My One-Bedroom Costs $2,000 A Month — & Here's What It Looks Like

In Refinery29's Sweet Digs, we take a look inside the sometimes small, sometimes spacious homes of millennial city dwellers. Today, 24-year-old Alyssa Coscarelli shows off her $2,000 a month East Village "junior one-bedroom."

Moving out of your parents' house might be the first big step towards adulthood — but a close second is moving into your own apartment, by yourself. This is an even bigger deal in New York City, where rent prices often make roommates a financial necessity.

Naturally, when fashion market editor Alyssa Coscarelli decided to get her own apartment, people had some concerns. "My mom, kept being like, 'Are you sure?'" Alyssa says. "Like, 'You should just stay in Brooklyn, just stay with your roommate. This is going to be so expensive. I don't know why you're doing this.'"

But to Alyssa, the upgrade was worth it. The fashion editor's previous apartment in Brooklyn happened to be a railroad apartment, and she ended up with the less-private bedroom. "Essentially my roommate had to walk through my room to get to her room," Alyssa says. "We were best friends so we thought it would be fine, but it just ended up being kind of close quarters."

After a year in the railroad apartment, Alyssa took the plunge and moved into a junior one-bedroom apartment in the East Village — essentially a studio with a bedroom behind French glass doors. She's since decked out some 350 square feet with her mix of vintage and mid-century modern sensibilities, reveling in the ability to do whatever she wants in her own space. "I feel like getting this first New York apartment by myself was a little bit of a milestone," she says. "I don’t regret it. It's one of the best decisions I've ever made as far as convenience, comfort, and mental health."

Click ahead to check out her apartment and shop some of her favorite finds.