Designer: Rita Konig
Location: Manhattan House — Upper East Side, Manhattan
Size: 1,150 square feet — 1 bedroom with 370 square feet wraparound terrace
The model apartment has changed for the better. Once upon a time, a real estate broker might have brought in a rented couch along with a couple of potted plants. Raising the bar in a soft real estate market means that we get to see the work of up and coming designers along with established pros.
This tour takes us inside a penthouse apartment in a classically modern 1950's building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Rita Konig took great pains to make this apartment feel personalized — as if the visitor were arriving home. She went as far as shipping a portion of her personal library from London in order to fill the living room's bookshelves.
Alongside a lineup of great books, the apartment boasts a diversity of unique finds, from the re-interpreted castaway to the undeniable antique. Rita infuses each element — be it worthless or utterly valued in another person's eyes — with a degree of attention that gives it instant aesthetic credence.
Apartment Therapy Survey
Style: I am never very good at describing my style, but I would say that I usually use a pretty light palette with blobs of colour, clean lines with a heavy emphasis on comfort and living. I am definitely more interested in how you use a room and enjoy it and what it feels like to be in, than I am in the contrast piping on the couch — although I am more than averagely interested in that!
Inspiration: Selfishly myself! I decorated the space as though it was for me.
Favorite Element: I love the bookcase, it was one of the first things I realised that I wanted to do. It helped to define the areas since without it I couldn't work out where to stop the sitting room colour and start the hall colour. More than that, however, it added such depth and warmth to the space. I love sitting in the green chair and looking over to that side of the room across the sofa and drinks tray to the bookcase filled with lovely things.
Biggest Challenge: Giving a model apartment some spirit, the most important thing for me was that it spoke to people as they came in and they could feel that it had some soul…in the same way you feel when you go into someone's home.
What Friends Say: That they would like to move in!
Biggest Embarrassment: Ever? Or at Manhattan House? Nothing embarrassing has happened — yet!
Proudest DIY: Best thing for me is not to do DIY! But probably the only DIY I am any good at is hanging pictures.
Biggest Indulgence: The Hugo Guinness painting in the hall
Best Advice: Don't be afraid to spend a bit on a few good things. You simply can't skimp on everything. Frankly, I don't really like skimping on anything, which is why I like to decorate slowly and spend a lot of time in junk shops. I hate big-box stores and buy very little there.
Dream Source: Has to be John Derian in New York and Core One in London.
Resources:
ENTRANCE HALL
- • Paint is Arsenic by Farrow and Ball
• Console: West Elm
• Picture: Hugo Guinness
• Lamp: Marianna Kennedy in London
• Long Mirror against the wall: West Elm
SITTING ROOM
- • Sofa: Verellen
• Grey and white geometric cushion fabric: Ziggurat from Quadrille
• Pair of chairs: Deans Antiques at Core One in London (he also has a store in Stamford, Connecticut)
• Cushions: Vanderhurd (showroom on Lafayette Street)
• Green table: purchased in Hudson, New York
• Lamp: Ruby Beets in Sag Harbour
• Little vegetable sculptures: John Derian
• Coffee table: Lars Bolander
• Log Baskets: Restoration Hardware
• Green Chair: Rose Garden Antiques in Reinbeck, green velvet upholstery is called Orsay from Pierre Frey
• Window seat fabric: from Cloth, by Christopher Farr
• Stool: by Tucker Robbins, purchased at Calypso Home
• Console table behind the sofa: Mecox Gardens
• Lamp: Abbot Kinney in Venice, California
• Trays: West Elm
• Artwork: all the art in the sitting room is from Sears Peyton except for the black and white wood cuts which belong to me
• Paint: Rita Says from Stark Paints (named after my column in British Vogue)
DINING ROOM
- • Dining table & dining chairs: by Philippe Hurrel available from Profiles in New York
• Light: Noguchi
• Large photograph of the wave: by Clifford Ross from the Sonnabend Gallery
BEDROOM
- • Bed: custom made by Charles Beckley in the Bronx
• Bedside tables: One Fish Two Fish in Savannah
• Bench at the end of the bed: Wisteria
• White linen for the curtains: Bernie de le Cuona
• Pink fabric on the window seat: Pierre Frey
• Wooden bedside lamp: Circa Lighting
• Ceramic bedside lamp: Aero
• Chest of drawers: Wisteria
• Murano glass lamp: my own
• Cane egg chair: Ochre on Broome Street
• Seat cushion: Madeline Weinrib
• Wallpaper: Wisteria by Nina Campbell at Osborne and Little
• Rug: Calypso Home
CLOAKROOM
- • Wallpaper: Studio Four
• Poster: The Paris Review archives.
Thanks Rita!
Images: Jill Slater
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Very nice! Love that green phone and the sofa table.
Beautiful apartment. The bookcase is such a nice feature.
There are so many beautiful pieces- green velvet chair, sofa, coffee table, green phone in kitchen, the scale of the lamps, soft fabrics and the art..
It's all about the green phone, isn't it? Love it. Beautiful apartment. x
i luv it
Beautiful apartment. Can you please tell us where you got all of your shades?
The ONLY thing I liked was the phone/canning jars vignette. The rest was...not good.
I like it. As a model apartment, it's not supposed to "skew" to individual style too much, but strike a middle ground. It does, and I love the avocado phone. Nostalgia sells!
