Greenwich Street Penthouse with NY skyline views

This stunning penthouse sits atop iconic Greenwich Street in New York, meticulously crafted to exceed conventional luxury standards, and customized to enhance the prolific architecture of Winka Dubbeldam. The duplex is comprised of 3,560 square feet of living space, it is a work of un-paralleled sculptural architecture: The creation of something beautiful and thought-provoking is an abstract turned reality with a unique facade of double story, western exposed glass, through which one can view sunsets over the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty from every vantage point in the apartment. This spectacular backdrop provided the canvas for interior architect Sally Rigg to draw from the world’s best materials, appliances and fixtures, to stylishly landmark this penthouse with its deserved global renown. The grand living spaces, replete with gas fireplace and home theatre, lead to a magnificent terrace that runs the full width (almost 50 feet) of the property facing west.

The kitchen is fully customized by Boffi, with Miele, Sub Zero and Gaggenau appliances: adjoining is an intimate, glamorous dining area. There is a guest bedroom suite, or study, on this floor and a powder room. Upstairs the seductive master bedroom features a dramatic en-suite bathroom with a free-standing tub: the two walk in closets are equally impressive. An additional bedroom suite features a private terrace. An elevated study can also serve as a fourth bedroom and there is an additional half bathroom: the windowed laundry room is an amenity both luxurious and practical. With the entire home outfitted by SONOS’s ZonePlayer and ceiling speakers in every room, the audio experience of the penthouse is commanding without intruding into the aesthetic.

This fabulous penthouse is listed for sale at $14,000,000, from here.

Off the grid New York cabin in the woods

This stunning off the grid cabin in the woods is owned and designed by fashion stylist and interior designer Scott Newkirk as a weekend summer getaway in Yulan, New York. The 300 square foot house has no electricity or running water, no TV, no computer. Here he can slow down, sleep late, and take his daily bath in the nearby brook. The designer had been already living close to the land on the property in a wood-frame tent but it burned down. Not long after he across a book on handmade houses that are constructed out of recovered and scavenged materials. He then decided to build a house on his property based on the same principal.

Although the main cabin is only fourteen feet by fourteen feet, it took two years and three different builders to complete; Newkirk had a hard time finding builders who got his idea for a simple, rough-hewn look. “I finally found a talented and dependable local guy, Craig Petrasek, to complete construction with reclaimed wood, extend the deck area, and build the stone patio,” he says. The traditional post-and-beam frame of the house uses old square-head nails on the exterior siding and floor, with a few modern ones for the roof. The smaller side windows are handmade, and the glass-paneled fronts both upstairs and downstairs are standard aluminum frames clad in wood. The completed complex (including an outhouse, guest house, and outdoor shower) sits on about three acres of Newkirk’s 50-acre property.

The downstairs panels slide open, and an upstairs panel pivots. To complete the indoor-outdoor feel, there is a twelve-foot strip of window across the rear with an eye-level view of the backyard.

The painting is by Diane Wiencke, who lives on Peaks Island off the coast of Maine; the wrought-iron horse came from a nearby shop.

Newkirk’s builder used aged hickory planks to fashion the ladderlike steps that lead up to his bedroom.

Newkirk uses this to heat up water for an occasional outdoor shower.

As in Newkirk’s main house, this guest cottage has no insulation in the walls and the windows are simply screens; it’s furnished only with two cots and a vintage George Nelson bench.

From June to September, Newkirk bathes in the same spot every day (he uses biodegradable soap).

Photo Source: New York Magazine

Cozy weekend retreat: Bug Acres of Woodstock

Bug Acres of Woodstock is a newly constructed home in upstate New York, designed by CWB Architects to replace an existing weekend retreat within the same site. The goal for the new 2,700 square foot house was to blend with the surrounding landscape while amplifying the owner’s visual and auditory experience of the landscape from interior spaces. The “horizontal” window in the living room focuses ones view down through the lawn and towards the natural wetlands. The “vertical” window draws one’s eye to a rock outcropping across a stream. The all cedar screened porch opens towards the same rock outcropping and is cantilevered over the steam, truly well suited for daydreaming.

