But you can’t have everything, even when you’re living high. Ms. Leyva has firsthand knowledge of this. Several years ago, during a stint in Riverdale — “which is still the Bronx, a little fancier, but still the Bronx” — she lived in a penthouse with a large kitchen, an expansive terrace and a great view.

Her first night in residence, Ms. Leyva turned on the lights in the kitchen and saw cockroaches by the score. “It was the grossest thing,” she said. “I cried and stayed up all night with the lights on. I had to get the dishwasher removed in order to get rid of them.”

The incident left its mark. Before moving into the building on the Upper West Side, Ms. Leyva petitioned the super and the management company to let her go into the apartment late at night and flick the lights on and off a few times to make sure she had no freeloading roommates.

“They were like, ‘No, you can’t do that,’” she said. “But when I moved in, everything was good.”

It still is. Ms. Leyva used the move to the Lincoln Square neighborhood as a chance to wipe the slate clean. “I was able to get rid of lots of furnishings that had the energy of certain other times of my life,” she said. “When I was married, I lived with someone who loved a lot of color. The place was busy and eccentric. Now that I have my own space, I have exactly what I want: white walls.”