Natasha Pickowicz’s Apartment Will Make You Want to Grow a Chaotic Garden
“I’ve rented this apartment for five years,” says chef and cookbook author Natasha Pickowicz of her 500-square-foot Brooklyn apartment. “At first, I resisted hanging art and making changes because a rental is temporary. But eventually I realized: This is where I live now. Why not make it as comfortable as I can?” Here, Natasha gives us a tour…
ENTRYWAY
Rug: vintage. Portrait: painted by Natasha’s mother. “I think I’m eight in this one.”
On birthday traditions: Every year, my mom, who is an artist, painted a birthday portrait of me. My parents still live in my childhood home in San Diego, and my bedroom is full of them. It almost feels like a weird shrine to me! When I moved to New York, I brought along a few favorites.
KITCHEN AREA:
Red lamp: similar.
On meal planning: Working in restaurants taught me to plan meals around ingredients, instead of finding a different dinner recipe to cook every evening. If I’m in the mood for chicken, I’ll buy a whole chicken and then poach it, so I have a leftover batch of flavorful stock. Then, I’ll eat that stock every morning with rice and steamed greens.
Vase: Carolina Irving & Daughters. Cutting board: Nordstrom.
On pet-proofing: My cat, Tini, figured out how to open the cabinet door and help herself to food and treats. My fix? Slant the door. It’s crooked, yes, but now she can’t open it.
Print: Plant Planet.
On hot takes: Nectarines are my favorite fruit. They have softer skin and more acidity than peaches. They taste good in salads with dark greens, like spinach or escarole, and they make amazing jam.
Bookshelves: Ikea. Red lamps: similar. Cat bowl: Smalls.
On cooking in a small apartment: I converted the front hall closet into a pantry, and I have a compact fridge. Living in this space has taught me how to cook leaner. Instead of doing big grocery hauls, I go shopping every couple days and talk to people in my neighborhood.
LIVING AREA:
Rug: Schoolhouse. Sofa: Pottery Barn.
On budget shopping: While sofa-shopping at Pottery Barn, I found one I loved and was ready to order. But then my boyfriend asked a salesperson if I could just buy the floor model. They said yes and sold it to me at a big discount!
On family rituals: Growing up, my parents and I ate dinner together every night. Afterward, we’d walk around the block. Those evenings with them instilled in me a deep love for walking. Nowadays, walking around the neighborhood after eating a nourishing meal is an act of being at home.
Print: Mike Paré. Table: West Elm. Chairs: thrifted.
On life without a TV: When I first moved to New York, I didn’t buy a TV since my former apartment was smaller, and I didn’t want it to be the first thing guests noticed. After a couple months, I realized I didn’t miss it. Now, if I really want to watch a movie or show, I’ll watch it on my laptop. But as a general rule, I try to wind down by reading, drawing, or puttering around the garden.
BEDROOM
Throw: Hubsch Interior. Sconces: Poplight. Side table: similar.
On playful lighting: My mom visited and said, ‘Your lighting situation here is inadequate.’ So, she bought me these sconces. They’re great for rentals because they stick to your walls with double-sided tape and are battery-operated.
On cozy corners: I like to call my bedroom my treehouse. It has stairs down to the backyard. In the mornings, it feels like waking up to a secret garden.
On fun crafts: My boyfriend, his son, and I made these dioramas in the backyard — they’re inspired by camping trips we went on this year. When I was a kid, my mom turned our garage into her art studio, and I remember seeing her artwork all over the house. Now it feels so fulfilling to have a home that inspires my loved ones and me to create.
GARDEN
On restorative projects: My cookbook, Everyone Hot Pot, was published earlier this year, and I did a two-month book tour, road-tripping from California to the Midwest to Canada and back to the East Coast. Visiting so many cities and meeting readers was exhilarating. But when I got back to New York, the comedown from all that excitement hit me hard. So, I spent a lot of time fixing up the garden and planting fruits and vegetables: purple okra, kale, husk cherries, cucumber, bitter melon, and lots of tomatoes.
On party games: I love setting up blind taste tests like in Top Chef. I’ll put everyone in makeshift blindfolds, then pluck whatever herbs are growing in the garden — Thai basil, lavender, lemongrass — and give them tastes. People get really into it! They’ll feel so confident that they know what they are eating, and seeing their faces when they are wrong is priceless.
