Not all lifestyle influencers have sprawling walk-in closets and chef’s kitchens. In New York City, some have turned average apartments, thrifted furniture, and inexpensive DIY renovations into significant income streams. We asked three of them — an apartment stager in Hell’s Kitchen, an office worker on the Upper East Side, and a full-time influencer in Long Island City — to walk us through what might be the most brilliant way ever to offset the cost of living here.
The influencer known for bold patterns and bright colors
Tanika Rottura
Handle: @tanika_nyclifestyle, 42.3K followers
Apartment: A 958-square-foot two-bedroom on the Upper East Side
Day job: Private equity
On starting her Instagram account
I joined in 2016 with no idea what I would post. But then I started following a bunch of fellow décor lovers, like @thepretentioushome, @blissfully_eclectic, and @darlingiloveit, and their feeds inspired me. I wanted to show people how a Black woman in New York City lives, beyond what they see on TV. A lot of people from different cultures have never been inside a Black person’s home. Back then, there weren’t many décor or home influencers who were Black, especially in New York. There still aren’t, really.
On developing her brand
I’m known for being fearless with patterns and colors. I painted my dining area in Benjamin Moore’s Pink Harmony; it’s the apartment detail commenters ask me about the most, and it’s a mood, just the happiest color on the planet. Two of my biggest influences are @simplycyn and @lanawilman. They use color and love it. The people who’ve been following me for a while also feel like they know me — I even shared with them when my dog died.
On her first viral Reel
In May 2021, I shared the first stage of renovating my childhood apartment in Manhattan, where my brother now lives. People just love renovations and transformations. My account also started to blow up when LTK (formerly LikeToKnow.it) shared a post about my bedroom. I sold so many of the items I linked to — lamps, sheets, and rugs — and received a big commission of $1,000 or so.
Other popular posts: a tour of the walk-in closet we created during COVID lockdown, and tours of other small New York City apartments. I have approached some people to ask if I can feature them; others have reached out to me. My followers loved Hattie Kolp’s large prewar Upper West Side apartment; she revealed that she pays $1,300 a month, so people were fascinated.
On how she began to earn income
Campaign offers have come organically over time. My first decent paycheck was $2,000 for a video I made for International Delight. I belong to a Facebook network for influencers, and we often share formulas for what our rates should be per post or video — a common one is charging 4 percent of your Instagram following for one post. I also have brands that send me products that I like for free. For example, the artwork in my apartment and my brother’s apartment is from Ivhu Art and it was gifted in exchange for sharing with my audience. I also work with brands to create videos to use on their own platforms. My monthly income from campaigns can range from $5,000 to $10,000.
On fitting influencing into her weekly schedule
I do most of my shooting and editing on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then schedule things to share throughout the week. Then I’ll take a few days off. As a creative, you have to take a break, because otherwise you’ll find yourself doing the same things over and over. My most creative time is when a new season starts, like right now. Home-content creators change our pillows for spring. We have spring sheets, spring curtains — we’re crazy! I’ve had to create hidden storage for all the things I switch out seasonally. We’re also lucky to have a lot of closet space, and it’s filled with bins holding all my apartment stuff.
On cohabitation in an Instagram apartment
My husband is used to me constantly switching things around. He’s really busy — he runs a wine shop — but he sometimes gets involved in what I’m doing, saying, “That doesn’t look right there.” And I’m like, “Excuse me, Mr. Decorator, am I rubbing off on you?” It’s funny, because his idea of decorating is a pool table and a La-Z-Boy. He’s perfectly comfortable being messy, and he knows I will clean up behind him for a shoot day. I don’t share his closet or his personal stuff. I also don’t share our bathroom, but that’s just because it’s so ugly.
On her future as an influencer
I’ve now worked with more than 50 brands, but I’ve always kept my full-time job. I’ve never wanted to be a full-time content creator because sometimes I like to take a long break from social media. That’s hard when it’s your only source of income. Also, I’m just not comfortable having an app control my life.
On her best tip for small-space dwellers
Buy multipurpose furniture like ottomans that have storage or a bed with drawers underneath. The modern bedroom storage bench I got from Wayfair is the best purchase. It now contains my workout clothing!
The influencer with an eye for mid-century decor
Nick Lowry
Handle: @nikl0w, 223K followers
Apartment: A light-flooded, 700-square-foot one-bedroom in Long Island City
Day job: Formerly a digital-marketing exec, now a full-time content creator
On starting his account
Around three years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, I was pondering my next career steps. I’d been the head of growth at a start-up for years and was thinking about my skills — digital marketing, graphic design — and how I could apply them to my personal interests in a way that served as an additional portfolio. Through work, I’d been interacting with content creators for over ten years, so Instagram felt like a familiar outlet to explore on my own. I didn’t start a new account; I just started posting more often on my personal page, which had around 2.5K followers at the time. I wanted to start with a broad category and ultimately landed on interiors, architecture, and furniture. My goal was to post two to three times a week, and in doing so, test strategies for visual storytelling, hashtags, brand tags, and location tagging. My account started to gain traction soon after I started to post more seriously, but the first “big” month was September 2021, when my audience doubled from 3.5K to 7K. I knew I’d found content that people wanted.
