BOUDOIR BIS BIS

If Daisy were here, she would recognize these chairs. Embroidered peach satin, tasseled, boudoir, stained and frayed, over the garage, now sunflowers, sturdy, raw jute cord trimmed. (She’d remember) the curves, the legs, buttoned and skirted, here for her great granddaughter with Dahlia in her name to remember her by.

Ah! Sun-flower

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time, 
Who countest the steps of the Sun: 
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire, 
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 
Arise from their graves and aspire, 
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

— WILLIAM BLAKE

Everything old is new again. Resurrection, restoration, reuse.

Bespoke furnishings.

BIS BIS.

The fabric from Cowtan & Tout.

A Kitchen in the Kenilworth

The Kenilworth, by architect Ralph Townsend, Steinle and Haskell, a Beaux-Arts building built in 1908, at 151 Central Park West, an example of  Second Empire architecture, is described by Elliot Willensky and Norval White in The A.I.A. Guide to New York City, Third Edition (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988) as a "cubical, russet-brick wedding cake topped by a grand convex mansard roof" with its stone embellishments  "The whipped-cream efforts are executed in limestone in the interests of posterity."

The owner of the apartment made the protracted decision (decision-making not her strong point;  by protracted we mean many many years) to part with an older feature of the place, the small maid's room in the far corner of the kitchen, which, once removed, allows for a wall of pantry, a long table and vintage chandelier above it, and plenty of natural light to make the most of the Gustavian grey and white palette—painted limewood cupboards with natural interiors, enamelled lavastone countertops, basins and tiles, and hand selected split-joint mosaic for the floor and shower base of the adjoining guest bath which made for the easier structural decision to convert the linen closet from the back hall for dual entry.

The simple elegance of the space is equalled by practical traditional solid wood details, dovetail drawers and birds-beak brackets for adjustable shelving, custom accents from cutting boards that nest into the lava farmer's sink and slide aside for access to the bowl to all wood lazy-Susans, utensil trays, and pantry bins.

Browse the Kenilworth Collection No. 151 below and more BIS BIS Collections.   

 
 

Location photography Copyright © 2014 Brett Beyer Photography

 
 

Outtakes at 151 Central Park West Copyright © 2014 Un-Gyve Limited