Studio DB Enlivens the Top Floors of a Greek Revival House in the East Village

Designer Britt Zunino was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, her architect husband Damian in the West Village. But they’re now both bona fide New Yorkers with four kids, a Union Square loft, and a Flatiron District–based firm, Studio DB, founded in 2007. The pandemic notwithstanding, the practice is plenty robust. On the boards are some 20 projects including ones in Florida and Italy. Newly completed and closer to home are the top two floors of a circa 1900 Greek Revival house for another young Manhattan couple. In the East Village, the residence is near where the clients had been living but miles away in scope. From a tiny apartment, they came to this spacious condo comprising 3,200 square feet. “The property was bigger than anything they had ever owned,” Britt Zunino begins. But it needed work.

The site was “was full of dark and heavy millwork, and they didn’t want to do a lot of construction,” Damian Zunino adds. Fortunately, all four shared a singular vision: airy and contemporary with limited pops of color. Studio DB’s initial approach entailed applying coats of light paint, refinishing the oak flooring, and adding “targeted gestures,” in the form of unexpected wallpaper and knockout furnishings imparting individuality to each room.

Entry is on the lower level, which is the private zone. Newly serene, the primary bedroom has whitewashed woodwork and a pleated cotton pendant fixture overlooking a bedframe and ribbed wool rug, both in creamy colorways. Also here is a guest bedroom, an office, and a music room. The winding stair, its spindles and handrail freshly painted ebony for contrast, leads to the upstairs public zone composed of a living room and a library, separated by pocket doors, and a contiguous family room, dining area, and kitchen-cum-sunroom leading to a terrace.