“It is something I wouldn’t recommend for someone who isn’t very patient,” Goodman says of the stripes he painted around the living room after developing the pattern on his computer. “The stripes add to the size of the room, while most people would think they’d make it smaller. And when you see people against the striped wall, everyone looks amazing. It’s almost surreal.”When designers Steven Charlton and Jeffrey Goodman traded in their glass-walled California hilltop house for a Manhattan apartment, they knew they had to bring some of those lazy horizontals east. But instead of opting for white-brick sprawl, they chose an upright brownstone floor-through, off Park in the Twenties, injecting a Left Coast mood through color (lavender, silver) and lifestyle (relaxed parties with potato pancakes and chocolate fondue – a hit with their 6-year-old son, Lucas). The final west-meets-east touch is at the center of every room, where the pair’s collection of sixties light fixtures have updated the nineteenth-century apartment’s ceilings: Looking up, the family can almost pretend they’re not in New York anymore.
Goodman and Charlton’s City Guide
Weekend Routine: “We go every Saturday to the art galleries in Chelsea, and then we take Lucas to the Clement Clarke Moore Park at 22nd and Tenth. It’s a good reward. For lunch, The Park 118 Tenth Ave., near 18th St.; 212-352-3313.”
eating out: “We like Spread 323 Third Ave., at 24th St.; 212-683-8880. Not just because we designed it – it’s very convenient, and Lucas hangs out in the kitchen.”
eating in: “With a kid, you go to the corner supermarket every day. But the best market in New York is Whole Foods 250 Seventh Ave., at 24th St.; 212-924-5969. For wine, Gramercy Wines 121 E. 23rd St.; 212-505-0550.”
personal styling: Goodman likes Vivienne Westwood, 71 Greene St.; 212-334-5200. Charlton prefers Dries van Noten, at Barneys New York, 600 Madison Ave., at 61st St.; 212-826-8900. “Lucas, of course, wears mostly jeans.”
for the apartment: “Terence Conran Shop 407 E. 59th St.; 212-755-9079 has nice presentation and good variety. We’ve bought a lot of stuff at Moss 146 Greene St.; 212-226-2190. For vintage pieces, we like C.I.T.E. Design 100 Wooster St.; 212-431-7272.”
Booking up: “We love the Oscar Wilde bookshop 15 Christopher St.; 212-255-8097. Archivia 1063 Madison Ave., near 80th St.; 212-439-9194 has amazing design books. Books of Wonder 16 W. 18th St.; 212-989-3270 is great for Lucas.”
playing host: “We like to have comfortable parties – we do big old cooking as opposed to nouvelle cuisine. We did a chocolate fondue and apple martinis for Steven’s birthday. Everyone came in their pj’s, which was great.”
Above: Jeffrey Goodman in the living room. To keep things as airy as possible, the designers used their own low-lying furniture, available at See (920 Broadway, near 20th St.; 212-228-3600): two leather Bossanova chaises, marble-topped bronze drink tables, an Ultrasuede-and-vinyl patchwork stool. In the corner, their Electa chair sits on tiny reflective aluminum legs. Above the stainless-steel fireplace, a charcoal drawing by friend Daniel Brice; to the left, a forties metal sculpture found at the Chelsea flea market. On the floor, a Bolan rug made of plastic fiber that looks like sisal but is kid- and dogproof.
Below: Goodman painted this surreal work himself; it now hangs opposite their bed over an enameled metal bench. The plastic chair is an un-pedigreed seventies version of the Knoll chairs in the dining room.