The project was designed by designer Charles Mellersh and is located in Manhattan, New York.Most challenging of all would be the initial state of the apartment, which boasted a high-polish, intensely gilded and ornate interior—a look that was completely antithetical to the warm, down-to-earth, and cozy home that Mellersh envisioned. 

The first order of business was to strip the apartment of its layered treatments.Once returned to its bare white-box beginnings, Mellersh was able to give the home a distinctly personal feel, untethered to its former styling.That of course created a new issue:“The problem was it felt like generic international luxury,”Mellersh says. 

In the open kitchen and dining area, this meant using an array of earthy tones, beginning with oak veneer paneling along the walls, in order to convey a sense of warmth. Timber chevron floors were carefully crafted to further emphasize materiality. 

Similar details can be found on a much smaller scale throughout the home. In the sleek and contemporary primary bathroom, a small beech wood stool with a tea-stained finish by Scandinavian designer Salem Charabi, makes for the perfect accent. Elsewhere, in the office, a bespoke coffee table by Jeremy Pitts sits on a raw banana silk rug with a deliberately rough and unfinished edge.The rest of the room is just as much of an oasis, thanks to its Etruscan brown sheath of paint.

Across the hall, the primary bedroom maintains a similar sense of balance.To mitigate the awkwardness of protruding columns and structural elements, the designer opted for a complete monochrome: blue bed frame, blue side tables, blue bedding, and blue walls, which boast a specially made ribbon wallpaper by Callidus Guild. This interior, like the rest of the home, feels calming and intimate, despite its cinematic views.