Tour a Family of Four's Maximalist East Harlem Apartment

This NYC Apartment Proves You Can Do Colorful Maximalism With Twin Toddlers

published Jan 30, 2026

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

East Harlem, Manhattan, New York

Style

Bedrooms

Square feet

1000

Sq ft

1000

“We want our kids to grow up in a home that is colorful, warm, and filled with music,” begins Becky Smith, who along with her partner Marco, twins Emi and Nico, and cat Roo, moved into this East Harlem co-op in the summer of 2025 after 10 years renting in the same neighborhood.

Credit: Becky Smith

"Because we take in so many discarded things from the street, we spend a lot of time painting, refurbishing, wallpapering ... my contact paper obsession knows no bounds," Becky writes. "My favorite project is a lampshade I made from some discarded fabric and tassels I found at Mood fabrics and an old vintage floor lamp I found from a secondhand store around the corner. I've had to give many of my previous projects away because they weren't babyproof, but they still live on in my memory."

“We were previously renting a fourth-floor walk-up around the corner with our 18-month-old twins, until we decided we couldn’t hack the stairs anymore. Living in an elevator building has been a dream come true,” Becky continues.

Credit: Becky Smith

While the parents are big fans of the easier transportation, they didn’t love that the unit was new construction. Becky says that they “miss some aspects of our old prewar apartment, but we’ve worked hard over the last few months to make a generic apartment feel like home.”

Credit: Becky Smith

Becky and Marco both work in nonprofits, and explain that their budget to transform the “boring” space was tight. “Our interests and backgrounds are reflected everywhere in our home,” she writes. “From our politics, to our love of country music and antiquing.”