A CITY APARTMENT

BOB MORRIS: The word that comes to mind

looking at this apartment is ‘cheerful.’

ASHLEY WHITTAKER: You wouldn’t have said

so before we redid it.

Did you ever ﬁnd ‘cheerful’ to be a pejorative

in Manhattan?

Pejorative? I don’t think so. I think people

really want it. You know, you want to walk in

and feel joy when you come home.

So why so much minimalism and beige in this

city?

Yes, there’s lots of that. But peo-

ple really look to me for a colorful

punch. This apartment has a tradi-

tional quality, although it still feels

urban. But not mean urban.

Not a six-inch-stiletto sort of urban.

Exactly. Kind urban. Before we

renovated, it was very country

and shabby chic. We got rid of the

beamed ceilings, except in the

kitchen, and we stained the wide

plank oors dark chocolate brown

to give the whole place more of an

edge, an urban sensibility. The

floors were actually what drove a

lot of the design choices in fabrics

and wallcoverings. The hempy sofa

fabrics, the striped grass cloth, the

linen walls, all have a sense of rustic

renement.

The bamboo-trellis wallpaper in the

kitchen is very pretty.

I love the way the trellis pattern

looks with the beamed ceiling. They

both feel very organic, but it’s the

citrus green that makes it all pop.

The banquette—did you build it?

Yes. There were a lot of awkward

spaces in this apartment, which was

made up of three smaller units combined by

the previous owner. There was no real ow.

You weren’t sure which way to go. With just

the tiniest bit of tweaking—removing a cab-

inet here, building in bookcases there—we

really made it work.

A young married couple lives here. Did you have

to persuade the husband about this palette?

Surprisingly, no. Yes, there are florals,

creams, and pale blues, but there are also

browns, ticking, and sisal carpet. So there’s

enough masculinity...

To get away with the rest of your pretty

design?

Not to get away with it—to have it look right,

honestly.

But the pink was probably beyond the pale for

him, as it were.

We got away with some of the pinks with

the use of a lot of blue. And then there’s the

library, which is really his space, and it plays

off the living room beautifully by taking all

of its creamy, dreamy palette and going into

darker blues and oranges.

You grew up in Palm Beach County. Did that

affect your aesthetic?

I think that’s where I got my love of color.

The pale pinks, the oranges. And growing

up next to the ocean made me attracted to

blues.

Did you wear much black in Florida?

No. I was big on Lilly Pulitzer. I’m not shy

about a shocking pink here or there, or an

acid green. You can’t scare me.

So New York didn’t tone you down at all?

It did in the way I dress and in the way I deco-

rate. I like a subtle, tonal look with splashes

of color. I don’t think it’s about all-out color.

It’s not about screaming color from every

corner of every room.

This place looks as if it was designed by some-

body who loves to shop. Do you have favorite

places you like to haunt?

I get down to Florida for some great shopping

trips on Dixie Highway. Fabulous antiqu-

ing. But so much of what’s here came from

the owners. We call the ofce our sleeper hit.

With reupholstery of some hand-me-down

pieces and a wall of their photo

and art collection, we created one

of my favorite rooms. At rst she

said, ‘Are you really hanging that

1960s concert poster with the paint-

ings and photographs?’ I said, ‘Are

you kidding? It looks great!’ Their

Chippendale mirror for the front

entrance was being restored, and

I’d only seen photos of it. Until I

actually saw it, I didn’t have the full

sense of its scale. I had an initial

panic attack about how it was going

to work in the space. But, honestly,

it knocks your socks off when you

walk in. It’s the rst thing you see—

it’s almost oor-to-ceiling.

What do you do when somebody

brings you something that’s less

than fabulous?

Storage. I say, ‘Let’s save that for

your next house.’ But if they’re ada-

mant about it, we make it work.

So you don’t cluck or wag your

ﬁnger?

No. If they’re that excited about

something, I’m going to like it.

Does it take a lot of energy to be so

agreeable all the time?

I don’t think I’m that agreeable.

See, I’m already disagreeing with you.

So who is the nicest kind of client?

One who really looks to you to create a home

for them to live in, not a showplace.

And now that your clients are in the apart-

ment with their two little boys, has there been

some wear and tear on your creamy, dreamy

vision?

The newest addition to their life is a rescue

poodle that couldn’t be sweeter and really

couldn’t feel more at home. The poodle is

gray. So maybe it’s their way of neutralizing

my colorful palette.

ABOVE: A formal dining room was turned into a cozy library. “It’s very sunny,” says Whittaker, “but we tamed the brightness with Prussian blue”—a half-and-

half mix of Twilight and Gentleman’s Gray by Benjamin Moore. OPPOSITE: In the breakfast area, Windsor chairs take on a new life with citrus green

cushions. Whittaker cut down a Ballard Designs Berkley Trestle table and spray-painted it white. Wallpaper is Baldwin Bamboo by Scalamandré.

PRODUCED BY SENGA MORTIMER & WHITNEY ROBINSON