Warm Minimalism Defines This New York Townhouse

Paola Singer

As a college student, Juniper Tedhams began buying and selling antiques to earn some spending money. This wasn’t a typical side job for someone in her early 20s, but then again, Tedhams wasn’t headed in a traditional direction: She was earning a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago, under the tutelage of trailblazing American artist Kerry James Marshall. Although she would become disillusioned with the art world after moving to New York City, her love of antiques persisted, and Tedhams decided to open a shop on the ground floor of the Chelsea townhouse where she lived (and still does).

Her painstakingly curated collection of objects—everything from 16th-century commodes to 1950s Jean Prouvé armchairs—began to attract a circle of established architects, stylists, and designers, including Stephen Sills and his former partner James Huniford. The famous pair befriended Tedhams, slowly but surely nudging her into a career in interior design. “In 2004, they invited me to be in a showroom called the Hamptons Cottage & Garden Idea House,” she recalls. “That really cemented things for me, and shortly afterward I opened my own firm.”

Tedhams used raw Marmorino plaster (finished with beeswax to add a subtle sheen) on the walls of the home’s parlor level. The fireplace, mantel, and mirror, which are original to the house, were paired with a slim custom-designed wooden chandelier and an abstract metal panel made by the designer, who holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Tedhams was not exactly a novice. She had acquired quite a bit of experience while renovating her own home, a 19th-century townhouse purchased in 1998 with her mother and sister. “It was in really bad shape, filled with a warren of tiny rooms that were once rented out,” says Tedham of the four-story property, which has been repaired and remodeled in various stages over the years. “It was crazy of us to even take it on, yet it forced me to learn about construction and design.” These days, Tedhams and her husband, lighting architect Sean O’Connor, live on the garden and parlor levels of the house, while her sister occupies the top two floors. The home’s ample rooms were decorated with a minimalist sensibility and an eye for diversity. “I’m a very sentimental person, but I’m not sentimental about objects and I don’t like clutter,” says Tedhams, who also has a home in Los Angeles, where her husband’s studio is based. “I love minimalist spaces that also also feel warm and organic.”

Indeed, by mixing a handful of antiques with a selection of midcentury pieces and contemporary wooden furnishings featuring simple lines, she achieved just that. In the living room, for example, a large gilded mirror and an archway with intricate moldings—both original to the house—add some extravagance to an otherwise restrained environment decorated with a rustic sideboard from the 1800s, a glass-and-metal coffee table from the 1960s, and a new rectangular gray sofa. “I’ve lived here for 20 years, and as I continued to fix the house I never wanted it to feel brand-new,” says the designer. “I think that’s part of the reason why there are references to many different time periods.”

Warm Minimalism Defines This New York Townhouse

Interior designer Juniper Tedhams and her husband, lighting architect Sean O’Connor, split their time between Los Angeles and New York, where they live on the garden and parlor levels of a four-story townhouse in Chelsea. They bought the 19th-century edifice in the late '90s with Tedhams's mother and sister; the latter now occupies the top two levels of the property. “It was in really bad shape, filled with a warren of tiny rooms that were once rented out,” remembers Tedhams. “It was crazy of us to even take it on, yet it forced me to learn about construction and design.” She has embarked on several renovation projects over the years, including the installation of these new steel-framed windows and doors.
A long stone table with a steel frame, designed by Tedhams, anchors the open kitchen on the garden level. The teak and cane dining chairs are part of Pierre Jeanneret’s Chandigarh series, designed in the '50s for a project in India led by his cousin, Le Corbusier. The ceramic vase is a midcentury piece by Arthur Andersen, purchased at Maison Gerard.
A section of the kitchen was covered in six-inch Moroccan tiles from Mosaic House. Tedhams chose three different colors and asked that they be placed in a random pattern, a task that turned out to be harder than expected. “In the end it wasn’t really that random,” she says. “Because we had to make sure that the colors were spread out in a way that made sense.” On the stainless-steel tables, we see a Pavoni espresso machine and an ebonized walnut dish rack designed by Tedhams.
This small sitting room, which opens into a leafy courtyard, has a custom-made wooden sofa modeled after a Jean-Michel Frank design, paired with a tile-and-steel Roger Capron coffee table from the '60s and a rare Pierre Jeanneret “Chandigarh” armchair with turned legs (most pieces from this 1950s collection have V-shaped angular legs).
In the living room, a large gilded mirror, a carved marble fireplace, and an archway with intricate moldings—all original to the house—add some extravagance to an otherwise restrained environment. Tedhams referenced diverse time periods in this street-facing space, furnished with a rustic sideboard made with a 19th-century saddlemaker’s table, a 1960s glass-and-metal coffee table by Philippe Hiquily, a custom-designed gray rectangular sofa, and curvilinear white armchairs, also designed by Tedhams. “It’s the sunniest spot in the house,” she says. “So we spend a lot of time here.”
Tedhams used raw Marmorino plaster (finished with beeswax to add a subtle sheen) on the walls of the home’s parlor level. The fireplace, mantel, and mirror, which are original to the house, were paired with a slim custom-designed wooden chandelier and an abstract metal panel made by the designer, who holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
This study, which connects the living room to the master bedroom, shows Tedhams’s love of “minimalist spaces that also also feel warm and organic.” A rustic wooden cabinet of unknown origin (but modeled after an Alexandre Noll design from the '50s) pairs nicely with a curvilinear elm coffee table by Pierre Chapo and a framed mirror by Jean-Michel Frank. The white plaster artwork on the wall, by Stephen Antonson, adds some edginess.
Tedhams designed this wooden bed frame, built by Erik Gustafson, to create privacy in the master bedroom. “The parlor floor is very long, kind of a like a railroad car,” says the designer. “Since the middle of the space doesn’t get a lot of light, I don’t like to close the doors, so I had the idea of creating a sort of shelter.” The bedcover is a throw by Perrine Rousseau from ALT for Living, and the pillows are covered in an ivory jacquard from Donghia called Hanoi.
In the downstairs bathroom, Tedhams used one of the antique troughs as a sink, pairing it with an unlacquered brass faucet and showerhead from Waterworks. Above it hangs a mirror by French artist Line Vautrin, a highly collectible piece from the 1950s. The wooden privacy screen was made by Erik Gustafson. “Only an interior designer could live with a bathroom this impractical,” jokes Tedhams.
Tedhams used to spend long periods of time in London, where she bought a series of 18th-century stone troughs, now used as planters in the garden. She also acquired dozens of glazed terra-cotta bricks from the 19th century, which formerly paved an English livestock yard. “They look like giant dominoes,” she says of the rectangular pieces, which also cover the floors of the sitting room and bathroom just inside. “They were made this way so the cattle didn’t slip.”