Pink Kint Sweater (Similar) // Ripped Jeans // Pink Embellished Flats // Nixon Gold Watch

I’m so excited to finally be sharing this post! As most of you probably know, I moved to New York in September to start a new little adventure in my very favourite city. Before I made the move, my biggest worry was definitely the dreaded apartment search. Everyone will tell you that it’s, undoubtedly, the trickiest part about moving here. From the minute I landed, I was on the search…& I VERY luckily found one on my 2nd day here. I think I viewed about 10 apartments in total (I definitely lost a few pounds those days from all the running around) and in the end, I went with a cute little 2-bedroom apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Living in Manhattan definitely has it’s pros and cons. The pros being that I’m super close to everything and the cons being that I live on spaghetti due to my CRAZY EXPENSIVE rent. But hey I love spaghetti, so it’s all good :)

‘Home Sweet Home‘ Print

The apartment search was interesting to say the least. The thing about apartment hunting in New York is that you’ll never find the ‘perfect’ one. You might be miles from the nearest subway but have a huge bedroom or have great lighting but no sink in the bathroom (true story from an apartment I viewed in the East Village)…so you have to be willing to compromise. One of the many NYC Lessons I’ve learned. My apartment is VERY small but as a result it’s super cozy & homely. My Kitchen & Living Room are pretty tiny but the bigger bedrooms make up for it. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the 5 flights of (steep) staires in my building. I curse them every single day but on the upside, there’s no need for gym membership!

Dalmation Dot Cushion

My apartment is definitely still a work-in-progress. I hate rushing into decorating a space as I think it’s better to wait until you find the perfect pieces. I’ve been picking up things here and there and it’s finally starting to take shape. I’ve been quite creative and have managed to decorate the whole place on a pretty tight budget. I’ve purchased items from a big variety of stores: TK Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s and also an online store called Zazzle. The dalmation dot cushion and ‘Home Sweet Home‘ print which you can see in the above photos were Zazzle purchases. My living room decor is very monochrome-inspired so these two fit in perfectly. I also try to always have some fresh flowers -they make such a big difference.

The room I definitely spend the most time in is my bedroom, so my aim was to make it as cozy as possible. As I mentioned, my decoration budget was quite tight (New York just makes all your money disappear) so I had to be creative. Hence the fact that my shoes & accessories act as the main decorations. I brought a few things with me from home including the amazing print which you can see above – illustrated by my friend Laura Jayne Halton. It’s always nice to have some sentimental pieces close by. I love a good quote (as you’ve probably guessed by now) so I literally thanked my lucky stars when I came across some amazing wall prints in TK Maxx. They add such a nice touch to a room. My January Project is to create a ‘Quotes Wall’ full of my very favourite quotes. I’ve already chosen some cool ones HERE.

Boohoo Gold Flats (Similar) // Lauren Cecchi Bag // Armani Si Perfume // Dream Big Print (Similar)

Boohoo Black & Gold Heels 

Jessica Buurman Brogues 

I have a tiny little walk-in-wardrobe (Probably the main reason I chose this apartment, haha) and compact shelving + extra behind-the-door rails to fit everything else. I went with cream bedding and added in a cozy throw (Similar Here) & some colourful cushions. It’s genuinely my comfiest bed to date!

Photos by Alexandra Wolf

…and there you have it! A sneak peek into My NYC Apartment. I have lots more ideas for the new year, so there’ll definitely be an updated post on the way soon. I just wanted to share the little details first. It’s definitely not a huge apartment with a fancy doorman downstaires – but it’s my very first proper NYC apartment and I couldn’t be happier to have it. The dream, of course, is to have a penthouse on Madison Avenue but until then, I’m grateful to call this my home away from home. So as a little celebration for getting this far and as a pre-christmas treat for you guys, I have a cool giveaway for you. The lovely people over at Zazzle have kindly given me a €50 (Or $/£ – depending on where you’re from) gift card for one lucky winner. You can enter below to be in with a chance of winning & I’ll announce the winner on Dec 17th :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hope you liked this post! If you did, you might also like my other recent NYC-themed posts HERE & HERE. Also, a huge thank you to Alexandra for the amazing photos. We had so much fun working on this together.

Stylishly Yours,

Erika x