Based on the article, it looks like she spent about $1600 in total between the blocks and other items - not much savings there. Creative, sure, but I don't know how practical it is for most people.

Also, the article mentions that she wasn't allowed to install anything that had a door or reached to the ceiling. To me that sounds like a fire safety thing rather than a random rule (although I'm not an expert, so who knows), which makes this block wall questionable at best. I get wanting some extra space, but is what she got worth the safety and/or lease violation risks?

This is an Advertorial. It’s an ad made to look like some kind of story.

That's not even an unreasonable price. Especially in NYC. For something like that I would've quoted around 1.5k and I live in northern europe.