16
   

Cozy-crazy couple makes tight all right in the city's tiniest studio

 
 
djjd62
 
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 05:42 pm
If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere.

Zaarath and Christopher Prokop -- and their two cats -- live in the smallest apartment in the city, a 175-square-foot "microstudio" in Morningside Heights the couple bought three months ago for $150,000.

At 14.9 feet long and 10 feet wide, it's about as narrow as a subway car and as claustrophobic as a jail cell. But to the Prokops, it's a castle.

"When you first see it, the first thing you say is, 'Holy crap, this place is small,' " said Zaarath, 37, an accountant for liquor company Remy Martin. "But when I saw it, all I could think of is, I can do something with this. This is perfect for us. We love it."
Zaarath and Christopher Prokop insist they're living the life in this micro studio, just 10 feet wide! The bathroom is even smaller, barely spanning three feet.
http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2009/12/06/news/photos_stories/1204_MicroApt_CHE164159--300x150.jpg
Zaarath and Christopher Prokop insist they're living the life in this micro studio, just 10 feet wide! The bathroom is even smaller, barely spanning three feet.
http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2009/12/06/news/photos_stories/1203_MicroApt_CHE164319--300x150.jpg
http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2009/12/06/news/photos_stories/1203_MicroApt_CHE164324--300x150.jpg

The co-op is on the 16th floor of a doorman building on 110th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. But it's only accessible by a staircase on the 15th floor.

It has two small windows with views of upper Manhattan; hardwood floors; a tiny kitchen with a mini-fridge and hotplate; and a closet-sized bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet.

"I'm amazed we can fit two people and two cats in there," Zaarath said. "But it's harmonious at this point. I have friends who say they could never live with their husbands in a place this small. It's a good thing we like each other enough to live there."

The couple wakes up every morning in their queen-size bed, which takes up one-third of the living space.

They then walk five feet toward the tiny kitchen, where they pull out their workout clothes, which are folded neatly in two cabinets above the sink. A third cabinet holds several containers of espresso for their only kitchen appliance, a cappuccino maker.

They turn off their hotplate, and use the space on the counter as a feeding area for their cats, Esmeralda and Beauregard.

"We don't cook," Zaarath said, adding that their fridge never has any food in it. "So when you don't cook, you don't need plates or pots or pans. So we use that space for our clothes."

Once in their running attire, the two change the cat litter box (stored under the sink) and start their small Rumba vacuum -- which operates automatically while they're out, picking up cat hair.

They then jog to their jobs in Midtown, picking up along the way their work clothes, which are "strategically stashed at various dry cleaners."

Just in case the cleaners are closed, both have emergency clothes at their offices.

"I have a closet at my office," Zaarath said. "You don't want to be standing outside a closed cleaners at 8:45 in your workout pants thinking, 'Greeeeeat' . . . It's a great strategy. You always have fresh things to wear."
 
Green Witch
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 05:54 pm
The average cost of buying an apartment in Manhattan is $1,251* per square foot, so they paid a little more than $857 per square foot. Hardly seems like a bargain, but I guess based on the numbers it is. They should at least consider making a loft for the sleeping area.

I bet they will be divorced or re-located in two years.

*http://www.millersamuel.com/reports/
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 06:02 pm
@Green Witch,
That raised loft/bunk bed might be a great good idea to reclaim floor space.
0 Replies
 
msolga
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 06:42 pm
@djjd62,
Quote:
The co-op is on the 16th floor of a doorman building on 110th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. But it's only accessible by a staircase on the 15th floor.

It has two small windows with views of upper Manhattan; hardwood floors; a tiny kitchen with a mini-fridge and hotplate; and a closet-sized bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet.


What a squeeze, but what a fabulous location!
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 07:07 pm
Morningside Heights? I'll bet he had to throw in one of his testicles. Cool article, Boss, thanks . . .
0 Replies
 
NickFun
 
  3  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 08:15 pm
You should see what the place looks like when they invite all the relatives for Thanksgiving!
0 Replies
 
boomerang
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 09:17 pm
I'd rather live in a terrible neighborhood than live in a space that small.

In fact, I've lived is some tumble down shacks in some awful neighborhoods just to avoid having to share any space with anyone.

I absolutely, positively, without a doubt, would lose my mind.
0 Replies
 
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 09:26 pm
@msolga,
Just Google mapped the neighborhood.

That's an impressive neighborhood. Morningside Park and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
http://i47.tinypic.com/30tqk5x.jpg
Sglass
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 09:52 pm
For a mere $150,00o?
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:24 pm
@Sglass,
I would hope they would ask less ... being it's on the 15th floor in a building with no elevator access.
0 Replies
 
Rockhead
 
  2  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:33 pm
my bathroom is bigger than their whole joint.



and there ain't any stairs to get to the prairie...
Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:37 pm
@tsarstepan,
Number of years ago I would have been their neighbor, just three blocks further downtown. I lived on 107th between Broadway and Amsterdam in a two bedroom, bath and a half rent-controlled apartement in an elevator building. I forget what floor I was on, the fifth, I believe. Did I say the place was in a rent-controlled building? Right. Under $200 a month, heat included. This was in the late 1960s and I at the time I wasn't even grossing $200 a week salary as an underpaid newsman for United Press International. And nobody back then thought that Morningside Heights or anywhere else on the upper West Side was chic; too close to Harlem to be anything but the low rent district back then.
0 Replies
 
boomerang
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:39 pm
@Rockhead,
Oh give me land, lots of land, and a starry sky above, don't fence me in.....

I'm with you. I can't imagine why anyone would chose to live like that.
Rockhead
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:41 pm
@boomerang,
and what kinda people don't cook?

aliens?

(and my ex-wife) Rolling Eyes
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:43 pm
@boomerang,
For someone who doesn't plan on raising a family? The immediate access to the world of culture and the location of the apartment? Now that's the perfect residential compromise to me.
tsarstepan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:46 pm
@Rockhead,
Give me a slow cooker and a roaster oven and I'll make a decent meal in that kitchen. For shame that this couple doesn't use the kitchen even if it's seems barren at first glance.

This couple is probably addicted to take out and delivery.
Rockhead
 
  2  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:47 pm
@tsarstepan,
yeah.

gram would never allow underwear in the silverware drawer...
0 Replies
 
kickycan
 
  2  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 10:59 pm
That neighborhood's great if you like getting robbed and beaten up.
boomerang
 
  2  
Reply Mon 7 Dec, 2009 11:05 pm
@tsarstepan,
I didn't plan on raising a family either. Someday you might wake up with a two year old living in you house wanting to be fed too (and the next thing you know you're planning their 9th birthday (yikes)).

I'm a city girl -- and I don't mean the suburban kind of city girl -- I mean a city girl but there is no amount of city worth that kind of confinement.
0 Replies
 
Region Philbis
 
  2  
Reply Tue 8 Dec, 2009 03:21 am
@kickycan,

way back when, yes.
these days it's a fairly safe area...
 

Related Topics

Da Bunny's visiting New York. - Discussion by dlowan
Advice on Smartphones - Question by gollum
Neptune's Fix - Question by gollum
Capital of the United States - Question by gollum
BQE and Brooklyn Bridge Park - Question by gollum
Locks on Doors - Question by gollum
NYC Pensions - Question by gollum
 
  1. Forums
  2. » Cozy-crazy couple makes tight all right in the city's tiniest studio
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.07 seconds on 12/03/2024 at 03:03:41