00:00Hi, I'm Rain.
00:01Welcome to my sweet digs, or as I like to call it, my home gallery.
00:04Come on in and see the art.
00:05I'm right on the borderline of Crown Heights.
00:07I love Brooklyn.
00:08I'm from Brooklyn, so it still feels like the New York that I grew up in.
00:12I pay $15.70 for my one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment, and it's roughly about 400 square
00:16feet.
00:17So for me, it was super important to live alone and not have a ton of roommates, so I
00:20was willing to spend a little bit more to get something that was updated and had a true
00:26one-bedroom.
00:27First stop, my kitchen.
00:28It's updated.
00:29It was renovated right before I moved in, so I'm the first technically to be in here
00:33with the appliances.
00:35Having a modern kitchen wasn't super important.
00:37I just wanted to have a gas stove because things cook better on gas heat.
00:41My least favorite thing about this apartment is the humidity.
00:45The walls get really moist, and when I'm cooking, the windows fog up so it looks like a restaurant
00:51in here.
00:52My favorite thing to cook in the apartment would be pasta.
00:55I love Italian food, and I love bread, and those two things go together really well.
01:00Lasagna, ziti, like it doesn't matter.
01:03I'm probably going to make it.
01:04This is my little dining area.
01:06I like to have breakfast here in the morning.
01:08I like to keep it really minimal just so that it feels open.
01:11Because I work in e-commerce and we specialize in furniture and art, I've really taken a lot
01:16of what I've learned there and translated into my own space, specifically with my dining table.
01:20It's inspired by a prominent designer, and I think the piece is definitely timeless and
01:25classic because it will work in any space.
01:30The skateboard is like the newest addition that I have.
01:33I love Marvin Gaye.
01:34It's like one of my favorite artists.
01:35When Supreme did a Marvin Gaye collection, I was like, I need to get something from there.
01:40And then I have that really classic Matisse painting.
01:43It's actually covering an electrical box, and so I think those two pieces of art really
01:48draw your eye into the dining area.
01:50My living room is definitely my favorite spot in the apartment because I like to relax here,
01:54watch movies.
01:55I love the just serene kind of environment where I can just relax or hang out with friends.
01:59And the couch is super important to that because I wanted something that was big enough
02:03for you to lounge on.
02:04It's super comfortable, but it's also functional, and it was also super cheap.
02:09I got it for $350 on Wayfair, so it's definitely a good deal, and it looks really chic.
02:15I got interested in fashion because my mom was always into design, and she had great style
02:22growing up, and we always dressed really well.
02:24Like, she's like, you're representing me when you go out into the world.
02:27So I just grew up that way, and seeing her really inspired me pretty much all throughout
02:31my life.
02:32Me and my mom have very similar styles.
02:35She loves the space, but she hates this chair.
02:37She thinks it looks like an electric chair, which I don't, but I definitely got it because
02:41I wanted something that was different from anything I had in the space.
02:44And I definitely love it because I think it draws your eye to that corner of the room.
02:47I was definitely inspired by kind of my growing up here during the hype-y Soho kid era of
02:54New York.
02:54A lot of that was inspired by Japanese artists and Japanese fashion.
02:59And that translates to the art that I have on my walls.
03:02Cause, Murakami, things that you saw in like BBC and Bait was something that really inspired
03:07me and kind of stuck with me.
03:09So the SpongeBob piece is one of my favorite pieces in the space.
03:12I grew up watching SpongeBob.
03:14Cause did this really great collection of different faces, and I really love this one.
03:19And then the plates on the wall are for Naceri.
03:22I saw them in an episode of Will and Grace like years ago, and I was like, what are those
03:27plates?
03:27Those are dope.
03:28Cause they all have different faces.
03:30And I saw it again as an adult and I was like, I have to have this.
03:33During my spare time, I run a lifestyle blog called Broken Brooklyn, where I basically talk
03:37about how I survive in New York while maintaining all of this by myself, as well as finding designer
03:43items super discounted and how to shop smart.
03:46Having that space where I could just like put it all and just like write a little bit
03:50was really important to me, kind of like an online diary.
03:53I feel like there wasn't a lot out there of girls that looked like me and that was really
03:57important for me.
03:57My most expensive item in the space isn't furniture.
04:00It's actually Chanel bags that my mom got me for Christmas about a year or two ago.
04:04I want to say the retail price is probably $2,500 to $3,000.
04:08Even though it's worth that much, I probably won't ever sell it because it's sentimental because
04:12my mom gave it to me.
04:13Right before I moved into this apartment, I sold a Goyard tote bag and used that money
04:18to furnish the space.
04:20I sold the bag for $1,200 and that money translated into most of the furniture in this apartment.
04:26I think it's really important to understand the importance of luxury bags because they
04:31are definitely investment pieces when you're buying the right ones.
04:34If you do intend to buy and sell, I would stick with more established brands like Chanel and
04:39Louis Vuitton because they raise their prices every year so you know that you're guaranteed
04:43to make a profit if you do intend to sell in the future and the designs typically don't change.
04:49My bathroom is definitely on the smaller side.
04:51I definitely want more space in my next bathroom.
04:55I would want a soaking tub because it would be nice to be able to take a nice comfortable bath,
05:00but they did update it so it is at least nice with the size, but there isn't much I can
05:06do to expand
05:06on space.
05:08And right through here is my bedroom.
05:09For my bedroom, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible because I didn't have a lot of room
05:13to work with.
05:13I didn't want to sacrifice on the size of the bed, so I definitely took up a lot of the
05:19space
05:19with a queen-size mattress, but I keep the linens white so it feels really serene and hotel-like.
05:25For the art that I have in the space, because it's pretty much stark white in here, I did want
05:29to play around with some of the similar notes that I have in the other areas of the house.
05:33I have a Murakami piece above my bed, kind of like a headboard, and I have some Fornicetti art
05:40on the walls as well that came with the plates that I bought in the living room.
05:43I wanted to keep the entire apartment cohesive by keeping the artists the same.
05:47In this apartment, I only have one closet.
05:49It's pretty large, and I maximize the space as much as possible, but it doesn't hold everything.
05:54So I do have shoes and books in the TV stand, and I have storage bins underneath my bed.
06:00Because I got a platform bed, it's about 16 inches off the ground, I was able to fit a lot
06:05of storage
06:05bins underneath.
06:06It allows me to fit transitional clothes, shoes that I don't really wear, linens, towels, things like that,
06:12so they don't have to be out and in your face.
06:15I definitely feel like my adult life is kind of on the track that I imagined it would be.
06:20I definitely only saw myself being in New York City.
06:22I've created a space that I feel comfortable in, and I can also welcome other people into,
06:27but it's really my own space.
06:29I think that this space is something that I really love to call home,
06:33and I don't really see myself moving anytime soon.
06:35You're going to ask for the time, and save your mind.
06:35I'm going to skip the time.
