This is a very private unit with the perfect layout. my coworker and I stayed at Marlene's unit for 4 weeks, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We were in town for 6 weeks and didn't find this place until 2 weeks after staying at several hotels in lesser areas. we were so glad to have found this unit in a fairly peaceful and relaxing neighborhood. Our commute to Brooklyn was easy, and because of it's proximity to La Guardia airport, our car rental was literally a block away. walking distance we have a McDonald's on the corner, and a bagel deli 4 blocks down. laundry is also on the corner, same street. it was always a pleasure to come home to this place after spending all day in a super busy and hectic Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
As for the unit itself, the layout is perfect. While the family lives on the bottom floor, the upstairs is split into two rentals, one on each side of the upstairs landing, which is accessed by a private side entrance and an interior stairwell. Our 2 bedrooms are next to each other at the back corner of the house, so you won't hear the other unit when you're sleeping or in bed. the kitchen separates the bedrooms and the bathroom, so when we also never hear each other use the bathroom. I'm going to guess that the adjacent units bathrooms are back to back with ours. the two units are split by an insulated wall, but I could hear them if we were sitting in the kitchen, but never enough to bother us.
The kitchen is the main living area, with a fridge, gas range, microwave, and coffee maker, which we used religiously. a small dining table which could seat 4 was primarily used by myself and my coworker as a office desk.
Each room had an end table and a full closet to hang our clothes and a shelf that runs the width of the closet to store our items. one bedroom has a memory foam mattress, the other has a standard spring mattress. the pillows and blankets were nice, and each room including the kitchen has its own wall mounted air conditioning unit that worked great.
The only 2 mirrors in the unit are hung very low. my roommate and I are both 6 feet / 6'2" and we would have to completely stoop over to use the mirror. I have a feeling whoever hung the mirror is about 5'3. lol. not a big deal, but I only ever saw my chin or shoulders in the mirror. the vanity is small on counter space, but there is a shelf next to the vanity that has plenty of storage space for our toiletries. the bathroom had 2 sets of towels and a blow-dryer that we never used. The water pressure isn't the best, but it is adequate. Some days the water came out too hot, some days a bit cold. I always took a shower at night. my roommate always took his in the morning. I didn't ask how his experience was, but maybe more people used the hot water at night.
all in all, Marlene was a fantastic host. we prearranged parking with her on the property as a separate transaction, and it worked out perfect. it would be near impossible to find parking out front in this neighborhood otherwise.
I would definitely stay here again. As a professional traveling across the states working in different cities month in month out, it was a great New York experience.