38 JANUARY 2 0 1 9
INTERIOR DESIGN
BY ESTELLE PYPER
@ESTIEPYPER
@ESTIE_PYPER
Ilana Silver Mullen and Kristen Mullen tied the knot last
September. Their apartment, aside from being incredibly cozy,
is memory-packed time capsule of their journey as a couple.
For having moved into their brand-new
Long Island City complex not even a
year ago, the Mullens have efficiently
filled the compact one-bedroom.
“We downsized when we moved
here,” Kris said. “So that was a big
redecorating thing. We went from
a two-bedroom small house to a onebedroom,
which is great, but we had to
be smarter about the space.”
They came to LIC from Astoria, where
Ilana lived when she met Kris, who was living
in New Jersey at the time. The couple
eventually moved in together in Astoria,
then made the move to LIC after continuous
bad luck with landlords.
“We just have to live with a management
company for our sanity right now,”
Ilana said.
“Because of our previous situation we
wanted a place that no one’s lived in
before,” Kris added. “We wanted to start
fresh and find the best deal.”
“And then we came across this place
and were like, ‘Oh my God,’” Ilana remembered.
That’s exactly what I said when I walked
into the brand-new building on 39th Avenue.
It’s impeccably clean and well-decorated.
There is a courtyard in the center,
a rooftop, game room, and study space –
what more could a New Yorker want?
COZY &
COMPACT