A modern, functional apartment in east London designed by New York interior design studio Charlie Ferrer. The client, a single lawyer, asked for a modern, functional, low-maintenance home that would serve as a physical and visual refuge from the busy city. While the client was interested in pragmatism, he was also interested in art. He even drew some abstract paintings himself and planned to hang them in the space. He may not call himself an artist, but he has a good eye for color and form.

“The homeowner wanted to keep to a very limited palette, probably more limited than anything I’ve ever worked on,” says Ferrer. Each color, therefore, was chosen with special care. The warm brown of the walnut floor immediately became a building block of the apartment’s neutral tones. The client commissioned from Ferrer three pieces of custom walnut furniture—a dining table, coffee table, and entry cabinet in a style reminiscent of Pierre Jeanneret—and wanted the pieces finished to precisely match the floor. 

Pale gray and black are the two other key colors in the masculine palette. Ferrer refinished all the interior doors in a matte light gray and used the same color for the living area’s chairs and flat weave rug. Black further defines the space; Ferrer left the original black granite kitchen counters undisturbed, then added a black Serge Mouille–style lighting fixture over the dining table, a black velvet custom sofa, and a “deep oceanic blue-black” lacquered finish to the kitchen cabinetry.