, old photos of my parents and photos of myself and my parents when I was kids and my best friends and a nice sign of I am a New York actor because, you know, times are tough, you know, you need the motivation. So continuing all the gold gilded frames and paintings. This is one of my favorite paintings throughout the apartment. This is a story I went to an estate sale. It was a hoarder's house estate sale. And this painting I saw fell in love with it. A gentleman had already put it in his pile. I offered him more money because I really wanted it. He said, no. The next day I went to a flea market. He happened to be a seller and was upcharging for this painting. And this was a bad hoarder situation. And he told me the price and I said, no, no. And he goes, you don't know what I went through to get this. I said, sir, I was there. I wanted to buy it from you while we were at the house. So negotiated, always negotiate at a flea market and estate sale within reason. Always be respectful. And the rightful owner got it. I got it. I took her home, but I'm obsessed with it. So remember when I said that I buy things as they kind of appear to me. So there's certain placeholder items in this apartment. This dresser is definitely one of them. This is actually a childhood dresser that was in my parents' basement. It used to be white and say school supplies and, you know, Christmas decor. And when I was moving in, I, I didn't find a mid-century piece that I loved. So I painted it, bought some, you know, they see it's like wobbly, uh, bought some handles from Amazon, put some hairpin leg legs on it. And this is actually a wood block from a table that I had thrifted that the base of the table is no longer in this apartment, but, uh, I stuck it on here and it's good for now until we find the perfect piece. You do not have to have a curated, perfect apartment when you move in, just build it slowly. And then eventually every single thing, Oh, the light just came in every single thing around you, you will love. And I think that is the true joy of thrifting because everything will be special. This is a recent painting. My mom actually bought this for me for my birthday that recently passed. And, uh, we say it's her and I, so it's a cute little thing. So welcome to the bathroom in this apartment. It is extremely tiny. If you're very tall, you can touch both sides of the space. What's really cool about this space is this was a blank canvas of a room. When I moved in, it was in New York. They do something called the landlord special, which is you paint everything. And it's everything hinges, doorknobs, you paint everything white, except this, the landlord special was beige. It was, it was really hideous. And what's also really weird is there was a medicine cabinet right here. So you would have to wash your hands and kind of dance to the mirror. It was very strange. So when I moved in, I took the medicine cabinet down. I painted it a really beautiful shade of green from their paint. My landlord and I redid the ceiling because the ceiling was crumbling down. I have footage. I will send it. And I found this incredible light fixture on Facebook marketplace. Uh, there was two of them actually it's mate is in the kitchen. And it's, I think it makes the space just sparkle in the most beautiful way. As you can see, I love little pretty things. I love to decant everyday basic items, just make everything beautiful. I have Q-tips in an apothecary jar. I have mouthwash in a decanter for God's sakes, but do you know what? Why not make your life special? And yeah, I always have fresh flowers in the apartment and I'm when I can't have an oil painting and in this room, there's no, uh, ventilation. I love to have photographs of my family. So welcome back to the hallway. Something in New York we don't have is coat closets or really storage for, you know, your company's coats. For example, I have found these really beautiful hooks randomly in flea markets. And I made this my little entryway. And then the art over here is all art that was either found on the side of the street or given to me. So this was found on the side of the street that was found on the side of the street. And these two were given to me by my mentor. So this is my little homage to this stuff. That's an oil painting or a gold gilded mirror. It lives in this part of the apartment. And then that takes you in to the most work I've ever done in my life to a space. This kitchen, this kitchen is very, very small, like most New York apartments. But the thing is New York apartments, true New York apartments are usually just falling apart with cabinets from the seventies or eighties. So I did every renter friendly DIY hack to this space. I changed the floor. The floor was an ugly beige peel and stick tile. I put a black peel and stick tile over it. I put contact paper over the cabinets. The original cabinets are this ugly beige that are completely stained. I put a fake peel and stick backsplash over here and made it subway tile just to give the space some personality. This space like the bathroom was beige and very sad. The apartment itself was very, very sad and not taken care of before I moved in. And you could feel that vibe within the space. So I love adding some character and personality and some happiness into the space. And I tried to do that with all these hacks and just make it special. One of my favorite things is my McKenzie child's kettle. It was sent to me by one of my best friends and she lives here. I don't use it. I have an ugly kettle for that, but she's just, she just makes me happy and a little controversial, but I love to have oil paintings in the kitchen. I've gotten a lot of hate for that, but I've never had an issue when cooking and I do cook in this apartment. So I love these two pieces that I found at flea markets. I think the best thing you can do for yourself. If you live in a small space, this is from Amazon. This is, I'm going to plug Amazon with this. I now have more counter space because of this thing. When it comes to New York, you have to make choices when it comes to functionality or decor. You have to understand that you're in a small space, but I believe that you can do both. So this thing, this makes it huge. I'm in a luxury building with this, with this metal thing. So as New Yorkers, um, we think that this is a win. I think many people will find us delusional, but if you have a window in your kitchen and or bathroom, you're winning at life. You hit the, you hit the jackpot and it's even more New York when you have a lovely view of a brick wall, which my bathroom and my kitchen do. So winning, winning, winning. If anything, it just brings some air into the space. I mean, really it's an alleyway, so there's no air, but you know what? I'm very grateful for that window. And then closing out the kitchen, we just have this really cool shelf with more vintage glassware. I don't mind having the open shelving concept in this space just because every single piece I find beautiful, nothing is cookie cutter. You know, this I found at a flea market and she's stunning and she's older than me and she deserves to be seen, you know? So open storage in New York, such an incredible concept. So my name is Jillian and I am from right outside of Manhattan. I am an actor and model in New York city. One thing about me is I am genuinely obsessed with New York city. I will never live anywhere else. And I hope you see it in my space that it doesn't matter the actual, what the walls are, if it's a dingy apartment, if the appliances are old or whatever, it's you got to make your space beautiful. And because I'm on a budget as an actor and I'm choosing to live here with my glamorous views of brick walls and all of that, you just have to make your life as beautiful as possible. And with this space, I made it perfect for me. It's not everyone's cup of tea. It's a lot of shades of green, very maximalist and a lot of old breakable things. But at the end of the day, it's a reflection of me and every single thing makes me happy in this space, which I implore you to do with your own space. I'm all about a good vibe. Normally I don't have the overhead light in this space. I'm a, I'm a lamp girl. I like it nice and cozy in here, walking around New York city. If anyone comes to New York city or lives in New York city, you know, that it's a lot when you go outside, you know, a lot of people, lots of smells, lots of everything. And you want to come home and just relax and feel safe and feel like you, you are winning at life when life is throwing a lot of stuff at you. And this apartment makes me feel absolutely ecstatic every day. I really hope you guys enjoyed my space and a little taste of a real New York city apartment. If you want more, more of this and all my lovely banter, uh, I'm on Instagram at my small bite of the big apple. You can see a lot of estate sale shopping and a lot of rental friendly DIYs and a lot of gold gilded mirrors and frames and glassware. It's, it's a blast. So come follow me there. Thank you guys so much for watching my tour for the art of interiors, you know, give them a like and follow. They're great people. Bye. Do you want your space featured in one of our home tours? You can submit it using the link in the description below.