The pair moved into the basement apartment for a couple of months while Brooklyn-based architecture and design firm Studio Nato made minor adjustments upstairs: widening the super-narrow hallway, expanding the downstairs bathroom (“We’re huge people,” says O’Neill, laughing; “I’m 6 feet 1 and my husband is 6 feet 2, so we put in a bathtub that could actually accommodate us”), and converting a disproportionately large walk-in closet (“If it were in the East Village, you could rent it out for $1,500 a month”) into a book nook.
Relocating upstairs in March 2020 ended up being fortuitous timing. “Not being able to be out and about forced us to finish decorating,” says O’Neill. “We were perusing antiques websites every weekend, looking for everything from the perfect armchair to the best toilet brush holder. And it’s made me love my home even more! I feel so safe and protected and luxurious here—not stir-crazy.”
Below, from top: Vintage Pendant Lamp, Olde Good Things; Poolside Blue Paint, Benjamin Moore; Vintage Rug, Ruinous Revived; Vintage Standing Cabinet,
Collier West.
Top image: Vintage Pendant Lamp and Stool, Olde Good Things; Hot Lips Paint, Benjamin Moore; Zellige Tile in Forgotten Turquoise, Clé . Above: Vintage Dining Table, City Farmhouse; Vintage Dining Chairs.
I love a hodgepodge of colors and shapes...it has something
to do with growing up in
New York.”
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