On nostalgic fruits: Passion fruit grows all over San Diego, where I grew up, so I planted two passionflower vines back here. They’re so beautiful and produce big, weird flowers. Whenever I see them, I’m reminded of home.
On chaotic gardens: This year, I really wanted to lean into as many vining plants as possible. I like for things to get big and bushy, go to seed and bolt, and look like a wild jungle. I feel so good about what my boyfriend and I did back here this year, and I’m excited to see what we come up with next summer.
Thank you so much, Natasha! We love you.
P.S. A Brooklyn apartment full of surprises, and a family’s downsized dream home.
(Photos by Veronica Olson for Cup of Jo.)
Tags: house tours
Comments
80 commentsOh my goodness, does Natasha’s mom take commissions and still paint? I sooo want her to paint my children. If anyone has info, please please please share!
“At first, I resisted hanging art and making changes because a rental is temporary. But eventually I realized: This is where I live now. Why not make it as comfortable as I can?” I’ve always lived in rentals and I’m guilty of the same thinking. But Natasha is so right. Why wait to make a space as comfy as you can for yourself? Let yourself live a little!
I LOVE this house tour! I have the same aesthetic- crazy plants, cats and books- and her home feels so cozy. Perfectly curated homes are boring!
Thank you for the sconce recs! I love love lighting and have always eyed bedrooms with perfectly placed sconces for reading or over framed pictures and the effect they have. Thanks to you, I just ordered a TON of these nifty battery operated rechargeable beauties for placing all over my house!
Her bedroom is a dream!
I love your apartment and garden! And cat!! And also your shirt. While I can’t have the apartment or the cat, I can probably have the shirt…Who makes it?
GASP! I am amazed at that portrait of Natasha – does her Mom take commissions? Please please send her info if she does. I would be so happy to have her paint portraits of my 3 kids.
I love how lived in and unfussy these spaces are, but there is clearly an artistic bent to everything. The child of an artist picks it up along the way! The treehouse bedroom space is delicious – except my New England brain can’t stop going, omg isn’t that FREEZING in the winter with all the windows?!?! I had a back, corner bedroom in one of my first apartments in Maine and my god it was FRIGID. Sending all the warm socks and cozy blanket vibes for winter – and all the hope for a long lingering late summer to enjoy those amazing vines and herbs and veggies. I planted passionflower this year! No flowers or fruit yet, but I did just read something that said they spread aggressively and now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have kept it in a pot! Gardening is such a grand experiment. <3 this piece, lovely to peak inside a beautiful home. x
I’m getting ready to downsize to allow a move closer to where I want to plant roots, and this post was so inspiring!
I absolutely loved the idea that a temporary rental can still become a true home. The way Natasha transformed a small apartment with plants, artwork, personal memories and a little bit of creative chaos feels much more inspiring than a perfectly styled space that looks untouched. I also really liked the connection between cooking, gardening and community in this story. There is something special about spaces that show the personality of the person living there rather than simply following design trends. The little imperfections are often what make a home feel warm and memorable.
oh Tini- nothing sweeter than an all grey cat!
. . . except maybe an orange and white boy cat.
Cup of Jo!! thank you for featuring a look around a rental home that also feels real. I love an aspirational look at a graphic designers lovely home but these are also so fascinating – and attainable – to me (a long term renter, single parent who thrifts stuff a lot).
Sara, I was thinking the same thing! Natasha’s place feels real, unfussy, and comfortable. Not to mention, it’s adorable.
Sorry for the unsavory question but I’m desperate to know—how does she prevent rats from eating her edible plants, especially the passion vines? Asking for a me.
came to the comments to ask the same question!
Loved everything about this tour and her home! The tree house bedroom vibes and the wild garden make it even more special. Please can we have more small space tours and rentals / rental friendly ideas <3
Oh those 90s cabinet doors – definitely have those in my rental! Thanks for the inspiration!
Can we find out where Natasha’s sweet necklace is from?
Seconding about the necklace. Also would love to know where her top and skirt are from? They look so comfy but cute!
What a delightful home tour! Are her white floating kitchen shelves from DIY Cartel? If so, I just hung some in my own rental. They are truly SO sturdy yet chic?! Highly recommend if anyone else is on the hunt.
