View of the Empire State Building from my hotel room
This past week I spent some time in New York City for work. Stayed at the Element on West 39th between 8th and 9th, an “eco-chic” hotel with fabulous green design. Here’s how they describe their eco-chi-chi-ness:
Created to be an oasis of natural light, experience a new kind of NYC hotel with Element New York Times Square West.
With space to live your life, our eco-friendly New York City hotel is fully devoted to helping the environment. Floors feature carpets made from 100% recycled content. Artwork is mounted on bases made from recycled tires. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints improve indoor air quality for guests and team members. In the bathroom guests can choose between a half or full flush and wash up in our low-flow sink faucet.
Not a bad place to stay, all in all, especially for New York.
View from my hotel during the day
Thought I’d share a couple of my fave design elements…
The sink! God, how I loved this sink! So simple, yet so cool! I completely and totally covet this sink! And so much nicer to use than a traditional oval basin – so wide and open. My only complaint would be that I would have liked more counter space, but I was in New York City after all, where space is a luxury.
I probably would have enjoyed the sink even more if the faucet were properly affixed, not leaving a space large enough for a giant sewer rat to climb up and kill me in the night…
Rats are notorious for climbing through small spaces
Fortunately, I was neither wounded nor killed by any rodentia, but seriously? Affix the faucet properly, people!
The room, while small, did have a lovely little kitchenette…
So cute and stylized! Very New York. Upon first look the tile looked awesome! Totally in and stylish. But by the end of my stay I had already grown bored with the look of the glass tiles.
It’s an important thing to consider…how stylized and “in” do you want your more permanent fixtures to be? Seeing this kitchenette was a lesson in erring on the side of classic for me. Make your more stylized pieces the things that are easy to change. Unless you have a lot of money to make frequent updates or a husband who likes to replace tile annually. I have neither. Lol.
All in all, it was a great stay in New York. Made me appreciate all of the space I have at home. While I do feel like I could downsize and get rid of a lot of stuff and square footage, I don’t know that I’m quite ready to move into a studio apartment!
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