Name: Bella
Location: Dumbo, Brooklyn
Size: 1,250 square foot — two-bedroom condo
Years lived in: 1½
Bella, an interior designer, not only set up a new home replete with husband and small child, but she took on a new borough. She is quite happy with all these decisions and since the apartment is a rental, it's a great experiment.
Bella lived in Manhattan, and most often in the East Village, for much of her adult life. As a family, Bella and her husband knew they needed more space. So, they brought most of their existing furniture to Dumbo, spread out, and exhaled.
Bella is practical to a certain extent in anticipation of her son's domestic exploits but for the most part, one would be hard pressed to say that the main living areas are child-centric. The apartment is full of light, and the design is easy-going but sophisticated.
Apartment Therapy Survey
Style: Modern
Inspiration: The neighborhood, the industrial-modern style of the space itself, and our very busy 2 year old son, Paolo.
Favorite Element: well, for one thing I’d never had a washer /dryer in an apartment before so that is pretty awesome, but design wise I love the overall feel of the space — the tones of gray might be boring to some, but since I work with so much color in my day to day decorating world I love the calming combination of grays at home.
Biggest Challenge: My son’s room doesn’t have a window, so I had to make the room feel happy and cheerful without any natural light. The upside? He sleeps like a champ.
What Friends Say: I think most people comment on the light first, and then on the cool painted sign on the old factory building across the street.
Biggest Embarrassment: Gosh, the milk stains on the silk carpet are pretty embarrassing. So is my bedroom dresser, which is falling apart. I am pretty much the living example of the cobbler without shoes.
Proudest DIY: The text on my son’s wall. It was all my husband’s idea and doing, and I think it’s really just so sweet. I also love our chalkboard wall. We’ve all seen it done a million times, but I think it looks cool and it’s super useful with our crazy busy lives.
Biggest Indulgence: The living room rug (the one with milk stains all over it).
Best Advice: I approach interior design the same way I approach pulling together a wardrobe: I spend way too much on coats, bags and shoes, but I buy a lot of my clothes at J Crew and Zara. My advice is to spend money on key pieces in classic shapes that you will want to have for a long while and experiment with less expensive things like lamps, pillows, and other accessories. That, and ultrasuede is a fantastic fabric choice for sticky little fingers.
Dream Source: Maxalto, BB Italia, and BDDW. I would love to have a Maxalto sofa and a super slick BB Italia Flat C wall unit. I’d also take just about anything from BDDW.
Resources:
Living Room
- • Pierre sofa: Room
• Dunbar chair: Room
• Wassily chairs: Knoll
• Saarinen coffee table: Knoll
• TV unit: Desiron
• Rug: Carini Lang
• Floor lamp: Ligne Roset
• Bookshelves: IKEA
• Murano lamp: vintage
• Throw pillows: West Elm
Dining Room
• Dining table: CB2
• Pony chairs: CB2
• Credenza: Baxter and Liebchen
• Lamps: Christopher Spitzmiller
Bedroom
- • Bed: Room and Board
• Nightstands, dresser, and desk armoire: Crate and Barrel
• Tall cabinets: IKEA
• Bedside lamps: vintage and Jielde
• Rug: Carini Lang
• Bedding: Matteo + John Robshaw
• Throw pillows: Fornasetti
To see even more of their home, check out Bella Goes Healthy on the theKitchn.com
Images: Jill Slater
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Comments (30)
Jill-- Your photos just keep getting better and better. The bar is set HIGH for us other House Tour-ers (he says, nervously!)
I love the centerpiece on the dining table and I've been looking for a tall silver container just like it for my dining table but for the life of me I can't come up with the actual name of what that is. Vase, clalice, hurricane, urn, none of those words seem like the right word. Help! What is that thing called?
You know, it's nice...but I can't put my finger on what I'm feeling is missing. First the good stuff: I do LOVE the main living room, and that rug is sumptuous. Kudos to the calm way she talks about the milk stains on that silk rug, because I am sure I would have snapped and would still be snapping. This is also the first chalkboard wall I've seen that I think is done well, and makes me want one. I think after viewing the main, shared spaces, something just kind of falls off for me. The rest of the home doesn't look as polished as the opening scene, somehow. Not that it has too, but it just leaves me feeling a little unfulfilled- maybe the place just isn't finished yet?