Uh, San Diegan here – just finished slurping down four passion fruit from my backyard vines while fulfilling a friend’s “order” for my extra passion fruit (ha enjoy a bag full!!!), and I still have probably 40 sitting on my counter. They are lovely and they make SO MANY FRUIT. The zucchini of the vining fruit world…
Meanwhile in Washington, they are $4 EACH. As someone who used to fill a blender with them to puree into 48 oz of liquid elixer from Heaven then drink it all down over a day or two, I cry. At least I’ve had that experience. ENJOY!!
This is so so so good! I love Natasha’s home, the character and joy of it all. I also love hearing about her mum and growing up. Can we have an interview with the two of them?!
What a lovely lovely home! It ticks all the boxes, books, more books, a cat named TEENIE!? I have been lucky enough (in LA) to have lived in single girl rentals that all had small outdoor spaces. I didn’t really garden as such, but I nurtured and watered some things, and REALLY appreciated those blessed squares of refreshing, restful green and shade. Now as a late in life married homeowner, the thing that immediately sold us on our townhome was the (again) a very small square of garden, with a small tree. It is truly a luxury, especially in our big noisy crowded cities. What a treasure she has created! Also, checking into Hot Pot, asap. This is a supersweet small home, it reminds me of me, in younger days!
More of these kind of home tours, please! While I do love an aspirational, design-forward home tour, they often feel so unattainable. Like is this real life? I love a well-lived, imperfect, stained-wall, pile-of-books, wild-garden home that actually feels like the reality many of us are likely living. Or maybe it’s just me? Either way, this is a gem of a tour, the sweetest little oasis that is overflowing with character!
I agree Erica. It’s like going to a friends house!
Definitely. I saw the cat scratches on the sofa and I knew I could relate <3
My first thought too! A REAL LIFE home tour of someone who actually lives in their home with style that is all their own. We too have books everywhere, an imperfect kitchen and some parts of the home that we just can’t get clean. I was so happy to see this tour!
Yes this! I love seeing places where people truly live that are not just show places. It’s what I really miss about the old Domino magazines from years ago. Fun spaces where people clearly have an eye for how things are out together but it isn’t the tired minimalism that we seem currently locked into. Well done!
And, please, more info on that colorful, modern quilt folded over the edge of the bed that is featured in 3 photos !
Oh we linked to it in the first photo of her room! Here it is though :) https://go.shopmy.us/p-82005159
As others have alluded to, I love that you get the sense of the real person who lives there and she definitely seems like a person I would want to know. I stand by something I read in a Living, Etc. many years ago when someone was asked about her design philosophy: Books, fresh flowers, and a cat or two. I think this is a prime example!
This one of my favourite home tours ever. I feel like I’ve just been welcomed in and shown around – and now Natasha is going to pick some herbs from the garden for me to taste. As others have said, there’s so much heart here.
Love seeing someone 40+ thriving in a beautifully decorated but very real and small city rental!
Serious question for the walk-after-dinner-with-your-kids crowd — how?? How does it happen? To transition from the workday, to kid pick up, to making dinner, to cleaning up dinner, to walking — it doesn’t seem possible. The cleaning up part especially. Do you leave dishes on the table and do the clean after the walk? We are so wanting this to be in our routine and just cannot make (have not made!?) it happen!
It was easier when our kid was younger! Now that he’s a teen, the last thing he wants to do is walk with us. LOL. But, when he was younger we would leave the clean up for later. And it doesn’t have to be long! Even just 10 minutes is so refreshing. I feel like it helps everyone sleep better. I will say, once he could put his own shoes and jacket on that was a real game changer…
In the wintertime we put on coats and grab flashlights for our evening walks. The kids get excited because it feels special. Also, might I suggest before dinner walks? We have a special route we call “where the side walk ends” because it literally ends. It takes 7 minutes there and 7 minute back home. Then I start dinner. It always shifts the mood. Fresh air feels good. The kids recap their day to me. And it serves as a nice transition from the work day to the evening time as a family. Please note sometimes the kids will resist, or say no. Since we have made it more of a ritual these past two years, they have come to accept it.
For a season we’d rotate when our kids were younger. One of us would take the kids for a walk after dinner and the other would do the dishes and clean up the house while listening to their favorite podcast. Now that our kids are 8 and 11 we are trying to change it more and either all clean up together and then go for a walk or (a dream) have the kids clean up while my husband and I go for a walk.
