By Janel Laban
Name: Lee
Location: Carroll Gardens – Brooklyn, NY
When I moved to Degraw Street seven years ago, it was my first time living in Brooklyn and also my first “full-size” (meaning it had a bedroom door) apartment in New York. A 700 sq ft, 1.5 br floor-through in a Carroll Gardens brownstone was an exciting change from my alcove studio on the Upper East Side, though the disrepaired circa-1870s details like the wide plank floors with dropped-out knots and original, rattling, wood frame windows were perhaps in danger of being too charming. Nonetheless, I loved the rental like it was my own and used it as a canvas on which to explore my Brooklyn side.

