Guides

Practical, NYC-specific guides for setting up your apartment, each with the products we’d actually buy. Pick a topic, or start with the move-in checklist.

Jump to: Moving Day · Bedroom & Sleep · Summer & AC · Prewar & Steam Heat · Small Spaces · Power & Essentials

Moving Day

Movers, renters insurance, building COIs and walk-up tips for move-in day.

• Moving Into a Manhattan Walk-Up: What to Plan For
  Moving into an NYC walk-up? Renters insurance, mover COIs, measuring the stairs, and the moving straps and sliders that save your back and your floors.

Bedroom & Sleep

Mattresses that fit up the stairs, blackout curtains and a better night’s sleep in the city.

• Blackout Curtains for NYC Bedrooms (No Drilling Required)
  Streetlights and early sunrises keeping you up? The blackout curtains, liners and no-drill options we’d use in an NYC bedroom, plus how to measure.
• Mattresses That Fit Up a Walk-Up
  Buying a mattress for a New York apartment? Measure the stairs first, then compare bed-in-a-box picks that carry up a walk-up, plus NYC disposal rules.

Summer & AC

Window air conditioners that fit NYC windows, plus how to size one and what your building requires.

• Best Window AC for NYC Apartments (and How to Pick the Right Size)
  The best window air conditioners for NYC apartments, from U-shaped inverters to portable units for casement windows, plus how to size one and what your building requires.

Prewar & Steam Heat

Fixes for older buildings: dry radiator heat, rooms with no ceiling light and more.

• Best Humidifiers for Steam Heat in NYC Apartments
  Radiator heat drying out your NYC apartment? The humidifiers we’d buy for living rooms, bedrooms and small spaces, plus the humidity level to aim for.
• How to Light a Room With No Overhead Light
  Prewar apartment with no ceiling light? Layer floor lamps, plug-in sconces and smart lighting to brighten a room without rewiring or breaking your lease.

Small Spaces

Storage and double-duty furniture for studios and small one-bedrooms.

• Small-Space Storage for NYC Studio Apartments
  The under-bed bins, vacuum bags, risers and double-duty furniture that make an NYC studio work, plus how to measure the space you have.

Power & Essentials

Backup power for outages and the gear every apartment needs.

• Best Portable Power Stations for NYC Apartments
  No gas generators allowed indoors. The best battery power stations for NYC apartments, from compact work-from-home backups to units that run a fridge overnight.