Inside Houzz: Starting From Scratch in a Manhattan Apartment

David Schiff just wanted to start over. After 10 years of accumulating furniture and accessories since college, he didn’t feel like the collected arrangement fit with his lifestyle as a globe-trotting, New York City–based management consultant for McKinsey & Company. So as he was about to move into a new one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, he gave away everything he had until he was left with only his clothes and a mattress.

With only a handful of months until he moved in, Schiff needed someone to help him define his style and choose new … well, everything: sofa, bed, rugs, lighting, even silverware and towels. “I wasn’t sure I knew enough about what I wanted or what existed, and I didn’t have the time and creativity to find the pieces,” he says. “So I needed help creating something in its entirety, not something built over time.”

Structurally, the apartment was in good shape. Previous homeowners had done architectural modifications to the point that Schiff only needed to spackle the walls, change out the bathroom cabinet and redo the bedroom closet slightly.

What he really needed was help decorating. He searched on Houzz for modern designers in New York City, filtering by Best Match and Most Reviewed. He looked at hundreds of profiles that popped up, read blurbs and reviews, and examined pictures. “From there I narrowed it down to 12 designers that I set up initial calls with to get a sense of what they were like and how they could help me through this process,” he says.

He landed on Lucy Harris. “I liked her style and loved that she’d done stuff in hospitality and restaurants as well as homes,” Schiff says. “I thought that was a cool combination in solving different types of problems.”

He shared his ideabooks with Harris to give her a sense of the style he gravitates toward. “I was trying to understand my own style,” he says. “I didn’t know how to articulate it. The back-and-forth with ideabooks helped.”

Based on those images, the pair arrived very quickly at a modern style with clean lines and everything neat and tucked away. Harris put together a style plan, and they mapped out what was the most important thing for each space in the apartment.

Schiff wanted the living room to be a big, open space where he could work, watch TV and have a bunch of friends over before going out to a bar. He was adamant about leaving his college dorm days behind. “I wanted an aesthetically pleasing environment,” he says. “Not a silly space for a bunch of guys to sit in.”

He’s not home very often, and he wanted a place that he could walk into and it’d feel nicely put together without a lot of ongoing effort.

Sofa: Lazy Time, Camerich; chair: Wassily, Knoll; rug: Safavieh; light: Noguchi


Harris helped pick out all the small accessories as well, choosing abstract sculptural pieces that complemented the scale of the things surrounding them. “That’s how I like to create visual interest,” she says. “Each piece is like part of a painting.”

When she found some accessories she liked, Harris emailed Schiff the photos wherever he was in the world. “He eventually came back and said, ‘Let’s get them all,’” Harris says. “At that point he trusted my judgment.”

Wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore


Because of the large, bulky table the previous owners had in the dining room, Schiff was skeptical that the space could function the way he wanted. But Harris assured him she could make it work. A smaller table without chairs at the end freed up the space.

Because this is the view that you see upon entering the apartment, Harris wanted to add something that would grab attention. Schiff nixed having a rug here, so the designer came back with a larg rusted iron cage light fixture that wouldn’t obscure views out the windows. “I was afraid it was going to be too big,” she says. “I love big lighting, so for me to be afraid, that meant it was big. But it works great.”

Schiff agrees. “She showed me how to actually think about lighting,” he says. “It adds the extra level of detail and makes the place pop.”

The pair worked together on finding the artwork, but Schiff deferred to Harris’ judgment when he wasn’t sure. “She was the angel on my shoulder saying whether something was good or bad,” he says.

Artwork: Gotz Goppert



To keep the neat and tidy look, storage was key. And because time was a factor, Harris couldn’t source pieces from overseas. Instead she sought places with in-stock items that were ready to ship. One of her go-tos is USM, where she got this black console. “It’s all made in Switzerland, but they stock a lot of it in the U.S.,” she says. “It’s a great place for media units.”



Schiff saw a photo of a freestanding cabinet that holds liquor bottles and wanted something similar. Harris tracked down the builder, but he was all the way in Texas and couldn’t meet the tight deadline. Harris found a local millworker to build a similar unit. The white portion on the top opens to reveal liquor bottles, while the white portion on the face slides away to store glasses.

Artwork: Brian Leighton


The pragmatism continues in the bedroom. “All I need is a bed, a nightstand to put books and a cell phone on, and a way to read in bed,” Schiff says.

Harris delivered with a bed upholstered in dark gray, a walnut-wrapped geometric side table and a cool arm sconce. The latter gave Schiff pause. “I was unsure of it, but I said, ‘Lucy, I trust you, and I’m sure it will look nice.’ I felt like I was in great hands, and everything looks cool when all is said and done. I just couldn’t visualize things. And that’s why I wanted to go with someone like Lucy to help.”

Bed: Camerich; sconce: Flos; bedding: Matteo; wall paint: custom mix, about 25 percent Super White and 75 percent Silver Streak, both by Benjamin Moore



The unit overlooks Broadway and Astor Place, a well-trafficked spot.

Thanks to Harris’ help, Schiff has a home full of put-together furnishings, as well as new silverware, napkins, bedsheets and linens. “Literally everything,” Schiff says. “We went to the store together to shop for towels.”

He’s “incredibly happy” with the place, he continues. “I didn’t know what I was getting into and what it was like to work with a designer. But I’m happy with what Lucy did. I can’t imagine getting another space without her help.”



More:
Read about another design match made on Houzz
Find an interior designer or other home pro near you
See how to contact an architect, designer or remodeler and get your project going

URL: Inside Houzz: Starting From Scratch in a Manhattan Apartment http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-22955.html