A $4,600-a-Month Hell’s Kitchen Rental Is No Longer Just a Blank “White Shoebox”

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published Sep 9, 2024

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Hell's Kitchen, New York, New York

Style

Traditional

Vintage

Bedrooms

1

Square feet

560

Sq ft

560

Interior designer Dalton Scott, who recently opened his own design firm, loves the charm of prewar buildings, but when he and his partner Dave Altshul were looking for an apartment to rent two years ago, they decided to go with an updated building with amenities over architectural charm.

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Credit: Erin Derby

The coffee table is from Chairish.

“I toured two apartments in the building: one street facing and the other one facing the courtyard. After living in a street-facing apartment on a busy avenue I chose the courtyard apartment,” Dalton writes. While modern and updated, unfortunately the apartment was also a completely blank slate, a “white shoebox with nothing architecturally significant.”

Credit: Erin Derby

What was the thing that was the “final piece of the puzzle”? "A ceramic vase we found a few months ago at Field and Supply Market in upstate NY by Sarah Boudinot. We filled it with ferns from the cabin we stayed in and put in on the dining table. After that, I thought to myself: 'Okay, I think this is ready for Apartment Therapy!'"

“My goal was to make a home that feels warm and inviting,” Dalton explains. “It was a fun project to mix my style with Dave’s to create something new that reflected us both. We are constantly traveling and I drag Dave to stores/thrift stores/flea markets. At first, Dave was reluctant but now I believe he enjoys the hunt!”

Credit: Erin Derby

How do you spend time in your home? "Dave works in the Media industry and is a big movie buff. We spend a lot of time watching movies (hence the oversized TV). When we aren’t watching movies we’re cooking with a good glass of wine."

Joined now by their mini labradoodle, Augie, the couple’s home of two years has really become a sanctuary in the city for them. “A friend came over recently and said, ‘your apartment is so curated, nothing is matchy but everything works.’ That was the highest praise I could ask for,” Dalton writes. The apartment also has a bit of fun history to it, too. “After living in the apartment for a while, I learned my former colleague, Catherine, lived in this building in the ’90s. It made me smile and realize how small NYC can be!”