UPPER WEST SIDE
PRE-WAR

This Upper West Side apartment marks a significant chapter for its owners, a young couple who married at the start of the project and set out to design their first true home together. The intention was to create a space that would grow with their family, host friends easily, and still function for daily life.

Studio Lagerloef's approach was to honor the apartment's prewar bones as a foundation to build from, alongside restrained materials and layered lighting. Before the clients moved in, the apartment was a true blank canvas: bare white walls, full of potential but lacking warmth or identity. The clients wanted personality and a rich color palette without sacrificing the calm the space already held — an idea that became the guiding principle.

The result is a layered, versatile interior that moves across design eras, so the apartment reads as collected over time. A distinct wallcovering program gives each room its own identity, while a consistent material sensibility pulls the whole together: warm naturals with metal detailing, grounded by blues from powder to slate to sapphire, lifted by moments of terracotta. The effect unfolds as you move through the home, each room its own moment within a coherent backdrop.