This Bold Bushwick Apartment Explodes with Color (Despite All White-Walls!)

published Jul 26, 2024

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York

Style

Bedrooms

Square feet

747

Sq ft

747

“While searching for my dream home, I was looking for architectural details in a space,” says product designer Mikei Huang. “So often New York City apartments are just big box cookie cutters with white walls. When I toured this Bushwick apartment for the first time, I was immediately drawn to the exposed concrete ceiling and wall in the apartment,” he explains of this 745-square-foot apartment he shares with partner, Zak, and pup, Shabu Shabu.

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Credit: Erin Derby

What do you think is the trendiest color this year? "Orange is making a huge comeback! Orange furniture and home decor are popping up everywhere, and it’s a super cute color. I see it in IKEA's reissued SKÅLBODA armchair, Artemide’s Nesso table lamp (the mushroom lamp), and Giotto Stoppino for Kartell’s stacking side table are everywhere on Instagram and in people’s homes."

“The unit comes with recessed LED ceiling light in the living room that illuminates the concrete in a warm, soft glow. But what’s really interesting is that embedded in the concrete are some orange construction markings and some scribbles for measurements that are sealed in already. We decided to lean into the industrial/brutalist style and outfit the space with lots of stainless steel, mirror, chrome metal materials, but also contrast it with softness using plants and vibrant, abstract-shaped wool rugs,” Mikei describes.

Credit: Erin Derby

"There was no obvious place to put a TV in the center of the room that can be accessed from every angle, so I ended up getting two Samsung Frame TVs, one for each corner of the room. During daytime, they are set to art mode, and I installed a auto-rotating wall mount so the TV hung in portrait mode, making it appear more like a piece of artwork instead of a bulky TV screen," Mikei explains.

Mikei explains that this unit is in a brand-new building built in 2023, and reports that the apartment feels rather spacious despite the small size. “The unit height is 10’3’’, which gives us a lot of vertical space to work with that is utilized for wall-mounted storage,” Mikei explains. “I also love the herringbone patterned flooring. I have a follower online that asked me what it is, and then decided to changing his apartment flooring to herringbone pattern as well.”

Credit: Erin Derby

"My living room is a awkward L-shaped layout that is used for watching TV, dining, and working. Instead of blending it into one space, I divided the room into three spaces: a window corner for watching TV and accessing the balcony, a dining area closest to the kitchen for eating/entertaining, and in between the two spaces I carved out a reading nook to anchor the visual focus of the apartment, and use as an additional relaxation space for unwinding," Mikei explains of the apartment's biggest challenge.

Mikei and his partner embraced much of the apartment’s industrial, slightly brutalist vibes, but combined it with their own style, which is a mix of “Memphis modern, Postmodern, Space Age, maximalist, colorful.”