Photos: Rachael L. Stollar

Exquisite SoHo TriBeCa loft features must-see details

This luxurious apartment is situated in a 6-year old boutique building that offers a modern European design sensibility in the heart of Hudson Square, just steps away from the vibrancy of Soho and Tribeca, New York.  Residents and guests enter through iron gates into a zen-inspired private courtyard. This loft-like apartment boasts 1,863 square feet of living space on the 8th floor with three bedrooms and two full baths and an over-sized storage/laundry room.

The spacious living/dining room contains floor-to-ceiling glass windows and high ceilings, and features a stunning, hand-applied floor-to-ceiling, edge-to-edge wall of silver leaf and an extraordinary bronze surround for the elevator entrance.  Solid walnut wide-planking flooring has been ebonized for a modern counterpoint to the luxurious finishes. Custom linear diffusers replace standard air conditioning vents with a sleek architectural detail.

The kitchen features high gloss cabinets, state of the art appliances and brushed stainless steel countertops. The intelligent layout affords a whole western wing to the master bedroom, accessible through a hidden door of silver leaf.  The en-suite master bathroom is light-filled with a Duravit soaking tub enclosed in Pietra Sienna stone and a separate walk-in, glass enclosed shower with a river rock floor. There are two bedrooms on the eastern wing. Adjacent to the second bedroom is the oversized laundry/storage room. A second full bath with walk-in shower is located on the eastern corridor.

This incredible apartment is listed for sale at $3,450,000, from here.

Gorgeous Boerum Hill Nest renovation

This beautiful four story row house is situated in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, New York. Designed by CWB Architects, the project entailed a gut renovation of the garden level and first floor of the 2,600 square foot residence. The program included a family room, guest room, play room, bar, mechanical space, new stairs and a new rear garden design. Exterior facade work included a new large opening in the southern facade facing the garden and an integrated sunscreen to shield the interior spaces.

Photos: Francis Dzikowski/Esto

Elegant loft interiors in the Sugar Warehouse

David Howell Design brings us this incredible apartment located in the Sugar Warehouse building in Tribeca, New York. The first action the design team took was to reclaim some classic loft elements that had been obscured. Exterior brick was exposed and the grand height was accentuated. A key component was a generously large kitchen for the chef owner. Additionally the master bathroom was pulled from the small-scale interior of the apartment into the prime space with high ceilings. With small windows in the massive brick facade, natural light was limited. New lighting throughout helped to supplement the limited daytime sun while creating a warm inviting setting at night.

Photos: Andrea Brizzi & Brooke McGowan

Ultra-modern home in the Metropolitan Tower

This stunning luxury apartment has been designed by world renowned architect /designer Robert Couturier on the 59th floor of the Metropolitan Tower skyscraper, New York. The 4,4198 square foot living space features an open art gallery feeling that captivates you upon entrance. The museum-quality selection of contemporary furnishings complemented by reflective surfaces, bleached oakwood floors and a glass-curtain wall overlooking Central Park enhances this ultra-modern home. The pristine eat-in kitchen with custom built white lacquered and opaque glass cabinetries compliments the open lofty feeling of the apartment.

Along the south wing of the home, the master suite offers a sitting room, his and hers bathroom, generous closet space and is replete with sumptuous pleated velvet wallpaper, and an Art Deco inspired liquid metal and resin patented panel depicting the New York skyline. Also in the south wing of the home is an additional guest suite. The north wing of the home with its own private entrance, a secondary master suite with a glamorous bathroom, wet bar, dressing room, and a spacious sitting room. An additional bedroom with a hall bath and two elegant powder rooms completes the north wing of the home. This incredible home also offers audio, lighting, temperature and window treatment controlled through the Creston system.

