PHOTO: THOMAS LOOF
“We wanted to create a country house in the city,” shares Sara Gilbane of her clients’ Manhattan residence. Taking cues from a prolific collection of antiques and artworks, the designer set about capturing the spirit of the family’s ancestral Pennsylvania farmhouse in their newly purchased downtown apartment, which she took from austere white box to characterful flat alongside architect Gerard Beekman.
Take the guest room, where, enveloped by a painterly Lewis & Wood wallpaper, Gilbane employed streamlined canopies to “cozy up” antique metal beds dressed in early American quilts. Or the entry hall, where the selection of tumbled stone flooring in a timeless black-and-white check lays the foundation for oil painting gallery walls and millwork painted a chalky hue that feels snatched from a country residence benefitting from centuries of patina.
“We live in a world where so much is accessible and, in turn, so much is the same,” muses Gilbane. “That is in part why this ‘old with a twist’ aesthetic is resonating today—it’s refreshing.”
PHOTO: THOMAS LOOF
