Dorothy Parker observed 95 years ago that “you never get used to New York.” However, there are some characteristics to which Big Apple residents will eventually become attracted, like frogs swimming in boiling water. There are trash piles, tourists, subway vermin, and, most importantly, small living spaces.
One Manhattanite was fortunate enough to land her dream home in 2004 – a tiny one-bedroom of 490 square feet in the city’s historic West Village. Though it wasn’t precisely Lilliputian, it offered sylvan views toward lush gardens and redbrick townhouses. It also was a place to rest from the rigors of being a clinical psychologist. After more than two decades in the field, it was time to claim it as her own.
“I loved the location, and I loved the light and the feel of my apartment, always,” the owner says. “It had just been done, you know, without a lot of personal touches.”
To bring her home into its new chapter, the homeowner relied on the team of designers she had hired to develop her psychological practice a few years ago, Method Design and interior designer Nina Barnieh-Blair. “I had so much fun working with all of them, and it was just such a joy that, when it came time for this project, they were people I really trusted and wanted to work with again,” she says.
The key to Method’s plan was to clear the apartment’s floor plan. Although the condo had a row of windows facing north and a bathroom walled off, a galley kitchen obstructed most of the windows. Method Architects, a firm that the client was attracted by its contemporary but warm interiors, took the bathroom wall back and added an open-plan kitchen so that a single corridor light could light the entire house. The apartment’s layout was now in place, and the design redesigned; it was time for Barnieh Blair to make her mark.
Barnieh-Blair, who began her professional career in the industry field in London before moving to New York to pursue interior design, describes her designs as an “emotional and practical response to a space.” “I was brought up in Ghana by my grandmother, and one of the things that I love and that carries on in me is that process of storytelling, this whole idea that a home is actually telling the story of the person who lives there,” she explains.
In this project, the story started to unfold when the client came across an enthralling photograph taken by an artist from Minneapolis, Alec Soth. “I’d seen it a million years ago on Artsy, and it just stuck with me,” she said. “And when we went to Sean Kelly Gallery to see it, I loved it even more.”
“You can always tell in a client’s eyes,” the designer says.
The abstract portrait of a woman before a colander of overly ripe strawberries–subsequently became a linchpin in Barnieh-Blair’s design. The strawberry’s puckered surface is an example. It was turned into a soft pink tufted sofa by Ligne Roset. The bright whites, greens, and golds were brought together in wall weavings by Hiroko Takeda, a mixed media piece of Artist MyoungAe Lee, and a small table for cocktails of Matter Made.
Barnieh Blair also brought the hues of the tree’s canopy to the interior, including an emerald-tiled shower, a built-in storage area in the bedroom, and stools that are part of an island in the kitchen. “Basically, go in and you feel like you are sort of on a roof terrace somewhere,” she states. “We joked internally that we were going to make a modern Parisian treehouse,” the homeowner says.
The newly designed kitchen, complete with crisp white cabinets, copper pendant lighting, and a trio of bar stools, was highly beneficial during the pandemic; according to the client, she formed an intimate group of friends to break up the isolation. It’s still used to its fullest. “[Before the renovation] I never felt great about inviting people over to my apartment,” she explains. “But now I’m able to invite my family and friends to dine with me and even a part of the clinical staff was there enjoying pizza and drinks last evening. Everyone is comfortable walking into on the island.”