I just came across these old photos of my long lost, tiny Manhattan bedroom and find myself feeling nostalgic. The shot above was taken soon after I moved in. I’d picked out the Malm bed and Billy bookcases from Ikea in Brooklyn and did my best to make it them my own (faux fur throw from Williams Sonoma Home, vintage antique knobs from the Chelsea flea market…). By the bed sits a deck of old Tiffany’s playing cards—John and I would play “war” (very sophisticated…) for hours on end. The vintage garden seat I picked up at an antique shop in Maine and in no time my bookshelves were brimming with used novels and other bright trinkets. The last shot is of my desk. The plaster shell bookends were a dollar each at a thrift shop. Above the desk hangs one of my favorite “inspiration boards” — I wonder what became of it? In memory of my time in New York I’ll end with an expert from my favorite Didion essay. She said it best…
“It would be a long while because, quite simply, I was in love with New York. I do not mean “love” in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and you never love anyone quite that way again. I remember walking across Sixty-second Street one twilight that first spring, or the second spring, they were all alike for a while. I was late to meet someone but I stopped at Lexington Avenue and bought a peach and stood on the corner eating it and knew that I had come out out of the West and reached the mirage. I could taste the peach and feel the soft air blowing from a subway grating on my legs and I could smell lilac and garbage and expensive perfume and I knew that it would cost something sooner or later—because I did not belong there, did not come from there—but when you are twenty-two or twenty-three, you figure that later you will have a high emotional balance, and be able to pay whatever it costs. I still believed in possibilities then, still had the sense, so peculiar to New York, that something extraordinary would happen any minute, any day, any month.”
– Joan Didion, Goodbye to All That
thanks for the comment! aren’t those sneakers great? great stuff here – love the quotes!!
Thank you Mary Beth! I’m a bit quote obsessed—been gathering them since I was little and happy to have somewhere to share them!
XX Kate
aw, what a beautiful space! whatever made you leave ny?
Hi Laura! A boy… what else? I fear I’m a horrible romantic cliche. We may be moving back next year though—fingers crossed!
XX Kate
wow! what a shelf styling talent you are. can i get a high five on the placement of leopard?
you are way too chic!
my rat infested, tapestry hanging make shift bed on the floor place in NYC was so bad..i only lasted 3 months!
Thanks for visiting my blog and for the post! I have to say that your profile is SO wonderfully written! Banana cupcakes sound deliscious and bluegrass music brings me to my favorite place. Speaking of place–yours is delightful. I’ll visit again for sure! And I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you and your venture back to NY. :)
totally jealous! i wish we had the exposed brick!
Kate – I love how you styled your Billy. I wish I could see the whole inspirational board in the picture – it looks awesome!
Come back to New York!!!! The apartment just isn’t the same without you! (And not nearly as cute)
Awwwwwww Katy I miss you!!!!!!!!!! And the apartment and Jill and well, just about everything. Hopefully we’ll be moving back in June!!!! I’m going to call you this weekend for a catch up sesh! Love you dearly.
XXXXXX
I love your old apartment! I know it was very simple and you say small, but quite honestly I dream of having an apartment in New York just like that!!
Kate! These pictures are absolutely stunning! So impressed (but not surprised). xoxo Tighe
Thank you Danielle! I’m touched. Small though it was, it was the perfect first NY apartment. I had the most amazing roommates and have such fond memories!
Thank you Tighe! I love you darling!!! XXXXX
I’ve never been lucky enough to live in New York, but I feel the same way as Joan Didion when I visit.
you made great use of vertical space – a must in nyc. i know just that feeling, and yet i feel it too infrequently, because nothing extraordinary ever seems to happen to me even though i live in nyc and it makes me sad.
so gorgeous. Please move to Portland and decorate my apartment next!
Sighhhhhhhhhh….. I’ve never lived there, have always wanted to and these pictures are giving me serious New York fever – where do you live now?
Oh boo, all these pictures make me miss you even more! Not cool, Kate.
As a former New Yorker of eight years, I am SO with you. ;)
Kate – what a wonderful place you had in NY, just beautiful…I love the essay, that is so awesome. I feel that way about NY myself, although I’ve never lived there only visited. It’s a city that you just fall in love with and never forget….XXOO