Every night, Gail Schulman folds down her couch — and folds up her life to fit inside it.
The 32-year-old content creator lives in one of the smallest apartments in New York City: a 191-square-foot third-floor Brooklyn studio where a single yellow sofa bed does double duty as her living room and her bedroom, unfolded each night and tucked away each morning.
It’s a tight squeeze, but since moving in this past February, Schulman has turned the space into a cozy home with distinct zones for living, dining and entertaining, piecing it together — and filming it — one curated detail at a time.
Schulman opted for a sleek Spaze queen sofa bed that folds out. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Schulman maximizes her tinny tiny, but tastefully decorated home in myriad ways to make it look and feel more spacious. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Two matching cushioned yellow chairs, a small table and a new earth-toned rug round out the living area alongside the sofa bed. A small round bistro table with a pendant light fixture marks off the dining space. A cabinet and a built-in ledge in the kitchen do double duty as counters for entertaining — one for food, the other for drinks.
And as the lone tenant on the third floor, Schulman has a private bonus space most New Yorkers would kill for: an 8-by-2.5-foot foyer where she stashes and slips on her shoes.
For comparison, in the US, a standard hotel room averages 300 to 330 square feet.
Renting for $2,151 a month excluding utilities, the home is filled with personal treasures, from family heirlooms to travel finds, sponsored decor and her record player and record collection. Despite the volume of items, intentional sizing and layout prevent any sense of clutter.
“It’s scale,” Schulman told The Post, who stores larger items in a storage closet in the apartment. “I like things being proportioned properly. Visual balance is very important to me.”
Gail Schulman has maximized the space in her 191-square-foot Brooklyn studio apartment. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Schulman’s apartment may be small, but the kitchen appliances are full sized. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
As the lone tenant on the third floor, Schulman has her own 8×2.5-foot foyer where she keeps her shoes and stores her gardening equipment. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Getting a somewhat cheaper apartment was important to Schulman as she left her corporate job to make it as a content producer, posting to her 47,800 YouTube subscribers about decorating her apartment, and didn’t know what her income would look like.
The apartment is outfitted with a full-sized refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave and dishwasher, and a large bathroom.
“It’s the nicest bathroom I’ve ever had in New York,” said Schulman, who has spent the last 10 years in the Big Apple, last living in East Harlem. “This is one of the best kitchens I’ve ever had.”
Schulman applies the same discernment to her kitchen cabinets that she does to her apartment. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Schulman has a very spacious bathroom. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Inside her kitchen cabinets she has also been selective about what she keeps and how it’s organized.
“I own what I use and I use what I own,” she said.
Instead of using an under-sink cabinet for trash and recycling, Schulman tucked them into a nook concealed by a sliding fabric curtain. The top surface serves as a bar for entertaining.
She said she wanted to “make it look cute with all the ugliness behind it.”
To avoid cabin fever, Schulman works out of coffee shops or the Brooklyn Public Library.
“I make an effort to get out of the apartment multiple times a day,” whether it’s to volunteer in the park on Thursdays, or take a run.
Schulman hung a curtain to drape off the garbage and recycling bins in a kitchen nook. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Schulman has one closet for her clothes and laundry. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Meanwhile, Exia Stephens, a newly minted real estate agent at Bond New York, lives in a even smaller place.
Occupying a 156 square feet single-room on the Upper West Side, Stephens moved in with her cat, Superman. But unlike Schulman, Stephens’ apartment has no kitchen and no bathroom, but she is grateful to be rid of roommates.
She shares a bathroom — frequently cleaned by staff — on the floor with five other SRO units, and a large communal kitchen on the ground floor with everyone in the building. Because the kitchen is 13 floors down, Stephens, 23, washes her dishes in the bathroom.
The building’s amenities are equally sparse.
Exia Stephens is so grateful to have found her Upper West Side SRO. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
The laundry room is stripped of machines, the lobby payphone is dead, and the only functioning elevator is a freight lift that takes forever to arrive. Yet, Stephens takes it all in stride.
“Once I get an instant pot, and once I get a convection oven, I’ll basically have a kitchen,” she said.
Stephens has been slowly furnishing the place. Her bed frame, twin-sized mattress, mini-refrigerator and microwave came with the unit.
She does some basic cooking, mostly oatmeal, sandwiches, microwavable rice and beans. She gets much of her food from her side job working front of house at a restaurant.
Stephens rent also comes cheaper — at $1,050 per month — including utilities, on the same block as a $30 million Beaux Arts mansion near Riverside Park.
“I joke, ‘it’s nice to live in a mixed-income community,’” Stephens said.
Before moving to New York, the Maryland native lived in the UK, where she paid more to rent with roommates.
Stephens’ SRO came with some free essentials. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Stephens shares the bathroom with the residents in five other SROs. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
“This is so much bigger — like I can lay in the middle of my floor and spread out,” she said. “In the UK, neither of the rooms I lived in had enough floor space to even roll out a yoga mat. So this is huge to me.”
After a year abroad, she decided to move to New York.
“Everything in my life imploded, and it was like, ‘Well, why not?,’” she said.
Stephens arrived in the Big Apple in January with just two suitcases, subletting furnished rooms before finding the SRO.
Residents in the building have access to a communal kitchen on the ground floor. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post
Her last spot in Yorkville was barely the length of her bed, cost $400 more per month, and ended abruptly after a literal cat fight between Superman and her housemate’s cat.
Now that she finally has a space to call her own, she has no plans to give it up anytime soon.
“Genuinely I’m not going to leave this apartment until I get married,” Stephens said somewhat in jest. “I’m not even dating anybody right now!”
“I really love this apartment,” she added. “If I ever lose faith in God, I’m like, actually no, because I was led here.”