Loooove those yellow chairs, the kitchen wall tiles and the black/white bathroom!
Beautiful :)
Glad you captured that phone in the photos. It has so much character and it splits the white and wood walls perfectly. Oh and for some reason I love Ball brand, glass jars.
I could move in there without changing one thing. Great job!
Love those CaesarStone countertops. Lagos Blue I believe.
Lurv!
I missed you Rita! Thanks for all the great Domino articles. This apartment is lovely.
I love the rug/bedspread.
Real materials, rich color placement ... beautiful, deliberate depth against a rich canvas ... I love it! The word "dwell" speaks to true love & full life at one's home ... that is the word that came to mind as I browsed through this space. Yet, no one dwells there! Rita, you are amazing!
and an extended sigh of relief.....ahhhh. My first response was "this is a model space?" Who is the insightful property owner that allowed such tasteful harmony? I am so tickled that there may be such a revolutionist that realizes that staging property can entail some depth and character. My experience with buying, selling and professional staging has been so terribly "rooms to go" that I began to question the existence of the inspired buyer.
You created a space that would actually move the needle in the market and allow both buyer and seller to be satiated with style.
Brava.
The green hallway is fabulous.
I also love the lamps, the chairs, and all the gorgeous shelving! It looks so lived in!
Pleasant enough, I wasn't really bowled over.
I was also "..." at the Noguchi light. I mean. Sure it's a Noguchi light. This means it costs about a billion times more than a negligibly different light does at ikea (or chinatown). The supposed quality and brand name involved is not a working tradeoff for me.
I miss Rita's articles and Domino! I love the black and white wallpaper in the bathroom.
I love the black and white bathroom!
Didn't like the walls in the kitchen, though. But the rest looks very nice and wisely organized. It doesn't look like the average staged home for sale, and that's a good thing.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, LOVE!
(As for:~The rest was...not good. and
~Pleasant enough, I wasn't really bowled over. I am honestly a little over negative, unnecessary, non constructive, bitchy comments on apartment therapy. Why, why, why, why, why, why, why? If you don't like it: DON'T comment. ) Anyway, as I said: Love it! :D
this is gorgeous!!!
As a New Yorker myself, I can never decide whether pictures of large, beautiful NYC apartments make me happy... or angry.
Having said that, I love what was done here, especially the finishes, which make me want to walk around in bare feet touching every surface.
At first glance and a good distance, the dining room light does look a bit like your $2 dorm room version. But closer, and in person, the differences in quality and light between said cheapo and Noguchi are remarkable and the latter is well worth the extra, if budget allows.
Love love love the tiled bathroom and the kitchen - is the wall actual wood, a paneling or a veneer/paper?
rita still writes articles: she just moved from the ny times to the wall street journal a few months ago.
The yellow chairs are my favorite! :)
chiclittleme.blogspot.com
As a model apartment, I really like it. It does manage to offer a bit of offbeat-ness while still remaining appealing to a large amount of people. Kudos to the designer!
That green phone is awesome.
The 'wood' in the kitchen is wallpaper!
I love Rita, too, but "she went as far as shipping a portion of her personal library from London in order to fill the living room's bookshelves"?????
She couldn't hit up a local used book store?! That must have been a serious hit to the staging budget. Give me a break!
Love it
It's so unfussy! Like a real person could live there.
The black phone in the living room reminded me of simpler times of actually sitting and focusing on one phone conversation without pacing the house and being encouraged to "surf" while you talk. Really enjoyed this house tour. Light, bright, airy and some fierce wallpaper in the bathroom!
Enjoyed seeing this!
Am curious - if a potential purchaser fell in love with the furnishings (and why wouldn't he or she?!), would it be possible to make an offer for the property which included them?
PS I too follow Rita wherever she goes and there can never be enough of her work on wsj.com :-)
PPS though I too raised an eyebrow at shipping books over from the UK..
Thanks, Jill!
You are a great home owner. Take good care of your baby...sincerely, mary
So, so. Nothing to rave about. Bringing books over for staging? A tad pretentious.
This place is perfection. <3 It really struck me for some reason. Love it.
note to photographer: hide the cords- they are distracting x 2...a little cropping needed as well- I could see the under counter mechanics as well-
Think the Living Room chairs are distracting- and pull away from the fell of the room..not a fan, sorry.
Like it, mostly. Think the ceramic tile and fake wood is a little too cheesie. Hate the giant globe light. The floor seam where the wood meets the carpet is weird.
Boring...
Love the Apt! The green phone...I want one...
Lovely...and not one mid century wire chair in sight. Finally! It seems like every AT house tour has the same furniture over and over. I love AT and mid century modern in general, but sometimes I want to see something different. This fits the bill!
Rita Konig on AT - what a treat! Love the apartment. Rita can do no wrong in my book.
Rita! I miss your columns at T magazine...forgot you were at the WSJ...don't know if I can handle a subscription there just for the sake of reading you...Apartment looks great...
Anyway we can find out what the grout colour is with the subway tile in the bathroom? It's absolutely perfect!
I am obsessed with the glossy pink painting on the wall. I contacted Sears Peyton to learn more and the artist's name is Karen Revis. Her work is gorgeous. Also, like the overall muted palette of this space and the well-placed pops of color. Rita Konig is so talented that way. Sigh...