Virginia K. Smith

Wrapping paper: not just for presents anymore (Refinery 29)

This apartment squeezes five rooms into 340 square feet (Curbed NY)

A terrifying—but beautiful—map of Brooklyn's toxic spills (City Lab)

Even if you outsource your laundry, there's no getting around the necessity of having a certain amount of wash-and-dry gear around the apartment. But with space at a premium, most New Yorkers don't have the luxury of a dedicated laundry nook or room so common in the burbs. So how to keep your clothes in check while wasting as little of your apartment's precious space as possible?

We've rounded up 7 convenient, compact products that fit the bill:

Dear Sam: I'm moving into a rent stabilized NYC apartment and want to install wall mounted shelving. Does this constitute an "improvement" or "alteration" requiring written consent of the landlord? If approved, will this give my landlord legal grounds to increase the rent? Can the landlord expect me to leave the shelving in the apartment when I move out?