An Upper East Side NYC Apartment Decorated Bit by Bit Gets Tweaked With New Lighting!
A twelve year decorating project
in New York City culminates with
today's small tweaks to add drama
a tiffany blue master bedroom (above),
and (below) my daughter's bedroom is a fresh, celery green
We moved into this apartment in 2006 when we renovated and decorated the 2,700 square foot apartment in New York City. It is located in a pre-war building and boasts high ceilings, architectural detailing, a fireplace and moldings that harken to another era, however, due to the apartments location within the interior of the building only a few rooms have good, natural light. This could be a deal breaker for many dwellers, however, in New York City we make concessions. For us, the room sizes and the location across from Central Park took precedence. With a railroad shaped apartment, I knew there would be some challenges but I also knew it would be a great family apartment in this prime location.
We topped off the 12-years of decorating by changing lighting from traditional brass chandeliers/sconces to new modern fixtures and lamp shades.
Today, we changed out the traditional white shirred lampshades on these porcelain chinoiserie ginger jar lamps throughout the living room and hallway with lacquered black paper drum shades lined in gold. We added new bubble sconces and coordinating chandelier in a matte brass finish and opaque white glass globes. The black lamp shades focus the light in a more dramatic way and create a mood in the room that feels warm and sophisticated, then set against the emerald green walls, the large floral black mirror I picked up years ago at Treillage (Bunny Williams' former garden shop), my American pottery collection in eggshell colors, the changes are dramatic!
We started the design in 2006 when we moved in and knocked down a wall and painted the entire apartment with vibrant, dramatic colors from Pratt & Lambert, Benjamin Moore and Fine Paints of Europe paints. The living room is emerald, the bedrooms are tiffany blue, celery and navy. I divided the large dining room in half to create two rooms, and wallpapered the dining room with a Brunschwig & Fils tone-on-tone floral wallpaper, and this gave my then middle school aged son a nice, cozy bedroom we originally painted a light color.
this navy makes the room feel cozy and inviting.
In 2010, we re-painted my son's bedroom this new color, Benjamin Moore Blueberry, which is a navy but with a bit more punch. The darker color ironically makes the room feel larger. In 2015 we renovated the outdated kitchen (which hadn't been updated since the 1970s) with new subway tile, all new appliances, a new farmhouse sink in stainless steel, a brizo touch faucet, new kitchen cabinetry and a new floor. We kept the kitchen white to keep it modern and fresh, especially with an otherwise colorful apartment.
a complete kitchen renovation in 2015
Sometimes the smallest of decorating can have big impact!
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
