Name: Isabella & Jay
Location: Inwood, New York City
Size: 775 square feet
Years lived in: 1½ years
Isabella is awed by the lobby of her extraordinarily art deco building, but in the transition from a studio in Hell's Kitchen to a large one-bedroom on the northern tip of Manhattan, she aimed for a 'beachy' feel inside her and her husband's home!
Inspired by a trip to the Mediterranean Sea, Isabella painted the bedroom ceiling a deep azure blue and lined the living room windows in a bright playful yellow. Isabella's intent was to harness the flood of sunlight that fills the apartment every day and convey the impression of being on vacation all the time!
As the founder of a new interior design firm, Isabella uses her home as a canvas for new ideas. "My husband comes home from work and expects everything to be different," explains Isabella. Frustrated by a limited budget, Isabella accepts her home as a work in progress. She is intent on maintaining her vision and not making compromises while she waits to be able to afford 'the perfect piece.'
Having lived in a studio with her husband for a few years, Isabella tries to remain rigorous about not amassing unnecessary stuff. But with this many closets, it's very very tempting.
Check out Isabella's kitchen tour on thekitchn.com.
Apartment Therapy Survey
Style: Elegant, comfortable, playful, chic. The key is mixing styles, textures, colors, shapes, light and finishes to achieve a harmonious balance.
Inspiration: Travel, Parisian apartments, mid-century and Scandinavian designs, natural materials, city-living, and bold colors in unexpected places.
Favorite Element: The deep blue ceiling in the bedroom and the lemony-limey curtains in the living room make me happy everyday. I love using carefully curated blues and greens together.
Biggest Challenge: Working around things we cannot afford to change such as almost everything in the kitchen, especially the backsplash. The solution: place artwork in the kitchen, which reminds me – every room is worthy of artwork – kitchen, bathroom, hallways – any space with which you will interact deserves the same design considerations as more “lofty” spaces.
What Friends Say: It feels so open and airy, warm and inviting!
Biggest Embarrassment: The backsplash tile in the kitchen.
Proudest DIY: The headboard.
Biggest Indulgence: Copper dining table.
Best Advice: Buy things that you truly love and respond to – don’t just fill a space with things because it needs to be filled. If you have the luxury of time, it is worth it to end up with pieces that you may have for a lifetime.
Dream Source: 1stdibs.com and any artisan re-purposing found materials to create unique and recycled pieces. I love the mix of these two sources.
Resources
Paintings by Lisa Fellerson
Fabric by Amy Butler for curtains
Paul McCobb desk purchased from Scavengers
Art Deco light fixture by Schoolhouse Electric
Contractor, Michael Beltran, 917.783.2866 (Michael has been able to help us with smaller repair jobs, and has done great work. He also worked with the previous owner of this apartment on more substantial projects such as building and moving walls, kitchen, bathroom and electrical repairs).
Check out the details of Isabella and Jay's kitchen in their Kitchen Tour at the Kitchn.
Images: Jill Slater
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Comments (32)
Oh my that bedskirt! Where is it from? Haven't even checkout out the whole tour can't wait!
where did the bedroom ceiling light come from?
thanks- nice home
Our biggest embarassment is a tiled countertop and backsplash in our kitchen!! (A royal blue and gold checkered disaster with country flowers interspersed. Ugh. But a kitchen renovation is so far down on the list of priorities right now....sigh.)
Which brings me to why I love this house tour. I appreciate it when readers send in house tour photos before their space is totally "done" or "perfect." They've done such a wonderful job with making everything unique and interesting while still having certain things in place that they'd like to change. I really appreciate the philosophy of the designer - to not buy stuff just to fill space, but to stick to your vision and keep your eyes open for what really grabs you. Not always easy but a sure fire way to not fall into a never ending pit of buyer's remorse! We just bought our first home a couple of months ago and are on a tight budget for both renovations and decor so this is my mantra. I did take away the idea that I should be on the lookout for some pieces of art to add to the kitchen to make it more tolerable though... (off to Etsy now...)
Thanks for another awesome house tour AT!
great tour but I would have loved to see some shots of the lobby/exterior to see what inspired everything.
just the right amount of furniture (and the right size) for the space though...very well done proportionally.
Very nice! The yellow curtains are so cheerful and bright and I adore your bedside tables, can you tell me anything about them? I'm looking for something similar for my own home. Thanks so much for sharing your lovely home.
I love everything about this tour! Airy, colorful and serene. I created an account just to comment and ask about the bedskirt. I adore it! Please give details on it and the bedside tables!
Thank you for sharing!
The bedroom is fabulous. In particular the ceiling lamp, blue ceiling, and the black sheepskin over the seagrass rug.
