Accent Walls in This NYC Apartment Saved It from Being a "Stark White Shoebox"

"There are a lot of un-sexy reasons we liked this apartment, which is probably the case with many people in NYC who don't have an unlimited budget. She even described the initial apartment as being basically a stark white shoebox. Literally everything was white. Dated ugly kitchen and bathroom."

"However, the bareness (or, more romantically, the blank canvas-ness) of the original apartment was what drew Kate in. She wanted to make her mark on the space, but thought it'd be difficult if, for example, the kitchen had already been modernized. There were other bonuses, though, like the natural light streaming throughout the home and the extra space provided by two bedrooms."

"What was a blank canvas is now a home full of color and texture - namely, the peel-and-stick wallpaper on the living room's accent wall, the fringe chairs from Target, and the vintage-inspired temporary floor tiles in the kitchen. Upon arrival, it was as if I left the bustling city below and entered a cozy, storied, and quiet cocoon in the sky."

Photographer Kate McReynolds and her fiancé purchased an 850-square-foot Upper East Side apartment valued for practical reasons rather than initial aesthetics. The original space was a bare white shell with a dated kitchen and bathroom, but this blankness appealed to Kate as an opportunity to personalize the space without constraints from existing design choices. The apartment offered natural light and two bedrooms as additional benefits. Kate transformed the space into a warm, inviting home by adding peel-and-stick wallpaper on an accent wall, fringe chairs from Target, and vintage-inspired temporary floor tiles in the kitchen, creating a cozy retreat from the bustling city.

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