This 500-Square-Foot Attic Apartment Was Dingy — Now It’s a Cozy, Warm Home

published Jul 10, 2025

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Style

Eclectic

Bedrooms

Square feet

500

Sq ft

500

Emily Goodling is a professor who teaches literature and language and says she wanted “books to be at the aesthetic and intellectual center” of her home, which for the past three years has been this 500-square-foot apartment in the attic top floor of an old home that’s over 100 years old.

Credit: Emily Goodling

"This amazing print is from anonymous Parisian street artist Treize Bis. I spent the first six months of COVID in lockdown in Paris and fell in love with their work, which was all over the neighborhood I was living in at the time. When the lockdown lifted, a gallery down the street was selling prints of their designs, and this one came home with me. I made the lampshade myself — it’s hand felted from silk and wool from my family’s farm. I felt using a seamless, 3D technique, and stretch the finished shade on a wire hoop light fixture when it is finished."

“I moved into this apartment when I got my first academic job after grad school, and it was the first time I was able to have all my books in one place since I was a child. I was so happy that the apartment already had built-in bookshelves along one wall, which was also a great way to make use of the very low ceilings along that side of the space,” Emily writes.

Credit: Emily Goodling

"Because of my job, I am so lucky to spend a lot of time in different countries teaching, researching, and traveling. When I was younger, I made a dear older friend with a home full of art and objects she collected from a life of global travel — I knew I wanted my home to be like that one day. It’s a work in progress! Whether a vintage folk record from a tiny store in Tokyo or a surreal print from a Parisian street artist, I am always looking for things that will inspire joy and conversation in my space," Emily writes about her space.

Before Emily moved into the apartment, which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she describes the rental as “dingy, run down, cramped, old.” But now, three years later, she uses words like “layered, fascinating, rich, comfortable, artistic” to describe the home.

Credit: Emily Goodling

"Someday I will replace the brown linoleum, but honestly it's been a pleasurable challenge trying to work around the existing apartment features to create a space I love," Emily admits of the kitchen's dated flooring.

“To me it was an compelling challenge to make a beautiful space without doing intensive renovations on the existing structures and features in the apartment (wallpaper, linoleum, etc). I think the finished product goes to show that it is possible to make a place homey and beautiful without needing to invest in more large-scale renovations!”

Credit: Emily Goodling

"This is one of my handmade felted wall hangings, inspired by Franz Marc, one of my favorite German expressionist painters," Emily says.

Emily says she adores “deep, saturated, layered, jewel-tone colors” in her home. “It’s strange, because my wardrobe is all minimalistic neutrals and a lot of black, but in every other area of my life I just want to be surrounded by color! I feel like it’s especially essential in a New England city that is cold, wet, and dark for half the year — no matter the weather outside, I feel like the inside is a little oasis of color and warmth.”

Resources

Credit: Emily Goodling

"The poster is from a recent show of Swedish mystic and expressionist artist Hilma af Klint at the MOMA in NYC. Seriously, go check her out — she’s incredible," Emily writes. "You can see the sloped ceilings and funny angles I’m working with well in this picture!"