The couple’s 2,300-square-foot Upper East Side “classic six” needed months of work—fine by Duffer and Hindsgaul, whose primary home is in Los Angeles, where they live with daughters Pippa, 4, and Saga, 2. The six-room layout offered great bones, but required a full rethinking.
Given the scale of the overhaul, choosing the right designer felt especially important. Their designer of choice was Kyle O’Donnell of Gramercy Design, whose work on Stranger Things actor David Harbour’s downtown loft resonated with them. “We just called him up, and we connected immediately,” says Duffer. “Kyle had a strong view of what he could do with the space, and Sarah did as well, so I deferred to them.”
Gramercy Design created dome-like curves on the foyer’s ceiling, inspired by the 1920s architecture of the building. The custom brass pendant was fabricated by Remains Lighting, and the steel console is by Pietro Franceschini.
O’Donnell was thrilled to have the opportunity to “touch every surface” of the dignified home. “We wanted to respect the architecture of the building itself,” he says. “So we reinterpreted a lot of details like plaster moldings and restored the oak flooring.”
Everyone agreed to keep the existing layout, with some modifications. The primary bedroom’s narrow bathroom was expanded by relocating the vanity into a new dressing area, and the kitchen gained a few square feet. “We needed a more modern kitchen,” says Hindsgaul. “I grew up in Copenhagen, and I was really missing that kind of European layout.” Her Scandinavian roots informed another aspect of the kitchen: wall tiles depicting Viking ships, which O’Donnell commissioned from Douglas Watson Studio in England to read as a single Delft-style mural.
Hindsgaul and Duffer in the kitchen with Pippa and Saga. Viking-themed custom wall tiles, made in England at Douglas Watson Studio, are a nod to Hindsgaul’s Scandinavian upbringing. The room’s lighting, which includes flush mounts and pendants of different heights, required some ingenuity. “There was this wild-beam layout; instead of covering it up, we embraced it,” says the designer.