Taking Cues From The Big Apple

I used to be frustrated that our place was so small until I put it into perspective. Our tiny townhouse would be a Taj Mahal in New York City. We've had friends move to the city and have to get truly creative, keeping canned goods under the sofas, books in every room, and no space wasted.

In that vein, I'm always looking for great ideas out of Manhattan that I can use in Sin City. Here are a few I particularly admire.

The staircase dresser is the coolest detail in this New York loft. 

The classic New York apartment library with wall-to-wall bookshelves is probably something I should give up. After all, I have a Kindle now, and I should turn that space over to something besides books. But I can't.

This library from HouseBeautiful is lovely. And it's sort of what we're going for in our living room library. Though we can't go with built-ins, so we just packed in a few oversized bookcases.

Here's a fun photo of a few of our living-room bookcases that will make my teenagers scream!

This New York apartment is billed as bento box living. It's brilliant. Instead of just using under-bed storage in the bedroom, the entire bedroom is on a raised-floor storage platform, and the bed can be put away during the day to allow for even more space. It's worth a look, but it's a New York Times story, so if you're nearing your limit, beware.

This luxury penthouse with a slide isn't really a space saver, but I want it anyway. It's not too much to ask, and since we don't have room for playground equipment in our little patio yard maybe it's a space saver after all.

Finally, as long as we're talking about New York dream homes that make optimal use of space, don't forget this indoor pool wonder. If you don't have room in the yard, bring the pool into the living room.