If there is one thing Jessica Torres has learned through many apartment moves, is that you should never rush to make your home a Home.
In the past, the New York-based content creator has found that she would rush through the process of putting together new apartments just to make them feel “finished.” “I was just filling holes and corners with objects that weren’t really me and didn’t tell my story,” she recalls. “I was wasting so much money – I learned my lesson the hard way.”
So when she moved into the Bronx two-bedroom she shares with her girlfriend last year, she saw that blank slate as an opportunity to design her home in a slower, more substantial way. Instead of sticking to a strict arbitrary schedule, she decided she would complete her space with much less urgency and much more intention. “I wanted to be more careful about what I brought into my home – and be kinder to the environment and my pockets along the way,” he says. “What’s the rush to fill the voids with objects that don’t represent me?”
It was through this new approach that Torres discovered several interior design principles—ones she now swears by—especially when it came to designing her two bedrooms, which she now considers her favorite areas in the entire apartment.
The first? Get the big stuff out of the way. “When I have a blank canvas, the first thing I think about is where all the big furniture is going to go,” she says. For her bedroom, her main focus was finding a minimalist (in design) but maximalist (in space) chest of drawers, which she found at IKEA MALM dresser. Since it has six drawers, she was able to store many personal items in one place and, more importantly, keep them out of sight to keep the rest of the room tidy. And because it’s white, it would work with whatever other design elements he eventually brings to the space.
This brings us to her second principle: Choose a neutral color palette, especially when it comes to large, critical items like nightstands and desks. For Torres, she leaned toward a bright white hue not only to create a seamless, calm vibe in the room (she kept her walls white for that reason), but also to serve as a backdrop to her true interior design style, which describes. as a “celebration of color and femininity” and incorporates many vivid personal touches.
Much of Torres’ affinity for color stems from her and her partner’s South American heritage, which is reflected throughout the apartment. Torres moved from Loja, Ecuador to the US when she was five months old and now, at 33, finds joy in curating a mix of vintage pieces with sentimental travel finds, particularly those she collects when visiting her home. as objects that nod to her girlfriend’s Colombian roots. Scattered around her space, you’ll find colorful throw pillows she sourced from Ecuador and a handful of “little chivas”—miniature versions of the popular chiva bus, brightly colored vehicles used for transportation throughout Colombia—among other important items and cute items. Above her bed hangs artwork by two iconic artists from Ecuador and Colombia.
“I have South American prints hanging all over the house, representing my heritage through art. Living away from home can be very nostalgic,” adds Torres. “Including these items as accents is not only fun, but a great way to bring more of our backgrounds into our home.”
The key to small apartment living is being smart about how you use your space—something many New Yorkers have to learn pretty quickly. This sometimes means that rooms need to be multi-functional…or serve completely different purposes than their intended ones. In Torres’ case, the second bedroom (which is only used as a bedroom when they have guests over) doubles as her walk-in closet—a coveted rarity in New York real estate—and an office where she and her partner can work. a plan she had put in place when she first toured the apartment.
An essential piece that grounds the hybrid space is the IKEA ALEX desk, another white, “blank slate” piece that serves dual purpose: for makeup and for work. Appreciate the large work surface and discreet drawers for storing laptops, gadgets and important files. Of course, the desk also required a defined (and comfortable) point to drop down and activate work mode, a job accomplished by the lumbar support. President IKEA LÅNGFJÄLL Conference.
Another perennial challenge of city life is finding adequate wardrobe space, and since the whole room is now open storage, Torres knew she had to incorporate hidden storage to keep the room clutter-free. There was a perfect opportunity for it under the racks of colorful clothes that lined the walls, so she piled some lightweight, zip-up IKEA SKUBB storage cases to house anything she wanted out of sight, like extra comforters and quilts for when the bedroom *has* to be a bedroom.
After a year of living in her place, it seems together, but Torres never really considers it over. There are still a lot of empty white spaces and blank walls — and that’s okay. he’s in no rush at all. “Whether it’s something a friend gave me, something I bought second-hand or a piece I bought from home,” she says, “I want every room to have a special atmosphere and tell a story.”
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