Dwellings Issue V: West Village

For our freshest Dwellings issue, we take you to yet another new neighborhood with yet another stylin’ apartment. Nikolai resides in the West Village where the buildings are a bit lower, and a sense of history permeates the narrow meandering streets… The perfect place for a Fall FG Dwellings trip in our opinion.

The building, located in the historical West Village, has plenty of history itself, as it was constructed circa 1845. Walk up the four flights to find the apartment, a compact space with original crown molding and about a hundred antique locks on the front door.

Nikolai relocated from California and bounced around  the many neighborhoods of Manhattan. Knowing that he had always wanted to end up in the West Village, Nikolai was pleased to move into his current apartment 3 years ago. He found Furnish Green on Yelp around the same time, giving him the opportunity to make the place his own. The apartment consists of a bedroom, kitchen, living room/office space and a bathroom. When working with a smaller space, it’s important to optimize your dimensions, and Nikolai has definitely achieved that, effectively utilizing the walls and vertical space.

Having an affinity for older styles and vintage furniture, Furnish Green was the perfect stop for him. The kitchen contains a couple of FG cabinets and a rustic kitchen table with iron base that works perfectly in the small space. His favorite purchase though (and ours) is a beautiful ornate shabby white desk with a unique double pedestal/trestle base that features a carved wood harp detail in the center. A real looker.

Some other vintage accents in the apartment are a couple of sturdy rustic folding chairs in the kitchen that once belonged to an armory and a great trunk from the 1930s that functions as his coffee table. (Cool tidbit: He actually picked up this trunk from the set of “Kill Your Darlings” when he worked as an assistant to the director, and the trunk may have been bled on by Michael C. Hall after a minor accident on set involving a broken wine glass).

Nikolai describes his design style as “shabby chic” with a mostly black, white and brown color palette. He explains that, being from Woodside, California, he has a strong inclination to incorporate some “woodsy” vibes into the space, and it shows. He has plenty of raw wood, an “in the woods” sort of drapery covering his bedroom wall and an attention-grabbing petrified wood tree stump side table.

As a filmmaker in New York City, Nikolai clearly pays attention to detail not only in the design of his apartment, but in his career as well. He has been writing and directing since he was 16 years old, and his first feature length film, “Before,” came out this year! His second will be coming out next year, so stay tuned. You can take a look at his work here.

some of Nikolia’s polaroid shots

vintage camera collection

As always, it’s nice to get a chance to learn a bit more about our customers and to see how our pieces have gotten acclimated to their new homes; it’s like visiting old friends.

Here are some more photos of the space. Enjoy.

some wall-mounted moose and deer, hand made by Nikolai

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of our Dwellings series! Stay tuned for future posts, and let us know if you’d like us to feature your space!