I think it's beautiful.. would like to see a little more color in the living room (a side table or maybe paint the bookshelves), but I really think she has great taste. Love the kitchen.
i love the iconic furnishings, but those parts seem greater than the whole
gorgeous!!
You have done a great job with your space - it looks lived in and all perfect. Love that you have a corner for the toys too - we all do :-) I wish I had a place like yours.
Pi - It's a champagne bucket!
Very nice!
Nice apartment! I love the furniture. I was wondering if you could share where you got the great looking vintage wall unit...
love this tour! unlike most that draw me in, it is not the style i normally gravitate to, nor did it have any standout "oh-my-gosh-i-wish-i-owned-that" pieces. and lacking those 2 things makes me love it as a whole even more.
love the entry wall wall unit. love the vase as necklace storage. gorgeous details throughout.
I am agreeing with MsDonnaGirl here. It's nice, and the furniture and rugs, etc. are certainly beautiful... but it just doesn't come together for me somehow. It's not something that I can put my finger on, though. Plus, that gnome is a major turn-off, and the towels in the bathroom look like they're going to fall onto the next person who sits on the toilet.
Thanks for all the nice comments. I bought the vintage wall unit from a store called Vintage Thrift Shop on 3rd ave (in the 20's) nearly ten years ago. Sadly, it was back in the day you could buy good Danish furniture without breaking the bank. Definitely check them out...they get some great pieces in from time to time.
I agree with the owner, I do find the grey boring and think it could use a couple more pops of color. I do love the pops of color and quirky items already found in the home, such as the gnome. You bedroom pillows are also fantastic.
Fantastic. What a great, serene yet thoughtful environment for the child (and mother) to grow up in. Brava!
By the way, I love the gnome. If you're going to do whimsey, do it once and with a bang. Thank you for not dragging down the look of the place with thoctchkies. One silly gnome is fine. I bet there's a story that goes with him, too. Well done.
A fun tour. This is the second time that I liked seeing someone's jewelry collection. This is how to do it right and make it interesting. Everything is beautifully composed. Love the bed especially.
I always love to see 'family' homes on AT because for some of us mere mortals, it's difficult to stay true to your style after the little ones come along. The comedy 'Absolutely fabulous'n did a whole programme on a minimalist couple who have a baby and loose the plot.... brilliant.
Anyway, yes, lovely to see real life happening for a small family in a two bedroom apartment. And will panache
Sorry for all the typo's it's bed time here...
'with Panache'
Love it just the way it is.
really like ur table lamps, the white ones in dining and turquoise one.
This apartment makes me feel as if my best friend lived in it - I love it! So non pretentious for someone who makes a living as an interior designer, just beautiful and lived in and not staged for the house tour. Bella, kudos for staying real and true to self...
p.s. - love the gnome!
I like this apartment although it feels a little cold. Although I shouldn't say cold but un-warm if that makes sense. I think it is b/c it is not cluttered with furniture and "stuff" and b/c it looks so clean, something I strive for and occasionally give up on post dog ownership. I say the more you own the more you have to dust.
That said, this apartment reminds me of my apartment pre the dog and before I bought a house where I could paint the walls. An entire place of white or, in what was my case, beige walls, can certainly take away from the warmth of a place. Even still I like it.
And I REALLY want a brown Wassily chair.
dining room table looks like what we keep desperately looking for w/o any luck anywhere near our price range - can we find out the details on this one? love it!
Love it!
I also somewhat agree with MsDonnaGirl. Maybe its the lack of kid's toys in the LR? Great photography, too.
Which Ikea bookshelves are those? Really wonderful post and great photography
Who is the manufacturer for the ventilation hood?
I want that bathroom. So clean & modern looking.Tres' chic.
Those ugly garage pendant lights have to go. They ruin the light & airy mood of the whole room.
As long as I live I will never like book shelves in a living room. I've seen few that don't look like college tacky.
my favorites: the kitchen, the big chalkboard wall and the master bedroom. very pretty condo.
Quite lovely!