This NYC 220-Square-Foot Studio Apartment Has a Terrace
Studio apartment living usually requires a little bit of guts and sacrifice. For content creator Joseph Carano, he’d lived in a Manhattan studio before, so he knew the game. After a breakup (and living in a 3,000-square-foot home), he returned to the city and found a 220-square-foot studio in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
What drew Joseph to the over-100-year-old building was the apartment on the top floor. “Baby, this is basically a converted attic apartment,” he jokes. While it has a small footprint, the abundant lighting, views of a park and river, and private terrace were features he absolutely adored.
It wasn’t that the apartment was too small for a typical bed; Joseph could’ve fit a full- or even a queen-size bed. But knowing how often he hosts, he didn’t want guests to be sitting on a mattress when they visited.
“People think I am crazy for sleeping on a Japanese Tatami mat at night,” Joseph explains. “Every comment I get is filled with people telling me to get a ‘real American bed.’ But I know myself. If there was a bed in my sight, I’d want to get in it! This helps the apartment function properly in the daytime.”
Thinking outside the box, like Joseph’s sleeping arrangement or creating a standing desk using just basic shelving, makes his apartment feel spacious. In 220 square feet and within only a few months, Joseph has created separate areas in his home that cater to his lifestyle, which is full of gardening, hosting, creating content, and being creative.