Thanks too for the bathroom inspiration. Reminds me somewhat of my bathroom and I think I will consider painting our medicine cabinet frame black.
Love the lemony yellow walls with the bold black doors. Fantastic.
I live in this neighborhood and the details of our apartments are so similar! Thanks for the link for the art deco light fixture... I've had bare bulbs for 7 years because I haven't found anyone that carries shades for that fixture (its not a flush mount and needs 3 screws to attach and each of my fixtures is a different size!). I finally changed the ugly fluorescent bulbs to Edison bulbs as a temporary fix. Gorgeous apartment though!
The foyer is my favorite part. The area rug with the bright wall color and black doors looks really sharp.
Thanks for all comments! Here are some answers to questions/resources:
-Bedskirt is from Pottery Barn (recently purchased)
-Bedside tables also from Pottery Barn (purchased a year ago, I believe they are called Ada Side Table)
-Ceiling light in bedroom is from lumens.com, I believe made by Sonneman
Love love your bedroom, fresh happy alive. Please tell what color blue and who makes it. Would this color work in a small bedroom, what do you think? The rugs where are they from?
Keep taking pics love to see works in progress.
I can't get over the blue ceiling! It's beautiful. Especially with the minimal silver light fixture.
Totally saving this picture.
I love your sofa cover! Is it a blue or grey color?? Also, where can I find one like it?
Beautiful home!:))
A few more answers/resources:
-Ceiling color in bedroom is Decathalon by Ralph Lauren (The success of the color is dependent more on the entire space rather than small vs. large bedroom; our ceilings are high, about 8', and palette in the entire room is pretty restricted so the blue doesn't overwhelm. It could certainly work in a smaller room as long as all these other elements are considered:)
-Black dyed sheepskin from http://www.kiwi-sheepskins.com
-Sofa cover is from Bed/Bath/Beyond and it's a grey-ish blue color. It has a micro-suede feel, but it's faux.
Isabella you did such an amazing job creating a home that reflects the spirit of you and your husband. Vibrant colors, eclectic finds, imaginative solutions. Kudos to you for being able to pull all these elements together cohesively. You almost make it look easy, but I know it couldn't have been. Thanks for sharing and for providing so much inspiration:)
colors, colors :)
What a gorgeous foyer, kitchen and bath, in particular! And that is an enormous kitchen for a NYC apartment. Wow. Lovely job.
The light fixture is currently on clearance, too! http://lumensannex.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/bubbles-multi-light-pendant-by-sonneman/#respond
Thought I remembered this place - here's a link to the House Call from several months ago:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/isabellas-chic-elegant-in-inwood-house-call-102913
I like your home, but something about the angling of the sofa bothers me... not sure why. I really like the idea of painting the ceiling and leaving walls white. The copper table is beautiful too. Also love the wooden armoire behind the sofa.
This is beautiful. My favorite feature is the shallow metal (?) cabinet in the bathroom. And the blue ceiling is great, too!
Thanks for representing upper manhattan so well, good job.
So glad to see small apartment tours right now! Great use of space - great over all vibe.
Lovely usage of color, especially on this dreary day!
I like your kitchen and bar area the best. Sure, the counters may need some work, but it all looks good and usable.
the bedroom ceiling is magnificent. I'm not fond of the yellow in the foyer though. It's sort of my nightmare color choice gone wrong... sorry! Perhaps it's not as neon-y in person?
The foyer color reads differently both in photos than in person and throughout the day- it took some getting used to for me, too! It was inspired by the color of the living room curtains filtering the sun. The color has really grown on me, though, and now is quite a cheerful site upon entering the apartment.
Dacha - thanks for commenting. I'm looking on a different screen now and, well, it's a different (less intrusive) yellow and it looks great with the grey border on top. It's true though that sometimes you need to allow colors to grow on you.
Amazing tour. The windows with the yellow curtains...WOW. The amazing black rug in the bedroom just makes all the difference.
The beautiful paintings look like characters in your Inwood Wonderland.
"Buy things that you truly love and respond to – don’t just fill a space with things because it needs to be filled. If you have the luxury of time, it is worth it to end up with pieces that you may have for a lifetime."
Great advice, and I can see the interior designer touches. Your home is warm and minimal without being sparse.
I like that its unique and well planned, as if you purcased each item with a particular feeling in mind! I do love luxury, but I love that even those of us on a budget can enjoy our spaces!
What color is the blue on the ceiling?
Revisiting all of these comments as our home now has an new addition: a 1 year old:)
to 91styale: the color is Decathalon Blue by Ralph Lauren.