We have a toddler and do an after-dinner walk every night, it’s part of our wind-down routine. While my husband washes dishes, I get the bed ready, give our daughter her bath, brush her teeth, put pajamas on, and if my husband isn’t quite finished in the kitchen, I’ll read a bedtime book. We then dim the lights and tuck her into the stroller for a 20-minute walk. Once we get back, our home is ready for a relatively smooth transition to bed. I will say, while most people do the whole books before bedtime routine with their children, we adopted the nightly walk as part of our tried-and-true routine. Fresh air, quiet, low stimulation, food digests, husband and I get to chat – it’s the best! Good luck!
Ice cream! We only do walks in the summer when everything seems to slow down and a late bedtime isn’t such a big deal. And we didn’t start until our kids were 7 or 8 so they were old enough to bath and brush themselves when we got back while we did the dishes. It started with bribing them, er incentivizing them, with a stop at the ice cream shop but now we just walk without stopping to get ice cream. We call it a pass-a-gelato as a play on the Italian word passeggiata. There’s something magical about puttering around at sunset.
We do ‘popsicle walks’ in the summer – leave the dishes for later and enjoy the late evening light while we have it. Winters are sooooo long and dark in Maine that it’s nice to take a little <10 minute stroll around the tiny block before the shower/bedtime flow begins. One of us does the dishes while the kiddo is in the shower/the other one is putting him to bed.
I’d like to do this too but seems nearly impossible where I live thanks to long work and school days and late dinners. Maybe I’ll have to start with weekends and move on from there.
We have the same cupboard and same issue. We put a box of cat litter in front of it.
I’m very late to this but what worked for me was a piece of poster putty to stick the cabinet door closed. It was easy enough to pull open for humans but made it impossible for the cat! I thought I was a genius at the time I came up with it, my life’s greatest accomplishment
This is the apartment/home of my dreams! Treehouse bedroom with sun streaming in and a garden entrance to a flow & go yard! Books & art everywhere with a well-lived in, well-loved look and a cat! I prefer this sooo much to the perfect, unlivable decor of so many influencers, magazines, etc. Thank you for sharing, b ravo!
Real homes make me so happy. A crooked cabinet, pictures all over the fridge, stacks of books piled up haphazardly because they’re read and loved rather than curated to fit an aesthetic and scuff marks because it’s filled with people and pets living full happy lives there. I love visiting homes like this, the ones where you sink into the couch with a snack and aren’t afraid if a crumb falls in the cushion and the cat can jump in your lap and you feel surrounded by love and life. I will take it all day every day over a house designed for resale value and Architecture Digest features.
Seconded!
What a welcoming home, love the treehouse bedroom (imagine taking a nap in this space with the light filtered through the greenery!), so many stacks of books and the dreamy garden. My darling is travelling to San Diego with some friends next week, made me realise I was there a loooong time ago (18 years!). Are there places or restaurants to recommend, dear ones?
the mingei folk museum is amazing, small and has a nice cafe.
If you go to one beach go to Torrey pines state beach Mingeiis great,, timken is too, both are in balboa park. Coffee at mnemonic on 5th avenue first then walk into the park The market on 5th avenue has surprisingly good deli and breakfast burritos if you wanna picnic in the park first If you like urban walk google bridge walk San Diego, it’s same area and you walk over a bunch of Victorian canyon bridges – I personally cannot handle the suspension walking bridge but it’s a big hit for some Little Italy … pretty and pleasant.ll waterfront park esp if you have kids,.
Visit City Farmers Nursery! The restaurant next door is a good time. You can have lunch then walk around
Love!!! The treehouse vibes and the cat looking out the door <3
What a dreamy view to wake up to! And thanks for the sconce tip! Ordering some immediately for the new rental I just moved into!
aren’t they so cool? I’m going to order some for my daughter’s room! I love the primary colors :)
get the extra batteries! 9 hours is not long enough at all so get the extra batteries. I have them and like the sconces and feel like i’m constantly charging and the light goes out right in the middle of a good paragraph every time.
I just sent the sconces to my son for his new apartment.
Thanks for the tip, Kay!!
I love the wild garden! Herbs, vines, planters, beds! What a wonderful space. Looking forward to exploring Natasha’s cookbook.
