Lucy Cohen Blatter

This alcove studio co-op in Gramercy on sale for $499,000 ticks off just about all the boxes of practical small-space living, from a workable layout to multi-functional furniture to built-in storage. (And the location, at 15th Street and Fifth Avenue, within walking distance of buzzing Greenwich Village, the Flatiron District and Chelsea, ain't bad either.) 

Shall we take a closer look? 

Your average rental (mine included) tends to come with cheap, blah lighting fixtures, but swapping them out with something grand is one of the easiest ways to brighten up your apartment—pun intended. (Just be sure to keep the original fixture to put back when you move out.) And in the meantime, get some design inspiration from these five apartments that prove that chandeliers don't have to be fusty:

When you're looking to sell your apartment,  it's important to stage every room, of course, but it's a fact that kitchens and bathrooms are the rooms that often wow buyers most (or scare them off). 

While $2,500 isn't a huge amount to spend on rent in NYC, there are still plenty of options if your budget is around that amount. In Manhattan you'll likely only see one-bedrooms and small two-bedrooms in that range (except in Upper Manhattan), but head out to Staten Island and you're looking at a three-bedroom house.