“We’ll just fix it up a little bit. ” That’s what Ashley Stark Kenner thought when she and husband Nick, founder plus CEO of Just Salad, bought a town house on New York’s Upper East Side to make room for their growing family. The landmarked 19th-century building had a lot going for it—generous dimensions, the deep backyard, and, a rarity among town houses, lots of light. But at their first meeting with New York–based Lichten Architects , talk quickly shifted in order to “gut renovation. ”
“The façade was the only thing that stayed, ” Kenner says now, three years later. “For a while, we didn’t have a roof. We did not have a floor. We dug out the basement, we added the top floor, we added terraces. If I showed you the before and after, you’d be like, ‘What? ’”
As the senior vice president of design and creative director in the eight-decades-old textile titan Stark, she knew exactly what she wanted. And with a totally clean slate, the girl didn’t have to compromise. “I had a vision, and I stuck along with it, ” says Connaisseur, calling her aesthetic “laid-back, organic, beachy, a little bit French. ”
Working closely with Kenner, architects Andrew Friedman and Kevin Lichten created a floor plan that will functioned for family life plus, as Friedman explains, “felt loftlike and modern but still like a traditional town house. ” That sensibility extended to the decor, spearheaded by New York firm Aman & Meeks (with the heavy hand from Kenner herself). — Hannah Martin
When two born-and-bred West Coasters relocated to Brand new York, their own goal has been to bring the sunny atmosphere of a life lived close to the Pacific along with them. To stave off homesickness and stay true to their particular roots, they turned in order to New York–based designer Young Huh to inject breezy California vibes into one associated with the most unlikely of places: a high-rise towering over one of Manhattan’s most prized locales—Central Park. “Since the particular clients were relocating, these people asked that I keep the design very light, bright, and airy, ” Huh says associated with the couple, who moved in order to accommodate the husband’s job in finance. ” The end result? A handsome Recreation area Avenue pad that perfectly blends California spirit having a dose of New York drama.