It?s basically the perfect piece of furniture Unless you?re very lucky, living in New York City means living in a series of apartments of varying sizes and configurations?an itty-bitty studio one year, a super-narrow railroad apartment the next. That makes furniture shopping really difficult; who knows if that amazing couch you bought when you were living in a great one-bedroom will fit in the tiny space you downsize to next year"
This reality is on my mind every time I?m jonesing to buy furniture. I?ve lived in New York for 17 years, and in no fewer than eight apartments in that time, which has led me to seek out pieces that fit certain criteria: Functionality and looks are obviously important, but the biggest factor for me is whether or not something will fit into multiple spaces. And the ability to serve multiple functions is a plus, too. Which is why I felt like I struck gold when I stumbled on Ikea?s once-ubiquitous Expedit shelving system, which has since gotten a slight makeover and is now known as Kallax. I was looking for a bookshelf that would hold more of my (admittedly, way too big) book collection, and my previous storage system?Ikea?s Billy, because what else do you buy when you need cheap, efficient shelves"?wasn?t cutting it.

A post shared by Melissa Pleasants (@cookiejarqueen) on Jun 2, 2017 at 8:33am PDT

The Expedit, however, had everything I was looking for. The third-largest unit (a 2x4), when used vertically, was perfect for hold...