The reality star has lived in her fair share of rentals over the years in NYC, so she has a number of “little party tricks” up her sleeve to make temporary quarters feel like home. “I don’t have a key to the park, but I’m going to become a Gramercy girl and do what I always do, which is decorate, decorate, decorate, pour money into a rental, and not care if I get my security deposit back,” Whitfield says. Swapping the light fixtures and outlet panel covers in favor of some more opulent touches, putting up whimsical wallpapers, and weaving in sumptuous textures were among the ways she gave her rental the Brynn aesthetic, which she thinks of as “1970s Parisian vibes, sprinkled in with some antiques and funky contemporary pieces—it’s all over the place.”
As eclectic as it sounds, there was method to the madness. Whitfield’s easygoing party girl persona on RHONY belies her shrewd corporate strategist’s approach to nearly all spheres of life. “I did a deck [for the apartment’s design]; I create a deck for anything, even when I go on trips. I have for years,” she says. Adding to that game plan was personal consult from friends with some serious art and design bonafides: her castmates Jenna Lyons, the fashion and interiors mogul, Erin Lichy, a realtor and interior designer, and the art curator and advisor Racquel Chevremont, who joins the cast this upcoming season.
With her friends and a boost from the design marketplace Minted, Whitfield pulled it all together in time. “I sent so many options to Jenna from 1stDibs. She just was doing thumbs up, thumbs down [on texts],” Whitfield says. “She saw 12 different iterations of the chair I’m sitting on right now.”
