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SIZING IT UP
WHERE: Lower East Side
WHAT: 2 bedrooms, 4th-floor/elevator building
SIZE: 900 sq ft
VISIT: the-truck.com
Living in Manhattan, do you ever feel square-footage-starved?
Carpenter Well, we gutted our apartment before we moved in and designed the whole place around storage. Because we took the time to think it through up front, it seems to work—even with the four of us living in a tight space. For example, we made the front closet exactly the size it needs to be to roll in a stroller without folding it, and we created storage for old paperwork and books underneath the banquette we built in the living room. Arnold It was a question of our priorities. For us, having huge bedrooms wasn’t a big deal. Instead, we wanted a good-size living room. And because I cook a lot, our kitchen is much larger than most of the ones you’d find in the suburbs. Carpenter But even when you do have a lot of room, you never really feel you have enough with kids—they just devour space.
In what way?
Carpenter Well, there’s the toy issue. I never buy them—I just get them somehow.
How do you organize all their playthings?
Arnold When Dax was born, we moved all the furniture out of what was then just Booker’s room and built floor-to-ceiling storage, including a built-in desk by the window—we used it as a changing table when Dax was little. This way, we had twice as much storage and more floor space for the boys to play on. Carpenter Within those floor-to-ceiling cabinets, we have two levels of storage. Down low, I keep open bins filled with toys they can access, and then up high, there are closed cabinets for items that need a bit more supervision—like art supplies.
How do you see the space evolving?
Carpenter The boys are using a trundle bed right now, but I’m eager for them to get a little older so we can put in bunk beds—I just designed a new set for Nurseryworks. In a few years I imagine they might feel a space crunch, but they’re not complaining now. Right, Booker? Booker I’d rather share my room with Dax.
Carpenter’s design picks“Modernnursery.com has cool products, and the site is very easy to use. And I often buy the kids unusual gifts, like the History of the World ruler at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum shop (90 Orchard St at Broome St; 212-431-0233, tenement.org) in my neighborhood.”
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