Minimalist Brooklyn Apartment Tour

Building

In November 2018, we moved into a 1-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. In the third picture, you can see our view. 

We live in the western part of the neighborhood Crown Heights. In the pictures you can see that we live in a giant building complex.

Location

It's just a fantastic location! We have several subway lines within 10 minutes walking distance (2, 3, 4, 5, S, B, Q). Also close by are supermarkets, cafés, and restaurants. The cherry on top is that Prospect Park and the Botanical Garden are so close as well. 

Living Room

The design of our living room sparks a lot of joy in me. It's cozy and colorful. My favorite place is the comfy teal armchair.

We moved in with no furniture and started from scratch. In the beginning, I felt overwhelmed by the many design decisions I had to make, but in the end, it was also fun to create this eclectic style.

As a guide, I used these two books:

"Cozy Minimalist Home: More Style, Less Stuff." The author explains step by step how to create a cozy and minimalist home. She has lots of pictures, and it was easy to understand.

"The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well."

It was a quick read with many eye-opening moments, especially when the author talks about light to create a "hygge" atmosphere. 💡

Daniel’s Covid Home Office

That's our apartment entrance with a shoe shelf & bench, but we purchased a desk and stool for Daniel due to working from home for the last 1.5ish years. His job even gave him a bit of money to spend on the home office - which was very nice of them!

First, he worked from our dining room table, but it wasn't very pleasant to move all his office stuff onto the sofa when we wanted to eat. With this extra desk, it's much more convenient. We didn't want to put the desk in the bedroom to keep it a work-free zone.

Kitchen and Dining Corner

This kitchen is huge in comparison with the kitchen we had in the Manhattan apartment! We have no problem storing all our china, cookware, and pantry items. 

The big glass jars (the brand is from Germany and called "Weck") are our water filtering system. In each jar is a piece of Japanese activated charcoal. The coal cleans the tab water and adds minerals to it. We started this system to create less plastic trash. We need to boil the coal once a month for five minutes and then use them for approximately three months. Depending on the size of the coal and how much water we filter, we also used them much longer. As long as there are bubbles, it means the coal is doing its job. 

A gigantic 'YAY' that we have a big fridge again! 🙌🏼 🎉 That makes our weekly shopping routine so much easier. Usually, the refrigerator isn't that empty as in the picture. And you see, our zero waste /plastic-free living goal isn't always what we can do. Nobody is perfect!

Bedroom

Our bedroom is very minimalistic, and I know that it has way too much white space for some people. However, as a highly sensitive person living in such a big and loud city like New York City, it's good to have a lot of white space and few material items. Fewer stimuli equal more calm.

The room has a bed. This time we were wiser (compared to our overseas move), and we got a queen-sized bed and not a kingsized one. Each of us has a dresser serving also a nightstand. Across the bed are two more chairs. We own a total of four but only have two with the dining table. These chairs serve as clothes holders.

Bathroom

The bathroom is small but had everything we need. It's a bathtub-shower combination, and although the bathtub isn't deep, it's better than no tub! The tiles, sink, toilet, and bathtub aren't good quality, but it's ok! I think I often let myself be brainwashed by tv shows on HGTV. Of course, I'd love to have everything from the highest quality, but would I be able to afford it? Would that be worth it for me? The truth is: not at the moment.

The same as in the Manhattan apartment, this one has no window. But I'm used to this now and have no complaints! I remember the Queen's apartment with the bathroom window as a jewel. 😉💎

Advantages

• An additional room with a door so you can have privacy from your partner! Especially important if you both work from home and have calls with clients.

• A much more affordable rent.

• We have lots of daylight in both rooms and a normal-sized kitchen (even with a big fridge!).

• Hardly any traffic noises.

• Prospect Park and the Botanic Garden within walking distance.

• Room to have overnight guests but not paying for an additional room to have them visit.

• There are several subway lines within 10 minutes' walking distance. Daniel's commute is approx. 60 min. My commute depends on where my clients live in NYC.

Disadvantages

• It's a massive building with a ton of inhabitants, and because of that, there are also non-considerate neighbors, and they are very noisy.

• Sometimes there is construction work outside and inside the building. Sometimes there is jackhammering for hours. However, you can’t get around these noises in NYC.

• There is more vandalism and trash in the building.

• We have sometimes cockroaches in our apartment.

• There is a higher crime rate in the neighborhood.

Conclusion

Overall it's fantastic to pay less rent than we spent in the two other apartments before! It's a significant relief that we can save money and invest in our retirement fund and not only live now. We weren't intentional about it before.

We are glad that this apartment is renovated and beautiful. Yes, the roaches annoy me, and I'd love to have zero of them, but it's manageable.

What stresses me the most is the construction noise. The management doesn't inform the renters about when what construction will happen for how long. When we lived in the London Terrace Towers Co-Op, we only had construction once, and the building management informed us ahead of time and let us know how long it would be. So it depends on the building and how they are managing construction work. 

When we moved in, I asked how long the construction would be, and the management said "a few weeks". And it's true! But it's more like "A few weeks for several times a year." In Germany, renters get a discounted rent for things like this. In our building, we have the option to move out if we can't handle it. 😂 I have to take it with humor. And I bought noise-canceling headphones to make it bare able. At the moment, it's easier to make it through the "noisy weeks" than to move again. 

My advice for my future self: Talk to several neighbors before signing any lease!

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