Greenwich Village
We were called by one of our longtime clients in the summer of 2021 to create a scheme for their newly acquired pied-a-terre in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. It all sounded dreamy except that there was a catch….the client wanted the space to be ready for their family for the following Thanksgiving holiday. Keep in mind that this was late summer 2021, and lead times for furniture, contractors and any creative “makers” was unbelievably long due to the pandemic. It seemed there simply was not enough time to make that deadline. But we were not going to be defeated easily. So after a few conversations discussing the difficulty of this particular request, we also said that, “absolutely we will try our damndest.”
Because we have a great working relationship with the client who is a visionary, and more importantly a trusting soul, we did not have to spend a lot of time with back and forth discussions of what was right for the space. Therefore, it went smoothly. Our only initial guidance from the clients was that they wanted a peacock to be the inspiration. Not a fanciful caricature of a peacock, but an actual au naturel peacock with its blend of earth and jewel tones.
As a first step, we flew to NYC to look at the space, select a few beautiful and saturated colors, and gather instructions from the client that they had purchased art for the space that they wanted us to frame and hang.
The building was an old printing factory, so it had lovely rustic beams and gorgeous windows that let in north light, which is particularly beautiful in mornings. The space was just white walls, and it was in need of some applied interest to bring out its natural beauty. The beams and the fireplace were charming!
After many weeks back at our Austin studio scheming, some begging and sourcing strategically for items that we could get quickly, we were ready to fly back to NYC to do an initial installation. We had found a wonderful general contractor in New York, and used our local Austin window treatment company who often steps up when we have a job away.
Ultimately the project was all about color and texture, as well as some custom built-ins that we placed under the kitchen peninsula on the living room side, just off the kitchen where someone else might have put bar stools (shudder), in the primary bedroom and in the kids room. The custom built-ins provide space for book storage and a chance to include ivory and brown in the same way as the peacock’s wing.
It was a big success….we met our deadline and the clients spent a happy few weeks in the space during the 2021 Thanksgiving holiday.
In March 2022, when the last of the items that we had ordered and made were ready for installation, we went back to NYC and did it all over again, but this time we were able to get a picture for our web site as well.
This project was a wonderful gift to come along at a time when a distraction from our normal day-to-day routine was well needed.
