Tour a Minimalist’s Rental Apartment in Lincoln Park: Photos

Nadia Sedgley has been renting this one-bedroom apartment for a year with her cat, Rafi, and occasionally her partner: I see my apartment as a respite from the bustle of the city — especially come winter when it’s freezing in Chicago, but feels cozy inside. I believe everything in your space should have a place it belongs. I’m not a fan of overcrowding with too much furniture in a small space or having too many knickknacks on a shelf. I had too much stuff in my room as a kid and it always felt messy because of that. In any apartment I live in, I always look for a lot of natural light; it helps with my mental well-being when the days become short and cold come winter. I believe in mixing and matching high-end pieces with Facebook Marketplace finds.

This is the first couch I’ve bought as a “real adult” — I knew I wanted it to be a bold color in order to balance out the rest of my taste, which tends to lean neutral with mixed organic textures, metals, and woods. I was searching all over the place for a white pedestal dining table within my budget and love how the one I got fits in the small space of my kitchen. I went with blue velvet dining chairs to complement my orangey cabinets and couldn’t be happier with how it all came together.

My identity is reflected throughout my home. I love organic textures because they feel warm and cozy, which is how I want to feel when I’m at home. It shows up in my wicker placemats, my variety of plants throughout my home, my wood slat centerpiece with fresh flowers on top of my metal and glass coffee table, etc.

Describe your home’s style in five words or fewer: Organic modern, contemporary, calming.

What is your favorite room and why? My favorite room is my kitchen; I love to cook. I spend a lot of time in there, so looking at my nicely decorated dining table backdropped by my massive 3-year-old monstera and my new bar cart filled with all my favorite cocktail ingredients makes me happy while doing so.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? I recently hung up a puzzle in my living room that I completed a few months back and was lazy about getting a frame for. My family used to do puzzles together when I was growing up and when we were done, we would glue them and hang them up in the garage. It always felt too sad to just take them apart after all the work we put into completing them. I’ve slightly grown out of that and now tend to donate the puzzles I’ve already completed, but I bought this puzzle with the intention of hanging it up. It reminds me of this apartment from the round dining table to the cat on the chair looking out at the city. You can find it on the Tenement Museum website.

Any advice for creating a home you love? You don’t have to buy everything new! I’ve found a lot of great things on FB Marketplace that are in fantastic shape and much less expensive than buying them new. Try to figure out what your style is and buy pieces to bring that to life. But most importantly, just design a place that makes you happy to wake up and live in every day.

Thanks, Nadia!

This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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