Last Fall I was approached by a client who had a very interesting request: she wanted me to redesign the Financial District one bedroom apartment in New York that she shared with her fiancée. The catch was that she wanted to register for most of the pieces in the design on her upcoming wedding registry. I loved the idea and jumped at the opportunity. After a few initial design meetings I came up with a design concept that fit the life they both hope to lead after their wedding this October. She envisioned entertaining friends, enjoying quiet weekends together and overall delighting in what she calls "a grown up apartment".
This was a unique project for me because I was essentially working backwards, selecting accessories for a space that didn't exist yet but my client and I had such a great working relationship that it turned out to be a really fun and effortless process. The other caveat to this project was that every item had to be available for purchase online so we could upload it into her wedding registry. These unique challenges pushed me to create the aparment of her dreams and I am happy to announce that we successfully uploaded the whole package onto her registry yesterday.
The apartment won't start to take shape physically until the end of the year but I wanted to share a few of my concept sketches and some of the items that made that list! We used an incredible website called MyRegisty.com which allows Brides and Grooms to build their own unique wedding registry from any website online.
This is the basic furniture layout, we are using some of her existing pieces like the sofa and arm chair and will layer in other larger furniture pieces after the wedding.
This sketch shows furniture placement and concepts for furniture shapes in the living/dining room. The apartment has four large windows with a recess in the ceiling along both window walls. Ivory silk draperies will cover both of these walls giving the room a luxurious softness and exisiting cove lighting will softly light the draperies at night.
The furniture placement in the living room area allows for both entertaining and TV watching without having to move anything around. The dining area is not defined architecturally so I grounded this space with a large decorative mirror and a large fixture over the table.
This sketch is looking toward the front hall. The bar cart is part of the dining area and provides a fun way to serve cocktails to their guests. Because space is a premium in New York City apartments the sideboard serves double duty as an extra surface for the kitchen or the dining area. Stools tucked under the sideboard provide extra seating or they can be used as side tables giving them lots of flexibility when they entertain.
A selection of some of the items I included in the wedding registry. My client has a very bold mid-century red sofa that she wanted to keep so the design was built around that. The aesthetic nods to mid-century modernism with some whisical and ecclectic touches to keep it fresh and timeless.
Guests will purchase everything from lighting and occasional furniture to soft goods and accessories. I even selected glassware and barware for the bar cart which are all available for purchase on the wedding registry.
I am really excited to see how this project turns out and I will keep you all updated later this year after the wedding!
- Kevin
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Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:18AM 
