This NYC Apartment Has the Best Storage + Space Solutions We've Ever Seen

This high-rise home on Manhattan's Upper West Side has undergone major revisions. Now a conglomeration of three different 12th floor apartments (a 400-square-foot studio, a 640-square-foot one bedroom and a 940-square-foot one bedroom), it once hosted author Philip Roth (Portnoy's Complaint; Goodbye, Columbus), who first purchased the studio as a writing space, then bought an adjacent apartment and combined the two as his residence. Its current owners — a young husband and wife with two little girls — bought that combination and a third apartment, then asked PJCArchitecture to plot out what came next.

“They wanted to create a home that functioned for their young family,” explains Philip Consalvo, PJCArchitecture’s principal. “The design decisions grew from their needs. With two small children, it was important to have the family room connected to the living room and dining room, but also able to be separated as needed. The open kitchen allows the parents to have a view of the apartment and the children at all times. The banquette space in the kitchen was also a priority, to give the kids a dining nook.” Have a look at how his plan — and the unique character designer Dane Pressner of D’Aquino Monaco developed for these spaces — added up to happily ever after.

Tucked into the hallway off the foyer and opposite a closet, this minimalistic stop-and-drop point offers a space to set belongings — and even a spot to tuck outdoor shoes — as one enters the home. In an urban dwelling where every inch of real estate is extra-precious, a less-is-more functional space like this one is downright luxurious.

For the flooring, Consalvo’s team installed cashmere-tinted oak. “We wanted to use something very warm, with a natural color that wasn’t too strong. The lighter color evokes a Parisian floor and balances the busier design elements in the space,” he says. The living and dining areas have a chevron pattern, and the bedrooms feature straight planks.

“Lighting helps to define a hierarchy of spaces,” Consalvo explains. “The cove lighting in the living room creates a visual trick to make the ceilings appear higher than they actually are. In the entrance to the apartment, the ceiling is a bit lower, and then it opens up into the living/dining area with the cove lighting and the big windows, which add to the open feeling.”

The effect is a useful one, but it should be deployed thoughtfully. “Cove lights are warm and set a nice mood, but there is a fine line where they can start looking too commercial. We don’t want a home to feel like a hotel, so we are sparing about where we incorporate cove lighting. The color of the light also has to be the right temperature. Around 2700 [Kelvin] is a good color temperature for residential purposes.”

“A concrete table is the opposite of the bubble gum pink velvet dining chairs, and I think that dialogue is what makes it work,” Pressner notes. “The chandelier was a client favorite, and we wanted something that didn’t obstruct the city views when standing in the kitchen looking out to the terrace. The chandelier is chic and effervescent, which is a common design idea or thread throughout this space.”