Begin Again

With our new logo, and a tiny book coming, too, some timely info about your ATA subscription, as well as a few reminders of what home + YOU mean to me.

For some reason, I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately. Conversations about home and life and getting older, and also trying to describe what success and/or HAPPINESS means to me, particularly at this stage of life.

Inevitably, these conversations go back to 2005, the year I started my former company with my co-founders. And when I share with whomever I’m talking to that what we were building in the beginning really didn’t become what it was destined to become until about five years deep into the journey, it (still) stuns me. Even now, 21 years later, as I’m four years in here at A Tiny Apt., building something new…again.

Photo by Jen Steele

I started this newsletter in 2022—two years after leaving the company that had been my life for 15 years, 3.5 years after having my daughter, two years after buying a very weird mid-century pediatrician’s office upstate, w/land to spare + a loosey-goosey dream to turn it into something.

In that time, I’ve learned that this business of dreaming + turning nothings into somethings is what I do and like best. Dwelling in the beginning, mismatched, clumsy part of something new that is just at the start of revealing itself. And it takes some time, patience, and real FAITH to allow it to become what it’s becoming. ❤️

This newsletter “in your hands” is the product of that ceaseless love I have for seeking out and marveling over the small, beautiful bits that make life more interesting—more memorable, cozier, cooler. And in that process of noticing, we begin to know ourselves and what we deeply love more, too. That journey of connecting with what turns us on—in our space, our style, and everything else (ie: vintage/secondhand + the stories that go w/them:) form the bones of this newsletter. The foundation and True North of what we’re building here, stuff that continually sparks our curiosity in design and why something is worth appreciating/collecting in the first place.

I started “writing” A Tiny Apt. long before I actually started writing: It began with my affection for our tiny Brooklyn apartment, for its proportions, its economy of scale, its light, its knack for soothing me in the dark times and replenishing me when I needed it most. A Tiny Apt. is a place (my home) and a newsletter (OUR home), but it’s also a reminder to us (me especially!!) that the most extraordinary things start small. With steps. With a corner. With a sliver of light. With old things that can teach us about history, craft, and people we never met 🥹. A Tiny Apt. is our weekly newsletter, but it is also a little drumbeat…that nudge to step forward into these unknown worlds with a sense of awe and trust. Because there’s always something beautiful to be found there.

Ordinary = Extraordinary.

A NEW ATA LOGO—A few months ago, I felt a nudge to stretch out and revisit the bones of what we’re building here, so what you get in your in-box every week is reliably something you LOVE + look forward to, something that makes your days richer, often in small ways.

Some of the early font/typography explorations w/Evelyn that led to our new ATA logo…sticking with uppercase sans serif for its presence AND elegance. And adding a slash so we can play with space, expanding and contracting depending on the situation and mood…just like we do with our homes, outfits, kitchen cabinets, etc.

With my great friend + former colleague Evelyn Zhang—a genius who generously indulges my (unhinged!!) fixation with vintage typography + graphics—we refreshed + refined our little logo in a way that feels big. Which (of course!) prompted a full audit of the ATA editions we’ve loved most and figuring out how to make space for MORE of that, such as…

• (Tiny) Home Tours—w/fascinating people + spaces that give us all these unexpected ideas we can pin to our walls + try ourselves. (The below is a snapshot of a Tiny Tour I just shot that’s coming in a few weeks…I can’t wait!)

• Smart Guides to Useful Things—like storage, mirrors, graphic blankets, stuff that’s really worth buying + keeping that makes our worlds more personal and efficient.
• Personal Style Advice—w/seasonal outfit primers, closet staples, fun styling moves, as well as the designers + brands I LOVE.
• Thrifting + Life Learnings—because we’re always discovering new stuff about history, legendary design, AND ourselves. (I wrote the below story soon after I launched here, and I think I might re-publish it…I needed to revisit these steps, too).

18 Gems of Small Space “Wisdom”

• Renovation Confessions—we spent the past four years building a straw panel cabin, and this summer we’ll start renovating the 1964 doctor’s office that came with the Land.

Above, Phoebe in the doctor’s office/AKA: The Dr.’s Inn:), where we’ve been “camping” as we’ve been building the cabin. Below, snapshots of the space (note the co-pay signs 👀) and me + Raf just a few months before we bought it, as well as inspiration for what will come next.

• A TINY GUIDE TO THRIFTING—Since I really wanted to read and share one, I wrote a pocket-sized manual for US and all your thrifting adventures to come (w/room for notes in the back 🥰). This mini tome is a neat collection of inspiration and all my favorite tips, lucky totems about why thrifting is so sacred, energizing, and worth doing….often. Evelyn and I are taking meetings w/printers now and still in the throes of designing it (below, some cover mocks:). We’ll be printing this 5”x7” booklet in a limited run, so stay tuned for more info 🔜.

With our new logo, our first tiny companion book, and so many wonderful stories in the works comes a reminder of my promise to make this newsletter as solid and special as it can be. A Tiny Apartment is my full-time job, and all the work I do + partnerships I take on go toward making ATA something you look forward to—something that adds value to your space, your eye, and your mood.

Starting next week: Paid subscriptions will increase to $80/annually or $7/monthly. As a reminder, Free subscribers receive one newsletter a month; Paid subscribers have access to:

🎯 5+ stories a month, including our most popular series like Micro Wardrobe, Tiny Tours, and the kick-off of our mid-century doctor’s office renovation 🏠
🎯 Our full story archive—250+ pieces + signature TINY resources like our guide to storage or excellent lamps, ultimate secondhand grail searches, building our 650 sf upstate cabin, our upcoming renovation, mini makeovers, essays, and more
🎯 First access to our limited-run A Tiny Guide to Thrifting pocket book
🎯 Flash vintage sales, giveaways, and our Absolutely Free sales
🎯 Our ATA members-only chat, where we share vintage finds, advice + connection
🎯 Posting comments—share your ideas w/the rest of us

If you’re already a paid subscriber to A Tiny Apt., you don’t need to do anything—you’re locked in at the current price:). If you’re a Free subscriber, this week will be your last chance to subscribe at our current $60 annual rate (for life) before the increase on May 11. To celebrate this next era of ATA, we’re ALSO making a limited run of totes! I’ll be choosing 5 existing Paid subscribers and 5 newly upgraded members at random to receive one fresh logo tote each. Because if you know me + A Tiny Apt., we’re always going to have a tiny giveaway❤️.

For summer thrifting, grocery hauling, and weekends someplace MAGICAL.

CB/ATA AMA!!!🖋️

Lastly, ASK ME ANYTHING: I want to hear from you—What do you want to read about here? What are you loving lately? What would you like to see more/less of? Drop your questions in the comments, and I’ll be answering as they come in. Feel free to ask me as much as you want about anything…I’m here for it ALL.

I’m so excited for what’s to come with YOU, this summer, this year…anything is possible. ❤️…xxCb/ATA