A mom has amazed the internet after she shared how their family of 12 live together in a New York City apartment.
Amber de la Motte, 43, has 10 children and the whole family lives in a 3,000 square foot unit in New York.
In a TikTok video with over 5 million views, Amber shared how the family live in the apartment in the top three floors of a brownstone building.
“Our home has six bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms and a backyard,” the mom told Newsweek. “Our boys share two of the rooms and the girls share two of the rooms. In the two smaller bedrooms we put pull-down Murphy bunk beds so that the beds can fold into the wall during the day—so that there is enough room to play and practice. We use the sixth bedroom as a common play area and LEGO room.”
thehappycaravan/TikTok
New York City is the most densely populated major city in the U.S. with a population of more than 8.8 million people over 300 square miles.
But living in the city isn’t cheap. According to apartment-hunting service Rent Hop, the average rental price for a studio apartment in the city is $3,300, while a four-bedroom home stretches to nearer $7,000 per month.
But the family knew they wanted to live in the city, and found a way to make it work for them.
“We chose NYC because of the musical opportunities this city affords our children,” Amber said. “This city has some of the best music teachers and schools in the world. Many of our children’s teachers are based at The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, and they take lessons throughout the week, so being close was really important.”
In the viral video, the mom shows TikTok users around the apartment, where each child has their own sleeping space, and there is plenty of storage for clothes and toys.
The family moved to the city from San Francisco and were impressed when they found the apartment rental that would suit their large family with ease.
“We were blessed to rent from an extremely thoughtful family that had originally remodeled the home for their needs. It just happened to be a perfect space for our family,” Amber said. “We saw the listing online when we were still living in San Francisco. We were given a virtual tour, then we applied, and after about a week, we heard that the owners had chosen us! We were elated because we had been looking for months and hadn’t seen anything nearly as perfect for our family.”
The family says their home is a “great blessing,” and especially love the little backyard for the children to play and interact with nature.
“The children study classical music and having a number of bedrooms means everyone has a place to practice. In the Bay Area—where we lived before this—the kids often had to practice at the park because there weren’t enough bedrooms,” said the mom. “So this feels like a miracle of a situation. The city itself is so full of life and excitement—and it’s all just a subway ride away. We’re super grateful for that.”
Viewers of the viral video were amazed by Amber’s family home.
“I can’t even imagine the price of such a large apartment. It’s beauty,” said one.
Another TikToker wrote: “The fact everyone has their OWN beds…impressive.”
A third added: “Beautiful family, looks very cozy.”
