I transformed my friend’s apartment into an urban oasis for about $2,500 – here’s how

_This story is sponsored by SICOTAS._ Finding the perfect New York City apartment is tough, but decorating it might be even more difficult. With so many options on the market, it can feel

overwhelming to sift through endless coffee tables and couches, especially if you’re not looking to spend five figures furnishing your space. Enter SICOTAS, an accessible, design-forward

furniture company built on the principles of SImplicity, COmfort and TASte (it’s right there in the name!). Founded in 2018, the brand offers elegant, versatile and environmentally conscious

home décor — and I recently got to experience its pieces firsthand when my friend Brooke asked me for help giving her Brooklyn rental a much-needed facelift. Together with interior designer

Kat Salazar and SICOTAS Marketing Manager Charlene Yang, we decided to focus our efforts on the two spaces Brooke uses most. We started in the living room; with little besides a sectional

sofa and a few scattered plants as a starting point, it was the perfect blank canvas to bring to life. “The first thing I notice about this space is all of the beautiful natural elements — 

the exposed brick, the high ceilings with those beautiful wood beams, the natural light,” Kat says. “I want to take those elements and complement them with more natural finishes to really

create a comfortable, cozy feel.” To play up the room’s “warm tones,” Charlene suggested a mix of pieces from SICOTAS’ Savanna Collection, which is made with sustainably sourced rattan, and

its waveform-paneled Cas Collection. One of Kat’s top priorities was introducing some shelving, so she and Charlene sandwiched this console table between two of the matching bookshelves

below — the perfect mix of hidden and open storage. ------------------------- “Depending on the time of the day, you’ll get a different look as the sun beams on the furniture,” says

Charlene, who picked the Cassiopeia constellation-inspired Cas Collection to take advantage of the room’s oversized windows and ample sunlight. ------------------------- To fill in the

center of the room, Charlene chose this rattan-topped coffee table from SICOTAS’ Savanna Collection. For a bit of contrast on top, Kat placed a white alabaster bowl filled with moss spheres,

along with a stack of ivory-colored books and a few smaller accent pieces to match. “We definitely wanted to bring in a lot of those natural textures to complement the architecture of the

space,” Kat says. “We found a lot of those in the accessories, but it started with the finishes of the SICOTAS collection.” ------------------------- The next stop was the bedroom, which was

similarly low on storage space and didn’t offer Brooke any sort of proper work-from-home setup. “We really need to open this space up a little bit more,” Kat noted. “The pieces we bring in

should be a little bit more functional.” While Brooke’s old oak nightstands blended into the exposed brick wall in the bedroom, these ones from SICOTAS’ Opus Collection create a nice

contrast, making the whole room feel more finished. “I love that this style can go with so many types of design,” Kat says of the nightstands, which feature a fluted finish inspired by a

piano’s keys. ------------------------- Charlene and Kat chose to swap out the small sofa at the foot of Brooke’s bed, replacing it with two of these shoe benches. “Functionally, these are

really great. We wanted to put something at the end of the bed where you could sit and put your shoes on, and it also has lots of storage,” Kat says. ------------------------- On the

opposite side of the room, Charlene and Kat brought in this rattan dresser to introduce some texture and color while also offering plenty of storage. “You can use it to store your clothes,

but also as a TV stand,” Charlene points out. Beats looking at a blank white wall! ------------------------- “You can use it as a vanity, as a workspace, however you want,” Kat says of this

sleek computer desk. “We put a little stool there for now, but she could always change it to a chair.” -------------------------