New York City renters are used to giving an inch to get an inch.
Emily Bonani has lived in the city for seven years and has sacrificed space, natural light and storage for a place to call her own. In 2024, however, she made a trade-off for a lower Manhattan apartment by compromising on one very important element: the bathroom.
There, her sink was mounted directly over the toilet, and the only way to use it was to flush the toilet.
“And if you’re thinking, ‘What if I want to flush the toilet, but I don’t want to turn on the sink?’ Well, that’s not an option,” Bonani said in a January TikTok post featuring the room she describes as the “smallest bathroom in NYC.”
Bonani’s TikTok of her bathroom has been viewed over 14 million times and received over 24K user comments on the platform— including from Zillow, the real-estate marketplace.
“The gasp I gasped,” the company replied.
Last October, the 31-year-old ad agency creative lead signed a lease on her first solo apartment, a one-bedroom with the now infamous bathroom she found through StreetEasy for under $2,100 a month. The space was small but had great natural light, a livable layout and a great location.
“Honestly, I just acted quickly on this one because apartment hunting is so stressful,” she tells TODAY.com. “I wasn’t sure what I’d get approved for, and you have to make decisions fast.”
Just as quickly, reality set in.
“I immediately knew I made a mistake,” she says. “I thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done?’”
In an email to TODAY.com, the NYC Department of Buildings stated that no regulations require bathrooms in New York City to meet a specific minimum square footage. Additionally, some pre-war and Loft Law buildings in the city have unconventional bathroom setups, such as bathtubs in the kitchen.
As quirky as it was, the design choice quickly became more than a novelty.
“I don’t blame the apartment, but I definitely got really depressed,” she admits. “I thought, ‘OK, I have to compromise on something to afford a place in New York. I chose the bathroom.’”
Despite the odd layout, Bonani made the most of her space. She even hosted a New Year’s Eve party, squeezing five people into the tiny living room — though she says six would have been impossible.
At some point, her friends gave her powder room a name: “Banana Falls,” a play on her last name, Bonani.
“Every time I had guests over, I would hear them scream from the bathroom,” she said. “I never warned them in advance. Their reactions were always priceless.”
Bonani has since stumbled across her dream apartment and put Banana Falls behind her. Now, she laughs at the experience, describing it as a “funny and memorable” chapter in her renting journey.
Especially since she has leveled up her bathroom game.
“Oh, my God,” she said. “Not only is there a sink, but there’s a bathtub and a window. It’s crazy.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