On what it means to go viral
In the history of my channel, I’ve had a few posts that could be called “viral,” but the vast majority of my posts have just been very consistent — and that’s strategic. That said, my most viral Reel was on Instagram last August. I posted about the projector we use instead of a TV, which has around 6 million plays and more than 300K likes.
On beginning to earn income
It started in November 2021, shortly after my account crossed 10K followers — a benchmark for many brands. One thing people don’t always think about: Brands and agencies are run by living, breathing people who have individual preferences and consume content outside of work. A lot of conversations I’ve had with brands started because someone on their team discovered my content in their personal life and then, later, thought I would be a good fit for a campaign.
Kaiyo, a resale-furniture site, was one of the first brands to approach me. It offered a combination of product stipend and pay. Since I had worked on the brand side in the past, I knew how to negotiate a rate based on data about my account’s engagement. My plan from the beginning was to keep my day job until I could fully match my cash compensation on social media. That finally happened when I reached 220K followers across platforms and consistently brought in two brand deals per month, along with additional UGC (user-generated content) projects for brands. I left my job and transitioned to content full-time last year.
On the perks and perils of the free-stuff economy
Many of my first campaigns were gifted offerings, including a small campaign I did with the Getty museum to promote its store. I was given a product stipend so I could choose the items to feature, and I mostly bought art books. We move books around regularly as a way of changing how our apartment looks; they’re all books we have read and are interested in. Getty later purchased licensing rights to the content so they could use it in advertising. Since then, we’ve been lucky to add some dream pieces to our home from brands that had been on our personal wish lists prior to sharing our home online. One thing I want to mention for anyone who has stumbled into becoming a creator: If a brand gives you a product in exchange for a post, you still owe taxes on that. So creators should always be a little wary about accepting a product in exchange for work, because it will technically cost you money to post about that item — especially if it’s an expensive electronic product, piece of art, or furniture.
On feeding the content machine full-time
It can sometimes be a challenge to come up with new ideas. I have to get creative with how I move things around in our apartment. I’ve also expanded into posting about my other niche interests and hobbies, including coffee, watches, and some tech. I take a very analytical approach to coming up with post ideas based on what gets the most engagement, meaning likes, comments, and shares. On Instagram you can view Story reshares and see which slides people shared the most in their public Stories. I’ll also note what people are asking about in the comments and then do another post based on that. Recently, I posted about my new bookshelves, and people kept asking about my vintage wine holder, so I did a follow-up post on it.
On fitting content creation into his schedule
I try to structure working on my account within regular nine-to-five weekday hours. Basically, my wife, Annie, who works as a menswear designer, goes to work and then the apartment turns into my office. If occasionally she wants to be in a post with me, then we are doing it during “us time” on a weekend or weeknight, when we both actively choose to do that. I also try to batch my shooting into two days a week, so I don’t have to keep our apartment pristine while we have other life things going on. At times we have boxes, textiles, or furniture in our hallway or shoved in other areas of our home, waiting to be shot. We are pretty neat people without a lot of clutter, but have limited space and little storage.
On maintaining some privacy in an Instagram apartment
Annie is fine with me sharing the apartment we’ve curated together. I have a strict line that I set when it comes to the content I produce, though. Everything I share is about my taste, preferences, and curation, rather than about me or us as individuals. People tell us that they love our space, but they don’t feel as though they know us as people. If this line was crossed, it would be a different story, since my work producing content would bleed far into our personal lives. Some things in our posts are obscured so you can’t tell exactly where we live, for safety reasons. I also never show our closets, mostly because they’re just not interesting. Now, if a brand were to partner with us to rework them, awesome. But for now, there are a couple areas that don’t always need to be presentable.
On his best tips for small-space dwellers
Focus on finding pieces that are flexible. We have a dining table that expands from console size to fit 10 to 12 people. And we have chairs that can be used for both dining and lounging. Using display ledges for art, or buying similarly sized pieces that you can rotate throughout your space, lets you totally change how a room looks in minutes. And if you’re not a high-volume TV watcher, get a projector and portable screen rather than a TV. This gives you so much more flexibility in your layout and what you can do with your space.
