In the adjacent playroom, Sung and Buer embraced the lack of natural light by curating a rich monochromatic look with citron walls and a pear green Audience rug, which references the anthropomorphic quality of homes with an eye motif border. Sung hand-painted a matching eye trim along the ceiling and then hung their daughters’ artwork in ornate, antique frames. The small area is complete with Moonrise Kingdom–inspired built-ins by KLN Studio.
Buer crafted built-in bookshelves himself to flank the original marble fireplace in the dining room, giving it an abundant library feel. “When we used to live in Boston, we would go to a book sale at a church in a neighboring town every weekend,” he remembers. “Phoebe laid out all the books and calculated how high each shelf should be to perfectly house them. And then I put that together. Those are just all our books from about 20 years of collecting.”
The dining room is furnished with a vintage laminate table, four 1970s red tubular chairs from Yugoslavia, and a custom cherry-colored bench. A Pierre Boncompain print hangs above the mantel, while a vintage pendant gifted from the founders of Manhattan design shop Coming Soon illuminates the space. “We realized that all of the light fixtures were the basic landlord rental unit ones, so our friends Fabi and Helena gave us our first nice light,” Sung notes.
