VT Home Founder Joe Lupo in his NYC Studio
When the clients commissioned us to reimagine their new apartment in the famed New York Landmark Building—The Astor—they had just moved in a year earlier and were not satisfied with their first attempt at the space. They felt it needed a bit more glamour to fit the architecture of the building, but as a young growing family, they also knew it had to be real and livable.
The building itself had just been completely renovated and converted into 1-5 bedroom residences—with all bedrooms featuring en-suite bathrooms—and done in incredible scale and glorious proportion.
This particular home is a four bedroom plus a den and a great room, with an open concept living space. The great room is an unusual pie shape, as it’s situated on one of the corners of the building, so this presented us with a design challenge as far as symmetry was concerned.
In the dining area, we opted for an oval carpet under the table. Just off the kitchen, we designed a banquette for the three small children to eat and work on school projects. Once the children are older, we intend to find a chic sideboard and remove the banquette.
The living room sofa and chairs are all designed by VT Home and crafted in our workroom in NYC. The stand alone chair to the left was designed by Joe Lupo and produced by . We upholstered the ivory sofa in child-proof krypton fabric from Romo.
The cocktail table is custom from Wendell Castle and the lamps are from . I love mixing style periods in my designs, and as you can see, this family wanted an elegant living room.
The guest bedroom is where they wanted to be adventurous and experiment with color. We loved the color purple and just went for it. We also found a pair of brutalist lamps and 1960’s ebonized wood nightstands from .
In the large bedroom suite, we designed a zen space with the Sunset photograph by . The heavy ivory drapery we chose creates a sense of luxury and privacy.
I custom designed the bookshelves and had them made locally by our millworker. The shagreen make up table is from .
We let loose and had a lot of fun designing the childrens’ bedrooms. The colorful wall-covering is from Pierre Frey and the gorgeous green is from Kelly Wearstler’s collection. The walnut chandelier we found at Apparatus Studio.
Photographs by Peter Murdoch
To learn more about VT Home, email us at Media@visual-therapy.com or call us at 212.315.223
Created by VT co-founder Joe Lupo, VT Home is what Lupo believes to be the most logical extension of the Visual Therapy process. After co-writing three books on personal style, being recognized as a color expert, Lupo followed his passion and attended Parsons New School for Interior Design.
Lupo builds his unique vision for a space around balance and proportion. He believes that true style is a marriage between antiques, vintage, contemporary, and often custom furniture. A curator at heart, he understands that each item represents a client’s unique style and that optimal combinations create the perfect backdrop to call home.
Since launching VT Home, our studio has designed numerous homes in New York City and the Hamptons, as well as a collection of custom furniture under the VT Home name. Included in Lupo’s most recent projects are a contemporary loft in Chelsea, a classic Fifth Avenue townhouse, a sleek pied-à-terre in the Greenwich Lane and an eight room home in the historic Astor, among others.