The influencer with thrifty hacks for the “rented mansion” lifestyle
Name: Carly Fuller
Handle: @mycityapartment, 173K followers on Instagram
Apartment: A 450-square-foot prewar two-bedroom walk-up in Hell’s Kitchen
Day job: Apartment stager and interior-design associate
On starting her account
In 2014, my roommate told me she was moving out, and my boyfriend, who is now my fiancé, moved in. I was so excited to decorate — I’d always imagined what I would do if an entire apartment was mine (“mine” to a point, since I rent). I wanted to share what I was doing on Instagram, but I was embarrassed. Most of my followers were people I used to know or barely knew. So I started a new account and kept it a secret. The first posts were of my bedroom’s floral wallpaper and my kitchen, which had black-and-white-striped walls. One day, my boyfriend saw me switch Instagram accounts on my phone and said, “What’s that?!” That’s when he found out. Then Apartment Therapy featured me in 2018 and my friends found out. But I still never tell anyone I have this account.
On developing her brand
I’m English, and my friends think my accent gives me a huge advantage. I also think people can relate to the fact that my apartment is a tiny walk-up versus influencers in huge three-bedroom apartments. I show how I go to work, stop at the grocery on the way home, and then climb the stairs. People relate to all of it.
My follower count grew slowly over many years. It was exciting when I finally hit 10K because I could start using swipe-up links. Then, every time a publication featured me or a bigger influencer linked to me, I gained a couple thousand followers. Shelby from @PrettyInthePines shared one of my Reels. She thought nothing of it, but for me it was huge.
On her first viral Reel
In December 2023, I made a video on a rainy day in NYC — just a quick vlog of me coming home and cozying up — and I used the opening song from the movie Curly Sue. It got 2.8 million views; I’d never gotten close to that before. I think it was a combination of the nostalgic music and people loving my tiny apartment.
You get a thrill when a post does well. It’s addictive. The next Reel I made, showing all the projects I did in 2023, went viral as well, 1.8 million views. Then one post I made based on a joke about not getting your deposit back reached 4.1 million views — my highest ever, but I don’t consider it my most popular post, because it got so many negative comments. That was my first taste of trolls.
On how she began earning income
My first sponsorship came from Bulbrite, maybe three years ago. They emailed me — I have my email address in my profile — and asked straightaway what my rates were. I had to ask an influencer friend what I should charge; I think I made between $300 and $500 for that first campaign.
Collaborations slowly came through after that. I don’t have a manager, although I should. I could probably be making three times as much as I am. While I don’t see Instagram as my job, I’m at the point now where I make more money from partnerships than I do from the designers I work for as a stager. One partnership will cover a month’s rent and more. My income varies month to month, and sometimes I take free products as payment. Over the past three months, which has been a slow season, I’ve made between $4,000 and $10,800 per month. Now that I’ve gotten a taste of consistent collaborations and money coming in, I do worry: “Okay, is this going to continue?”
On navigating offers for free stuff
I once joked that my only goal was to get a free sofa. I was using a $300 futon covered in a white sheet for way too long; I like that relaxed vibe, so it worked. Finally, I was offered a couch from Sixpenny, and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve made it.” But I had to turn it down because it was too big for our tiny living room and too wide for the door. That was a low point. I ended up finding a company called Anabei that lets you build a modular sofa with a slipcover. I was about to buy it, but figured I’d email them and see if they’d send it to me. That was the only time I have ever asked for something for free. I wasn’t expecting them to say “yes,” but they replied straightaway and said “sure.” It comes in boxes, is so easy to put together, and is just the most perfect sofa for a small room.
On fitting content creation into her schedule
Every workweek is different: Sometimes, I go to work daily; sometimes I have two days at home. I mostly shoot for my Instagram on weekends, but once in a while I’ll have a weekday where I spend an entire day on it.
For the last couple months, I’ve been posting every two or three days, which feels ideal. If you post every day, people are just over you and swipe past. Sunday is my sweet spot, especially around 5 p.m., because it’s 10 p.m. in England, my second-largest country for followers. During the week, I can never seem to time things right. I think, oh, Wednesday is hump day, people are giving up on life and scrolling on their phones. But no. That’s when my posts will not do well.
On cohabitation in an Instagram apartment
My fiancé thinks it’s great that I’m able to make an income off our home, and luckily, he doesn’t have any opinions when it comes to design. He trusts that whatever I do must look good. Does he feel pressure to keep the place clean for photos and videos? No. I wish he felt like he had to clean up all the time — haha! Our place is an absolute mess 90 percent of the time. If the light is amazing and I’m trying to take a quick photo, I’m clearing away receipts, iPhones, AirPods, cups. I’m always cleaning. Often half the apartment is styled while the other half is a shitshow.
On her best tip for small-space dwellers
When your space is small, it’s tempting to buy itsy-bitsy things: tiny side tables, tiny pieces of art. But I prefer big statement pieces — art that takes up an entire wall, a huge mirror, a tree that goes all the way to the ceiling, curtains hung as high as possible. Visually, these make a space feel grander rather than smaller.
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