Small Spaces: $5,000 Budget Transforms 330-Square-Foot Chinatown Rental
Designer Phoebe Kut
, with nearly 200,000 followers on her TikTok account @pbjdesign, has elegantly transformed a 330-square-foot New York City rental in Chinatown on a tight $5,000 budget. The compact one-bedroom apartment, over a century old, boasts original brick walls, exposed wood beams, ornate window trim, and high ceilings.
Small Spaces: ,000 Budget Transforms 330-Square-Foot Chinatown Rental
Kut, dating a design content creator, leveraged her partner's tips and tricks to upgrade the space. She incorporated DIY projects, shopped secondhand, and chose multipurpose furniture pieces to achieve the transformation.
The first step was to add warmth to the living room by painting one wall a muted olive tone, Texas Sage by Benjamin Moore. "Before, everything was white, so we painted that accent wall just to give it some color and character," Kut explains. "Green is very cozy and homey, but we didn't want a really dark shade because it would make the space feel a little bit enclosed. This is a medium, balanced sage."
Kut selected a modular pale gray Burrow sofa that tucks into the corner for comfortable lounging and doubles as a twin bed for overnight guests. "My partner wanted to be able to have guests over," she says. "In New York, there's always people wanting to crash and you're hosting them, so that was a specific thing that we did end up finding a really great piece for."
Since storage is limited, Kut hung a coat rack on the wall outside the bedroom. Other furniture items serve dual purposes as well. The amber acrylic AllModern coffee table can be easily converted to a side table when flipped over, and the entryway console is actually a slim piano sourced from Facebook Marketplace. "We specifically found that because it could look very sleek without buying a separate console," she notes.
Kut's partner plays the piano, so they sourced a slim instrument that doubles as an entryway console. A retro West Elm lamp sits atop the piano, adding a touch of industrial chic.
Throughout the space, Kut balanced the historic charm with modern, functional design. The result is a cozy, inviting apartment that showcases the power of thoughtful, budget-friendly design in even the smallest of spaces.