HOUSE 9
Designer Shawn Henderson made his mark on this new-build New York apartment, imbuing it with a refined yet compelling sophistication
When working on a new build, the interior designer’s brief is often to try to install a sense of character. Instead, working on the Roman and Williams-designed Fitzroy in New York, designer Shawn Henderson already had plenty to play with: from the reclaimed oak parquet floor to the oak surrounds around the doors and windows to the copper soaking tub in the bathroom. ‘It’s so unusual to walk into a newly developed building that has such a high level of detailing to it – it was very bespoke and a dream to work with,’ Shawn explains.
His own aesthetic, which combines beautifully crafted vintage pieces with modern contemporary, resulting in sophisticated, yet inviting schemes, amalgamated perfectly with the building. It also matched the tastes of the couple who wanted his help to personalise their new family home where they were settling with their two young boys.
Shawn took his design cues from the wife, who ‘is incredibly fashionably dressed and you can tell just loves to surround herself with beautiful things’. She was involved in the design process from the start. ‘It was such an exciting relationship, sending pictures back and forth and really pushing each other,’ he says.
One example was the dining room. While the rest of the three-bedroom apartment is painted in calm, chalky paint tones, Shawn wanted to do something differ
