This Manhattan home is in the heart of SoHo, located on a gorgeous street just a few blocks beyond the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood. “In response to this, we wanted this home to feel calm and like a warm hug when you walked through the door,” interior designer Rachel Sherman tells us. “An urban oasis where your stress immediately melts away.”
Her clients were engaged to be married when they approached her firm, Rachel Sloane Interiors, for the design. “They were planning their wedding as they were going through the design process! I think it was a great way for them to see their modern-yet-classic style articulated both through our work, as well as working with wedding vendors,” she recalls. “They also were learning how they worked together as a couple, which was really sweet to watch. They both tend toward a more neutral palette, but welcomed introductions of color in smaller accent pieces, and eventually art.”
Rachel’s scope of work included updating the main living spaces, the powder room, the primary bedroom, and the guest room, the latter of which would also need to function as an office. “We immediately felt the home needed to be softened, as it had so many harsh right angles,” she explains. “We played this up through adding a beautiful hand-applied limewash [by Geri Menaged from Couture Faux Arts] to the main room’s walls and an incredible high-pile rug from Erik Lindstrom in the living room. A brown shearling chair with soft curves anchors the living room and plays off the custom marble table we designed.”
The dining room is nestled behind the sofa, and they added one of Rachel’s favorite case pieces. “I’d been eyeing for years and is now the home to their many beautiful hosting dishes—yay wedding gifts! —and overflow for their home bar,” she shares. “We love the Mary Ratcliffe dining table as well as the incredible Coil + Drift chandelier that hangs above it. They’re both effortlessly chic in an understated way.” Here, a design challenge emerged. “The light fixture is extremely delicate, and our electrician didn’t arrive with enough folks to install it,” Rachel recalls. “The Coil + Drift team graciously came down from their upstate studio and assisted with this and also got to see their fixture’s new home!”
The bedroom offers another gorgeous design moment, thanks to a combination of a custom light-blue bouclé bed and banana fiber pendant [by Pinch] that hangs in front of the spa-like wallcovering, which was inspired by the client’s love of Carrie Bradshaw’s bedroom. A camel sofa from Lawson-Fenning is placed in front of the window. “It’s like that classic trench coat you wear all spring: perennial and always functional,” Rachel quips. “Texture gets a big nod here, with the burled wood dresser, the blue glass side table, and soft wool rug.”
The guest room has a bit of a masculine edge. “We kept this great walnut built-in there but updated the hardware to help modernize it,” the designer shares. “We painted the walls, added sculptural sconces [by Atelier de Troupe] and then used what I think is the best-looking sleeper sofa on the market [by Faithful Roots] and covered it in a funky Schumacher silver stripe.” For the powder room, a Brooke Perdigon toile wall covering plays up the home’s use of curves with an interpretation of Japanese mountaintops. “The clients honeymooned in Japan, and so they loved any and all design nods to Japanese aesthetic and tradition,” she explains, also mentioning the dining room art— “Kyoto” by Ammon Rost.
Art was sourced in partnership with Gould Art Advisory, who helped find the Rost piece, as well as the office artwork by Dashiell Manley. It offered the perfect finishing touch for the year-long project, and the clients were thrilled with the result. “Truly, they were so excited to have this as their first home as a married couple,” the designer concludes.
