Kayla Kane lives in a studio apartment in San Francisco. And while the idea of having a studio apartment in a big city is often romanticized (Carrie Bradshaw, we’re looking at you), let’s just say actually finding one and living there is not always a piece of cake. Apartment hunting is a long and strenuous process, and oftentimes one seemingly minor positive feature can tip the scales and end the search. For Kane, that was an abnormally large closet.
“When I walked into this apartment, I knew within point five seconds that I was going to take it because I saw that the closet was so large,” Kane says.
Post move-in, Kane did something that not many (if any) home creators on social media would do. She turned to her TikTok and Instagram followers for assistance in designing her apartment in a way that maximized her space and showcased her style.
“I always wanted to harp on the fact that I was not an expert. I have zero experience. This is my first apartment I’ve ever lived in by myself, and I feel like a lot of the home creators that are on TikTok and Instagram these days are experts. They’re homeowners. They’re expert DIYers,” says Kane. “And I’m like, ‘I am not that.'”
And so the comments section of her page became a suggestion box, and the replies started rolling in. But it was one recommendation in particular that would change everything — why not turn your closet into your bedroom?
While that may seem a bit reminiscent of Harry Potter’s cupboard under the stairs, it actually works. So much so that Kane’s TikTok went viral, garnering over 20M views.
If breaking the internet isn’t enough to impress, Kane began receiving messages from followers who were following in her footsteps. Even someone in her own building approached her and asked if she was the “closet bedroom girl,” only to reveal that she inspired her to do the same. “It was cool to see. We’re just a bunch of closet bedroom besties now, optimizing space together,” says Kane.
As she began decorating her new bedroom, Kane took another suggestion from her comments that would upgrade her space even further. She added a canopy, which she says turned the space into an adult fort. She eventually coined the room “The Babe Cave.”
“Everybody has the man cave, the bachelor apartments, all these things,” Kane says. “But it’s interesting that women’s apartments don’t have names like that. Nobody says the bachelorette apartment or the bachelorette pad. I don’t know why that is.”
What makes Kane’s content so refreshing is her relatability — her followers, many of which are young females, are just like her. They’re renters, living in large cities, dreaming about a babe cave of their own.
So it’s about more than just a closet-turned-bedroom. It’s about actively sharing how urban living can be hard, but how it can also be manageable with a little help from your friends.
For anyone who’s making a small apartment space work for the first time, Kane’s page is a safe haven to talk about it all. Whether it’s the challenge of having to use every inch of vertical space available (ladders come in handy for this, by the way) or the common issue of having nowhere to put kitchen appliances when they’re not in use (we’re still working on the solution to this one), it’s a judgement-free zone, and all are welcome.
Laura Millar (she/her) is the assistant editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home design. Prior to joining Good Housekeeping in 2024, she wrote for NBC’s TODAY.com where she covered everything from entertainment news to product reviews to pop culture updates.
