Hell’s Kitchen Closet 120 sq. ft.

Hell's Kitchen Closet won on natural sunlight (it is possible some overcompensating happened after the basement encounter), which made it easy to overlook how tiny it actually was. Once I was sick for a whole week and never left the apartment and didn't feel too cabin fevered at all. 
But best of all I met someone utterly fantastic in the roommate, M, who serendipitously built the common areas of the apartment out with me, and very much miss living with him.  

The gold-rimmed mirror from Columbia University Basement made it in, hoisted conveniently from a stray nail in the alcove. So did the speakers and salmon coasters from Law School Quarters (which incidentally, are still with me today). 

+ If you look closely under the speaker (on the tray table), you'll see a bunch of Asian sheet masks. Never work a room without a sheet mask. 

I went a little crazy with the mirrors (9.99 from Target). I would in future get fewer, larger mirrors. These warped everyone's reflections (as expected), but they did open the room up. I really liked the high-contrast black window frames against white windowsills that came with the place, which I replicated in the other furniture. Strong contrast lends definition and character.

The cloud of wall art was part cards from friends, part shamelessly scouring a stationery store near NYU for green greeting cards. This helped inform the Overlooking Street Nook headboard.

I had big dreams of nesting on fire escapes with tea overlooking the city (parking lot?). This remained strictly a concept; I only made it out onto this one to clean the windows once, and once more to install the AC. New York in the spring is usually supposed to be perfect, but this one was just kind of freezing and muddy (and then, overnight, a sauna) so I was more than happy to be indoors.