Tour a Designer's Chic Long Island City Pad

New York City is a nesting doll, made up of cities within cities, all constantly in the act of being built, with more popping up all the time. One of the newest places to explore is Long Island City. Not to be confused with Long Island itself, the Long Island City sits on the western edge of Queens, right at the point where the Queensboro Bridge ends its trip from Manhattan. There, in a luxurious twenty-third floor apartment with commanding views of both Brooklyn and Manhattan, interior designer Tanika Goudeau Hochhauser, the creative principle of the design firm Depsyn makes her home with her husband, Brian, using all of her design abilities to ensure that the view inside her space is every bit as breathtaking as the one outside her window.

From the narrow entryway the space opens wide into the living room, a space made even bigger by the massive windows that look out to Manhattan. This space epitomizes Tanika’s “laid-back luxe stye” combining mid-century modern furnishings with modern accessories for a casual yet sophisticated look. The soft, neutral color palette in this space adds to the relaxed feel while making full use of the light that the room receives. At the same time, light yet meaningful moments of pattern are added to the space through the rug and woven art feature on the wall.

Mirroring the black of the shelves is this painted feature wall. The wall is topped with a white, Cameroonian Juju hat on festive display. Combined, they provide the perfect backdrop to the sleek, modern fireplace that keeps the couple warm through the colder months of the year. A New York luxury, the bio-fuel burning fireplace was installed by Tanika and Brian to complete the look of the space.

Storage is key in every home as is a good dose of creativity. This built-in bookshelf was a DIY project by the couple to create an architectural feature in the home. The finished product was painted black to add a touch of sophistication and contrast to the shelves which hold a fun assortment of small accessories and pieces picked up on travels in Paris, the Netherlands and Japan.