Columbia Uptown Basement 250 sq. ft.

This was always meant to be a temporary setup and it was treated as such (reserved in a hurry, etc.). 

Here is a heads up that most of this post is literally a long rambling complaint about the light (or lack thereof) in basement dens. For some reason this did not occur to us when we reserved it (and were happy about the rent rate). Turns out, having little to no natural light in your room is a special level of torture when you've just spent a whole day stuck in the middle of a building in Midtown, which -- yes -- also has no natural light. 

I learned quickly about the importance of low-light plants for darker rooms (as opposed to withered normal-light plants on Day 4), and using mirrors to maximize light (there WAS a sliver of it from above the basement window AC). 

I've seen some people really work a good basement with all the industrial trimmings, but maybe that could work for a weekend getaway in an Airbnb or something. I don't think that works so well for daily life. You can enhance medium light but there's really not a lot you can do about NO light.

In non-light news, the room was really large by Manhattan standards and came furnished, which is great when you know you're moving out in a month or two but often not ideal if you are selective about details (though I think many Sonders have done a great job). Special mention goes to the wall art, which was kind of hospital wardy and went straight into the closet, the bedlinens that were a darkening shade of gray (swapped out for white), and the random throw pillows we used to hide the mess under the bed.

To make the most of the floor area, we rammed the provided bed into the corner and wedged it in between Target shelving units. Container Store drawers helped with under-bed storage. 

The rest of the room got used for floor-based living space (we picked up an inexpensive, kind of gaudy rug from Marshall's to compensate for the lack of sunlight), which was defined by a little entertainment corner (a tiny tea/coffee prep station, and speakers).