UPPER WEST SIDE · PENTHOUSE · FULL RENOVATION
West End Avenue Penthouse
A penthouse renovation in Lincoln Square for a couple moving in together for the first time. The brief came in straightforward — bright, airy, modern, mostly in white and cream — and then changed mid-project into something more demanding: a self-contained home for living, working, and content creation through the pandemic.
LOCATION
Manhattan — Lincoln Square / Upper West Side
PROJECT TYPE
Full renovation · Penthouse residence
SCOPE
3 beds, 4 baths · whole-home renovation
YEAR COMPLETED
2021
SQUARE FOOTAGE
2,484 sq ft
THE BRIEF
A home for two careers. Designed through the pandemic.
A couple in media — both highly visible in their fields — moving in together for the first time and starting a shared life in a new penthouse. The brief asked for a bright, airy, modern home with an emphasis on white, cream, and softness. They came in clear about the palette; what they wanted from the studio was character within it.
Design began before COVID and continued through it. As New York shut down, the project's scope expanded mid-flight — the penthouse would also have to function as a full-time workplace, a filming environment for the client's growing digital platform, and the only place this couple would spend the next year of their relationship. Every spatial decision had to hold up to that double duty.
THE APPROACH
White as the brief. Texture as the answer.
With the palette settled in white and cream, the work became how to give a bright apartment depth, character, and tactility. A hand-made iridescent pearl wallcovering went into one of the primary spaces. A three-dimensional taupe geometric velvet wallpaper anchored another. Sheer drapery softened every window. The result is a home that photographs as bright but reads, in person, as layered.
Architecture this orthogonal called for furniture that broke the geometry. The studio specified organically curved sofas, chairs, and case goods throughout, and commissioned the centerpiece dining table — an Italian ceramic top supported by a brass I-beam base. Bleached oak millwork ran across every room. The primary bedroom received a full-wall upholstered headboard. Faceted crystal chandeliers and antique brass mirrors brought scale and shine. Every move was meant to interrupt the stark modernism of the architecture without darkening the palette.
THE PROJECT
Room by room.
MATERIAL PALETTE
The signature finishes.
Bleached oak
Iridescent pearl wallcovering
Cream boucle
Antique brass
Faceted crystal
Millwork, custom furnishings, and built-ins throughout
Hand-made signature wall treatment
Primary upholstery on sofas, chairs, and the bedroom headboard
Statement mirrors, sconces, and the dining table base
Statement chandeliers in the main living spaces
THE RESULT
Home. Workplace. Backdrop for a brand.
Once installed, the penthouse became more than a residence. It served as the couple's only home and workplace through the longest stretch of the pandemic, and it became the visual backdrop for one of them — a women's empowerment digital creator — as her platform grew. Different rooms turned into different stages: the bright living room for one kind of content, the taupe-walled study for another, the curved primary suite for something else again. The home photographs well because it was designed to photograph well, but it lives well because it was designed to do that first.
FROM THE CLIENT
"The work Paul has done for us is beyond stunning — everyone who walks in the door is just blown away. Each space is so comfortable and functional that we spend time in almost every room throughout the day. It has been a fantastic experience."
Tamsen Fadal
Journalist & Author
UP NEXT
UPPER WEST SIDE · CONDO RESIDENCE · FULL RENOVATION
Central Park Serenity
An Upper West Side condo overlooking Central Park. Custom walnut millwork, layered textiles, and a warm tonal palette throughout — a refined home built for an empty-nest couple's next chapter.