Um, I was not prepared for how zestful and fascinating and energizing everything about this post was! I hadn’t heard of Natasha, but now I’m so excited to check out her book (I’ve been curious about hot pots, as it seems like such a celebratory & immersive experience, but I haven’t been able to make it flavorful at home!) and go about my home with an eye towards how to create more space for play! Also, Natasha’s mom sounds so cool too! Any chance CoJ could do a spotlight on her? :)
+1 on Mama Pickowicz!
+2. I aspire to be a mom whose kids talk about their childhood and family so fondly when they grow up. I am constantly looking for examples of moms who have done that and want to know how!
I am in a waterbound-teary soft mood (bc of world issues) and this home is not just like a hug but a hug: To me it feels like a heart in which you can stroll around, always find new things, wobbly and beautiful, full of wonder and a feeling of “can I please stay here with you”.
I love Natasha’s style. She’s really an inspiration for all things lifestyle. I have both her cookbooks and I haven’t made hotpot yet, but reading through them is always divine.
I would love to wake up in that tree house bedroom every day. So beautiful and green! Also I absolutely love small kitchen content. I do a lot of baking and cooking for my family of 5 (and friends) in a very small kitchen, and I’m always gnashing my teeth that I can’t buy in bulk from Costco, or don’t have a good place to store my kids’ lunch boxes, etc etc. It can be frustrating,but the organizational puzzles can also be sort of fun to solve. We have to limit clutter and excess consumerism in such a small footprint. I think there are a lot of kitchens like mine, but sometimes on the internet it seems like everyone has huge designer ones with eight foot islands. Hurray for small, cozy (and in my case, very ugly haha) kitchens that get the job done.
I am in a similar situation in my 1930s house! My washer and dryer are in the kitchen which I hate but also – do I really need a separate laundry room? No. The Internet can really get to you, huh. But when I’m feeling happy and optimistic, I look around my house and think – everything is how I want it (not how someone tells me I should want it) and we live in every corner of our house. I love reading posts about and comments from real people living a normal life. Re Costco – my husband always says – who actually needs 5 pounds of olives?? Haha <3
Emily and Bethany—if you haven’t come across it before, Never Too Small is one of my favourite corners of the internet to check out! They’ve got a youtube channel and magazine and I always get so much inspiration for my small space. I love seeing how people around the world are decorating and organizing their small spaces!
Love, love, love this house tour– I really appreciate seeing real, lived-in, creative, colorful spaces that reflect the personalities and interests of the people who live in them! That higgeldy-piggeldy bookcase is priceless.
Yes! Rentals are homes and should be treated as such. It’s always worth it to invest (mentally, emotionally, financially) in making where you live feel like home.
Yes! Sometimes I lament that all of our rentals have felt temporary, especially after we got kicked out of two back to back years when the owners sold. But what I try to come back to is that we are “here for now.” And even if we stumbled into an insane amount of money and were able to buy something, even then! We’d still be just “here for now.” We are all just here for now, and have to make the best of it and try to enjoy it while we had it.
I really love the ornate gold frame for 8-year-old Natasha, and something about the geometry of the arch beside it is SO PERFECT – almost gemological!
I agree!
Ah! What a special space!
This apartment is the epitome of a real home.
I thought the same. More rentals please, esp as homeownership gets farther and farther away from most of us, a reminder that we can celebrate rentals as not the interim or in-between but the main event (new median age for home ownership is 40, because america is broken and I know this is a problem in so many countries, in large part because, america, sigh: https://www.nar.realtor/press-releases/first-time-home-buyer-share-falls-to-historic-low-of-21-median-age-rises-to-40)
What a cool apartment! Her bedroom – that light! I love seeing house tours where everything isn’t “perfect” – although I must admit, I thought, “oh, a crooked cabinet door, I can relate in my rental” and then she said she did it on purpose, haha.
This is my favorite home tour ever. Natasha’s beautiful apartment is so welcoming and reflects her personality so well. And what a fabulous refuge from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city! I’m an early riser, but I’d stay in bed, waiting for the sunlight to hit that beautiful backyard if I lived there.
this is so lovely!
Definitely taking notes This is my style exactly
Right? I love how she balances all the primary colors with soft creams and warm whites. and that garden!