Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 2 days ago
On this episode of Sweet Digs, we explore the Long Island City apartment that Mayura shares with her husband. She has incorporated the decor inspired by her culture throughout the space. Press play to check out Mayura's inviting home!

Check out Mayura's blog: https://morewithmayura.com/

Click here to submit your Sweet Digs: http://bit.ly/2MVXlFn

ABOUT SERIES
High rent, small spaces, nosy neighbors — we put up with A LOT of things to live where we love. In Sweet Digs, Refinery29 gets a peek inside the homes of the coolest people we know, from tiny studios to sprawling houses, and ask the real questions like, "Wait, how much is your rent?"

ABOUT REFINERY29
Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life.

RELATED CONTENT
What $7,500 Will Get You In NYC
https://youtube.com/watch?v=hxR0HqStX2U
What $2,900 Will Get You In L.A.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=OVSyQeBZjPQ
What $4,800 Will Get You In NYC
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JBZTZZAcFTw

SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29
Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29

TALENT
Follow Mayura on Instagram: https://instagram.com/morewithmayura/
Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/
Follow OnHerTurf on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onherturf/
Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/
Transcript
00:00Hi, my name is Meera and welcome to my Sweet Dicks.
00:03But before you come in, two things.
00:04Please remove your shoes and please subscribe below if you haven't already.
00:08Okay? Come on in.
00:11I live here with my husband and we paid $2900 for one bedroom apartment in Long Island City.
00:16I think the price is really reasonable for this area and we actually got a sweet deal.
00:23This is my bright little bedroom.
00:26So my husband and I, we travel a lot. He's gone every week for four days and we also take
00:31a lot of trips.
00:31So we made sure that our bedroom does not feel like hotel and it feels very homely when we come
00:37back.
00:38My biggest plush in the bedroom would definitely be the Casper mattress.
00:41It has the memory foam, it has that spring, it has that therapeutic something something.
00:46All I know that it feels really good to sleep on it.
00:49While decorating my place, I really wanted to have Indian textiles and Indian colors here.
00:54So every time I go back to India, I make sure that I get a lot of bedsheets, pillow covers,
00:58rugs from there and have that pop of color.
01:01I love doing DIY projects here and there.
01:03So one very simple DIY hack I did was this IKEA hack.
01:08I use spice jar racks as my side tables so that it looks spacious and I don't need to have
01:13the bulky tables.
01:14The bedroom was very small to work with so I did not want to put any bulky pieces on the
01:19wall.
01:20So I went for the Dreamcatcher because I love them and I got a very basic frame from HomeGoods and
01:25I did my own DIY.
01:27I also added peacock feathers there because my name means peacock and I always feel lucky when they are around.
01:32Growing up, I had this strong memory of seeing my mom in her sarees and that is the memory I
01:38will always have.
01:39So when I was making my own storage here, I thought why not use my mom's old sarees.
01:44So there is makeup storage bag, there are clothing storage bags from that and every time I see it, it
01:49just reminds me of her.
01:50My husband and I have a lot of clothes, especially our Indian clothes from our wedding, they take a lot
01:56of space.
01:57So it was really good to have a walk-in closet where everything can be stuffed in and nothing has
02:02to be outside.
02:03My husband and I met online. We spoke for eight months or something. So he came back to India just
02:09to meet me.
02:10We met once and within a month we got engaged and now we are happily married since the last four
02:16years.
02:18And this is my spacious, bright kitchen.
02:21I love this kitchen. There is so much storage here. It has come with its own pantry.
02:26There is a window there where I can enjoy the view while I am cooking.
02:30This is definitely one of our happy places where we love spending time.
02:33We love to cook. We are always up to something here. We are always experimenting.
02:38He actually makes really good pasta and I make a lot of nice curries.
02:43So every Indian kitchen has to have this spice box which has all our important spices which are very essential
02:50for Indian cooking.
