00:00Hi, welcome to my sweet day. My name is Hong, and I live here with my partner, our dog, and
00:05our cat, who is a princess. Come on in.
00:08I pay $3,775 for a one-bedroom apartment at the very edge of the West Village.
00:14It may seem a little excessive, and at times it does feel a little excessive, but we also live in
00:20a very special building.
00:21We live in one of the best neighborhoods in New York City. We have a really beautiful courtyard outside.
00:27So yes, I definitely think it's worth it. I love this neighborhood because we've been in here for so long.
00:33It's actually going to be five years soon, and we've just gotten to really know the people.
00:38I really love the vibrance of the community, and another perk is that we also know where all the store
00:43cats are.
00:44This is our kitchen where we cook and just stand around.
00:48So one of the things I love about my kitchen is that it's very open, so it makes the space
00:53feel a lot bigger.
00:54But unfortunately, the space is actually quite small.
00:56My favorite part about my kitchen is this gift from my friend. It's a cross-stitch that says,
01:02My cat was right about you. I think this is about as me as you can get.
01:06I love cross-stitching. It's a hobby that just completely defines me.
01:10We actually don't have a designated dining area, which is quite unfortunate,
01:14but we just have to stand at the kitchen counter and make do with what we got.
01:19Another reason why we do that is because we just don't want our dog to get into our meals.
01:24Another thing I love about my kitchen are the cat butt magnets that Asher got for me for my birthday
01:31last year.
01:32He's so precious about keeping the cat butts together because he wants them to all play together.
01:37Sometimes behind his back, I like to sneak one off just to freak him out because I can be a
01:41real butt about it.
01:48This is our living space where I spend the majority of my time.
01:52It was really important for us to have a very functional space.
01:55So we needed to have a space for our books as well as just a workspace for when we need
02:02to work from home.
02:03And as well as like a really comfortable, cozy living space.
02:07So we took the couch and we just basically split the living room in half and we put the desk
02:13behind it.
02:13We fell in love with this apartment simply because the lighting was really great.
02:16As soon as we walked in, the apartment was flooded with light, which was such a huge relief from our
02:24last place.
02:25Our old apartment didn't have any windows at all, except for in the bedroom.
02:30And this one, I feel like it's a total upgrade just because it has so much lighting, it's way bigger.
02:35So we actually have two fireplaces in this apartment, which I feel like is very unique for New York.
02:40One in the living room and one in the bedroom.
02:42They both do not work, which probably explains why we don't get Christmas presents.
02:46Because Santa!
02:48One of my favorite pieces in the living room is our dinosaur lamp.
02:52We got him from Target and his name is Broccoli because he's green like broccoli.
02:56He also likes to dress up for the holidays.
02:58One of the items that's displayed very proudly in our living room are the presidential campaign pins.
03:05These belong to my partner and he's been collecting them for over, I think he's been collecting them his entire
03:10life.
03:10He actually knows like the history and the story behind each pin.
03:15But for me personally, I think it's just a piece that really really represents who he is.
03:20So that's what makes it more valuable for me.
03:23Another thing that I like to hang in my apartment is my own photography.
03:27I love capturing the city, especially during like moody days when it's raining and it's a little dark.
03:33And sometimes they're just special photos to me that I love hanging.
03:37The biggest splurge in our apartment is our article couch.
03:41Our last couch was so bad that our dog didn't even want to jump on the couch.
03:46We definitely wanted something more comfortable, definitely bigger, and I'm so happy I got it.
03:54This is our bedroom where I like to say the magic happens because I like to cross stitch in here.
03:59So for the bedroom, we wanted to keep the decor really calming and simple, mainly because it just helps us
04:06go to sleep a lot easier.
04:08We just don't have too many distractions.
04:10We're really lucky to have like an actual walk-in closet.
04:14We utilize the vertical space by adding more shelving in there.
04:18We were able to fit a whole dresser in there, which is really awesome because then we don't have to
04:22put it out here.
04:23And our cat, she loves our closet, so she likes to sleep in all of our sweaters, which also means
04:29that most of my sweaters have holes in them.
04:31My partner and I always refer to our home as our cat's home because she definitely kind of dictates what
04:37we do around here in regards to like the decorating.
04:41We have like her cat tree, we have like her litter box in here, and we also have a lot
04:45of toys for her.
04:46The really great thing about Princesa is that she is actually like a princess.
04:50She's very precious about a lot of things, like you have cats that like knock things over, she's the cat
04:56that like pushes them back.
04:58And then this is our bathroom.
04:59Our old bathroom was literally the size of a closet where we had the sink over the toilet, and we
05:07also didn't have a bathtub.
05:09So anything with a bathtub is definitely an upgrade for us.
05:11I would say that my style is very comfortable, warm, and very functional.
05:16One of the things that I also wanted to include in there was just personal touches that tells a very
05:21honest and true story about who we are as a family.
05:26My partner and I actually met in college, and to be honest, he really didn't like me at first because
05:32the first thing I said to him was I was making fun of the book that he was reading.
05:36One of the last things that he actually said to me before he graduated was that how he's never going
05:41to see me again, and ten years later, here we are happily engaged.
05:46Except just kidding, because we're not happy.
05:52I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.
05:55It's our sense of humor. You can put that in there if you want.
05:57When our lease ended at our last place, we actually got our landlord to put us on a month-to
06:04-month lease, so we had a lot of flexibility in regards to when we have to move out.
06:10So I basically stopped StreetEasy for about eight months before this place came on the market.
06:15This building has a courtyard, and it also has a koi pond, and it's in a gated area, so it
06:21feels like an urban oasis.
06:22The thing that made it really feel like home is when we started adding our personal touches in there, so
06:27all of the pictures that we have and all of the photographs that we have, and then just everything that
06:32reminds us of our cat and our dog.
06:34It's an ever-evolving concept to us, so we're always adding in things that we acquire through traveling or through
06:41our vacations, and then just also additional, you know, even our bookshelves, for example, is always evolving.
06:47So we actually just renewed our lease, so we're going to stay put for a little bit, but I'm going
06:52to be terribly sad the day that we actually have to leave this neighborhood.
06:55So it doesn't work right.
07:01From the Guardians of the Guardians of the Souls
07:01We're right.
07:01So look at this.
07:02And we'll see you soon.
