No Renovations Required

The living room. Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn

Scott Sanders doesn’t shy away from a renovation; it’s part of his job as a New York City–based interior designer, and it’s been a major part of his personal life as well — he’s reworked several apartments of his own over the years. When he and husband Peter Wilson decided to move, along with their dachshund, Bailey, from their West Village home, he imagined they’d buy a prewar in the Beekman Place/Murray Hill area. Though they did ultimately find a place on the East Side (“An ideal fit,” says Sanders, “closer to La Guardia, which we use to get to our apartment in Palm Beach, and the midtown tunnel, which we take to get to East Hampton”), it was not the prewar fix-me-up they imagined. Instead, they fell for an apartment in a highly modern, brand-new American Copper Buildings, with water views from every room, three bedrooms (an office for each), exceptional finishes, a garage, and a gym. The yellow swivel chairs, pictured above in the living room, are Jens Risom from Wyeth, as are the custom sofa and the vintage ottoman, and the coffee table is vintage Lorin Marsh. The vintage fish platter is from Neo Studio, the collection of vintage Hans Wagner vases were found at the Paris flea market, and the rug is from Sacco.

The Edward Wormley cabinet is from Wyeth. The vintage pineapple lamps are Maison Charles from Sold Gallery in West Palm Beach, and the shades are from Illumé. The Edge painting on the left is by Odili Donald Odita, and Night Flight #44 on the right is by Eileen Quinlan. Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn

Bailey, shown here, enjoys the run of the house. The chair and ottoman are from Wyeth, upholstered in cobalt-blue fabric from Osborne & Little. The rug is from Stark Carpet, and the Shelf With Giverny Plates is by Sean Mellyn. The Moon screen print is by Takashi Murakami. Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn

The master bedroom is centered by a carpet from Sacco; the screen (which acts as a headboard) is from Erwin Hauer. The Edward Wormley turquoise-blue leather armchair in the corner is from Wyeth, and the round mirror is from Yale R. Burge Antiques. The nightstands are Edward Wormley from Wyeth, and the nightstand lamps are from Édouard-Wilfred Buquet. Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn

The décor in Sanders’s office, which overlooks the East River, is in line with the symmetry of the architecture; a vintage T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings lamp, shown here, is topped with an Illumé shade. The compact Dunbar desk is from Wyeth, and Sanders’s self-portrait, done when he was 4 years old, sits between the windows. The striped bag is from JW Anderson. Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn

The master bath has towels from Waterworks and plumbing fixtures by Kohler. At the end of the day, the apartment’s modernity and clean finishes won Sanders and Wilson over. “We were prepared to do renovations,” Sanders says, “if we found something we loved. But we didn’t expect to find what we did, which is an apartment whose finishes and proportions don’t scream, ‘Redo me!’ And the fact that the budget wasn’t eaten up by having to raise the doorways, or move the walls, let me be far more expressive with my design.” Photo: Nicholas Sargent/Styling by Sean Mellyn