02:51So having that here was very helpful. It was gifted to my husband by his mom.
02:56We love the smell of Indian cooking. It just reminds us of our home.
02:59Being in New York City, there is always a shortage of space.
03:02But when we came into this apartment and we saw that this kitchen came with really big nice pantry,
03:08I thought I have won a jackpot.
03:10Coming from India, we have so many dry snacks. We have so many spices.
03:13I needed a space to store all of them. So it was a blessing to have that pantry here.
03:19Because I cook a lot and I love cooking, I thought why not have my own herb garden as my
03:24mother has back home.
03:25It has mint, basil, cilantro and lemon balm.
03:29My biggest plush in kitchen would definitely be the appliance over there.
03:33It's rotimatic. It makes Indian naan, bread, everything.
03:36Put turf in it, water and oil. It will knit the dough on its own.
03:40It will flatten it and it will also roast it.
03:43So all you have to do is just sit back and enjoy freshly roasted naans.
03:49This is our living room, dining areas place.
03:52So the vibe of my place, or the entire apartment for that matter, was to keep it very simple and
03:57very cozy.
03:58We also have a lot of our family and friends coming over and staying over.
04:01So we needed it to be multifunctional.
04:04My most sentimental item in this house would definitely be this dining table, which my husband has made for me.
04:10Back in India, most of our furniture is customized.
04:12A carpenter will come to your house, he will sit there and he will make the furniture for you.
04:16So coming from that, we really wanted a piece of furniture, which is customized just for us.
04:21We did this Chip and Joanna Gains kind of a thing where I designed it and he made it for
04:25me.
04:25We haven't started collecting too much art.
04:28Like we only have two art pieces, but those are very important to us.
04:31One is an oil painting, which has been done by my best friend.
04:35This is just one of a kind thing, which I have and nobody in the world will have that same
04:40painting.
04:40Another work of art, if you may, is our picturelage where my portrait is there,
04:46which is my husband's favorite portrait of mine from our wedding.
04:49I feel it's a little narcissist to be there, but well, he likes it.
04:53So when I finished my master's in marketing, I was looking for a full-time job,
04:56but I did not find anything which was as creative as I wanted.
04:59I thought, why not just start a blog because I already travel a lot.
05:03We go out and explore a lot of restaurants in New York City.
05:06So I thought, might as well just do that.
05:08I have a website called More with Mayura, where I blog about food, travel, and everything New York City.
05:14Being a blogger has definitely influenced my lifestyle and the way I keep my home.
05:19I try to get a few things from each and every place I visit and try to incorporate that in
05:25my decor.
05:25It could be just a short glass, it could be a frame, it could be anything.
05:29And also I try to get inspired by it, I think, just the way they live their life.
05:33Back home in India, our parents' houses, they have this small temple in the house,
05:37where we have put all our gods and we lit up a candle over there and we just prayed.
05:42It's for our own positivity that it just helps us feel good.
05:48We actually got a decent-sized bathroom. It has ample storage. I love the marble tiles.
05:53I wanted to just take that marble-type color, which was great, and I wanted to just incorporate that color
05:59everywhere.
06:00The theme of my bathroom, you can say, is very smoky and foggy, just like hot shower.
06:04The one thing I dislike about it though, that I would love to have a separate bathtub and shower.
06:10I love this neighborhood because obviously for the view and the waterfront,
06:13it's like the best view in entire New York City.
06:16I love waking up to this view and seeing it as the last thing before I sleep.
06:21It's very lively, it's very nice, it's very safe.
06:23We literally get to enjoy each and every season over here.
06:26I think when we moved in and we kind of arranged the furniture and the first time we cooked in
06:31this apartment
06:31and we had our meal at this table, I think that's when it started feeling like our home.
06:36We have been married for four years and we have already moved four apartments.
06:40So we have finally found our home and we are not moving anytime soon.
06:48Thank you for watching my sweet days. To watch more videos, click here.
06:52And to subscribe, click here. Bye!
Comments

Recommended