Budget Breakdown: Two Furniture Designers Set Up Shop in Brooklyn for $25K—Plus Rent

When designers Ben Kicic and Emilio Halperin first toured this 500-square-foot studio in Brooklyn’s Bed Stuy neighborhood, one of the windows fell out of its socket and onto the floor. Lucky for the broker trying to close the deal, the window was just one of the 33 that wrap around the space. And through them Ben and Emilio caught sight of a pretty spectacular view of Manhattan’s skyline. "That was enough," Emilio says, looking out at that same vista two years later. "It’s so cool."