Magnificent loft renovation incorporating Feng Shui

Magnificent loft renovation features an eclectic redesign by Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design in a former warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. This loft had suffered the same fate as so many others, which is often what happens in Brooklyn. A beautiful old warehouse had been poorly chopped up into a bunch of “spec” lofts. The developer had covered old brick walls and gorgeous beamed ceilings with sheet rock, removing all of the character and history. The designer’s client was longing to have an authentic loft lifestyle, and wanted to incorporate good Feng Shui energy into the renovation of her home. It was an exciting challenge and the end result was a livable and functional space with great design aesthetics!

Before the renovation:

Photos: Courtesy of Reiko Feng Shui Interior Design

Sag Harbor beach house hideaway

This sensational home is a modern weekend getaway for a modern family of four, located in Sag Harbor, New York. The owners were looking for a designer who could fuse their love of art and elegant furnishings with the practicality that would fit their lifestyle. They owned the land and wanted to build their new home from the ground up. Betty Wasserman Art & Interiors, Ltd. was a natural fit to make their vision a reality.

Upon entering the 7,000 square foot house, you are immediately drawn to the clean, contemporary space that greets your eye. A curtain wall of glass with sliding doors, along the back of the house, allows everyone to enjoy the harbor views and a calming connection to the outdoors from any vantage point, simultaneously allowing watchful parents to keep an eye on the children in the pool while relaxing indoors. Here, as in all her projects, Betty focused on the interaction between pattern and texture, industrial and organic.

Photos: Courtesy of Betty Wasserman

Fabulous TriBeCa warehouse loft transformed

This fabulous TriBeCa, New York loft was designed by Dirk Denison Architects in collaboration with Sara Story Design. The client, a bachelor with an art aficionado, has great taste, an open mind and a great sense of humor. The loft is located on the top level of a former warehouse from 1930. When the unit was purchased, it had been long occupied by a renter and was in desperate need of a transformation. To make the full extent of the 2,300 square feet visible from the entryway, the entire space was gutted. All surfaces were covered with some luster in order to capture as much sunlight as possible, since the apartment has windows only on the ends. To add importance to the smallest windows in the living area, the architects added enamel-painted panels below.

Structural columns that ran down the center of the public space were painted a high-gloss black to embrace them instead of trying to minimize them. To follow the same scheme, kitchen cabinets were also lacquered black on the lower cabinets and white on the uppers. A metallic glaze can be found on the backsplash tile, and the sparkling white stone-composite counter on the large island matches the Venetian plaster on the wall, connecting the kitchen with the dining area. There is also a master suite plus a den which can be made private for guests with the help of two perpendicular sliding doors suspended from factory-style ceiling tracks. To keep the industrial feel, one of the doors was cladded in patinated zinc.

Two Italian 1970’s lounge chairs, a 1950’s daybed, French 1940’s nesting tables, and two Paul McCobb side tables gather in the living area. Its mixed-media dip tychis by William J. O’Brien.

Group Two Design’s chandelier and a brass-fronted side board in the dining area.

The furnishings are a mid-century mix, but they had to be masculine and tailored and as contemporary as the bachelor’s taste in painting and photography. The design aesthetic also had to be flexible enough to make an easy transition to a family home somewhere down the road. A neutral palette was selected to fit that bill, with contrast and variety that makes the scheme seem colorful.

In the living area hangs a drawing by Laurent Godard.

The kitchen’s stone composite counters and custom lacquered cabinetry.

The powder room’s concrete counter and integral sink (on the left). The wallpaper-lined office nook in the den contains an art book (on the right).

In the den, a bench by Richard Woods and Sebastian Wrong sits at the edge of a rug by Inghua Ting, while a custom sofa covered in cotton velvet and wool sits beneath a painting by Trey Speegle.

A door clad in patina ted zinc slides out to partially enclose the den that features Alvar Aalto’s pendant fixtures.

A Paul Frankl dresser in the master bedroom.

Stone-composite flooring in the guest bathroom.

A vintage tank appears to support the sink in the guest bathroom.

Lamps by Tahir Mahmood and vintage lacquered tables flank the bedroom’s custom headboard, inset with Laotian silk. The photograph is by Wolfgang Tillmans.

Italian marble defines the master bathroom, which also features a photograph by Alexandre Ubeda.