Vintage Glass Handkerchief Vase
Zara Striped Percale Pillowcase
The jobsite, however, was in Tudor City, on Manhattan’s East Side. (Not that Magnes minded, of course.) “Ben is supersmart and creative, so I knew working with him would be fun; I knew he’d be open to the unconventional and likely embrace it,” Magnes explains in regard to Riskin, with whom Andrew goes back more than a decade. The home, a studio apartment inside a century-old building, had great natural light. Its original steel casement windows and pine floor were also beautifully untouched.
“Nothing was really wrong with the apartment except that it hadn’t been changed since the 1970s. Which meant it had a half fridge that you couldn’t open because of the radiator placement, a convection oven, and 12 inches of counter space,” says Riskin, who dismissed the shortcomings after deeming the cost of problems being less than the price of the apartment (the home was listed at under $400,000).
The breakfast table may be out of sight, but it’s never out of mind. “It can be brought out to serve breakfast against the recessed banquette between the kitchen and windows,” says Riskin of the custom design by Venturhaus, a company that specializes in customized camper vans. It features collapsable legs that fold completely inside the tabletop, allowing it to be nestled out of view below the spice rack.