A sophisticated modern apartment in the heart of New York City, USA, designed by local interior designer Gil Schafer. Of the many lessons Gil Schafer has learned in his brilliant career, one is perhaps the most practical: "It's always better to experiment with myself than with my clients," says the celebrated New York designer, who has put his love of classical vernacular at the forefront of the creative process. Nowhere is this truer than in one of his homes in the West Village. It is a carefully reconstructed Greek revival treasure house, with crown-inlaid panels, wood-patterned mahogany doors, and two stately Ionian columns that enclose the living quarters.

So when Schafer decided to reimagine the parlor-floor space through a slightly more contemporary lens with help from his firm’s interiors department, it wasn’t without some hesitation. “I’m a hopeless traditionalist,” he says. “I love layers and things that tell a story. Anyone who’s in this business falls in love with objects to their own peril. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve loosened up about mixing pieces from different time periods and paying more attention to what has a nice line or variation in wood color. It’s nice to have this space as a canvas to sketch on as my design thinking evolves.”

The latest iteration of the 900-square-foot apartment retains its classical underpinnings yet serves as an experiment in judicious updating. First, he removed heavy curtains and wall upholstery in the bedroom to give the space an airier feel, then painted the partitions in soothing shades of blue and beige. Knowing that he would retain many of the furnishings—which were collected over time both on professional scouting trips and personal vacations with his wife—he slipcovered chairs in neutral linens and enlivened the sofa with vibrant textiles and throw pillows; a graphic black-and-white rug in the living room lends a sense of modernity and movement to the gently rearranged period-era antiques. “I wanted it to feel different without completely recasting the space,” says Schafer.