I rent an 800-square-foot Brooklyn apartment for $2,150 a month. Here's how I make the most of my space.

• I've designed my 800-square-foot attic apartment in NYC to make it feel cozy and welcoming.
• I needed to find perfectly sized furniture pieces that actually fit the unique space.

After living in an apartment I adored for over three years, the building owner decided to sell. The rent at the time was $1,750, and trying to find another place at the same great price was nearly impossible.

But then I stumbled upon an 800-square-foot attic apartment in Kensington, Brooklyn, that looked like something out of upstate New York.

The rent seemed a little high at $2,150, but after viewing the apartment in person, there was no hesitation.

It almost feels like a treehouse, with sloping beams, amazing wood floors, soaring 15-foot ceilings, exposed brick, and both east and west sunlight.

Read on to see how I made my unique, open space feel cozy and welcoming.

I found perfect-sized furniture to fill and accentuate the space

Because the space has really tall ceilings, it was important that our furniture wasn't too small in scale.

Luckily, the sectional, round coffee table, and TV console we already had fit perfectly into the space.

But there was enough room to add a desk in a corner and a tall cabinet that helped fill in the vertical space in the living area.

We also swapped out our small circular dining-room table for a long rectangular one to better fit the space.

The bedroom has three closets, but because it's an attic apartment, the storage doesn't offer much headspace.

We fixed this issue by getting two dressers: One on the lower side to fit the slanted nook of the bedroom wall and a taller one to fill in some vertical space.

My goal is to create a unique mood for each section of the apartment

I really like the concept of giving different spaces in a home different moods.

The living room currently has a greenhouse feel because it has the most plants. Our blue sectional, greenish/blueish/beige carpet, and natural decor pieces also add to that vibe.

The dining room currently has more of a farmhouse vibe with the wooden table and red accent rug, which I wasn't sure I loved, but it's working for us.

When in doubt, I add more plants

If you look around our apartment, you'll find plants everywhere.

We moved into this space literally two weeks before the pandemic shut down New York City in March 2020, so it makes sense that I became a certified plant mom.

Having plants of different heights and sizes scattered throughout the apartment really helped add to the coziness of the space and made it feel welcoming.

Also, don't be afraid to mix fake plants in with your real plants.

Hanging art on the walls makes a space feel more intentional

Wall art can create a visual focal point and pull a room together.

We don't have that many walls suitable for artwork, so we were able to just put up the minimal pieces we already had and give the space a finished element.