must-read: check out apt therapy's tiny apt
For those of you not in the NYC area, be sure to click over to the The New York Times House & Home section today, where you’ll find a great feature on Maxwell and Sara Kate Gillinghan-Ryan’s tiny apartment. Not remarkable just because is it’s small (265 sq feet), but because they just had a little one (congrats!) and decided to renovate not move. Truly inspiring for anyone thinking, “How could we have a baby in this apartment?” You can also read more about how they did it over at apartment therapy. Enjoy!
This is awesome! I am beyond impressed. They have 15 sq ft on me. What a touch of class. It was a great article. Look at that monkey in a frame. Look at Moses basket..Awhhhh. Is one of them a Capricorn?
I’m not a New Yorker, so I guess it’s normal for me not to understand….. But I just don’t get spending $30,000 (even if they only paid $20,000) to renovate something you don’t own. It does look nice though…..
Dave, I am a New Yorker, and those were my thoughts exactly. (As much of a devoted fan as I am about their site.) I wish the article had raised that question, since I’m sure they have an answer for it (perhaps a huge tax writeoff for an upcoming book on the topic?).
If they have a rent-stabilized apartment, I can understand spending that much dough. What they spent on the reno is probably still way cheaper than moving to a market rate place.
And the sad thing is, their low rent is what you paid in maintenance fees alone each month if you owned that place. Forget about mortgage! In many way it makes sense as long as their landlord is cool with the renovs and they know they aren’t getting booted out anytime soon.
ummm… What happens when the baby grows up???? That apartment is definitely not meant for a family. Then they have to move and that huge amount of money is thrown down the toilet. Should have put a down payment on a house in a nice neighborhood.