Moving from One Nutshell to Another
For all of you nutshellers out there, you feel my pain when I tell you it is hard enough to finally fit things nicely in a compact space and even harder to make it all work well again in a new shoebox. I owned a small apartment in beautiful Brooklyn—all 620-square feet of it. Hey, Brooklyn, “how you doin’?” But then it was time to move back into the city.
The new rental apartment has amazing views of the Hudson River and 130 more square feet to play with! I thought decorating was going to be a piece of cake—but I was WRONG!
NYC Bedroom Entrance
The new space has lots of odd angles and really tall ceilings to negotiate. The first thing on the to-do list: remove the door between the bedroom and the living room. By doing this the usable real estate increases by 6 to 7 feet! Most landlords like mine are happy to store the door without any fee… even in NYC.
Porter Removes and Stores Door for Free
In place of a door, I re-purposed brown shantung silk drapes as a divider between the living room and the bedroom. Talk about instant drama and glamour! The silk drapes play off of the gray walls so well and every time I enter the bedroom it feels romantic and special.
How-To Tip
Hang a double-tension curtain rod on the bedroom side of the door. Most curtains like mine have a pretty front and a not-so-pretty back and with a double-rod, you can hang the front face of a curtain towards the living room and another panel facing the bedroom. Add an extra panel or two to create a lot of fabric volume for that balloon effect. Install a curtain tieback and placed it a little higher on the wall so it plays up the elegant draping. Voila!
Click here for more posh and portable curtain ideas for small spaces.
