After seeing the hardwood floors, high ceilings, and all of the natural light in this Bronx studio apartment, Elaine Musiwa and her partner Jeremy Lugo, knew that they had found the perfect place to call home.
It took some time to secure an appointment to view the apartment, but once they were able to snag it up, the couple went to work on making it their own.
“We gravitate to two things: color and Scandinavian design. Our home is the place where we look for relaxation and creative stimulation, which we hope comes through in our choice of plants and design accents,” Elaine told Apartment Therapy.
The studio is just 450-square-feet, but with creative use of space, Elaine and Jeremy have made it very liveable.
The studio boasts a living room, sleeping area, workspace, bathroom, and kitchen. The couple knew they would have to get creative with storage space in such a small apartment, so they opted for an exposed closet and floating shelves.
“Our open closet isn’t the most embarrassing but it’s something that we constantly have to maintain because it’s in our entryway,” she says.
An oak bed sits under a window for their sleeping space. Their cat, Chicken, has lots of places to relax.
Thanks to three large street-facing windows, the studio gets a ton of natural light. Elaine installed curtains to not only shade out light, but she also used them to create a privacy divider for the bedroom.
“When designing our apartment, we wanted to make the most out of a smaller space. We were more inspired by the furniture itself rather than any other outside sources. We needed items that were functional yet chic, like our room divider,” Elaine said.
A workspace sits in another corner of the studio, along with a bright green reading chair.
“We love our reading chair! It’s just one product but it adds an eye-catching element to our office that only that chair could achieve. Plus, Chicken, our cat, loves taking her naps there,” she stated.
The bright white bathroom makes the space feel larger than it really is – a wonderful trick to pull off when living in an NYC studio apartment.
Of course, since Elaine and Jeremy share the 450-square-foot with Chicken, they had to make sure that he had his own personal touches and elements around the studio as well; like this hidden kitty litter box that also serves as a bathroom shelf.
“The space took us three months to design, and we’ve only been living in it for five, but we can see ourselves spending the next couple of years making this our home,” she divulged.
Elaine’s advice to anyone doing home renovations? “The old classic: measure twice and screw in once.”
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