Sean Anderson had long dreamed of undertaking a project in Manhattan when he hit the jackpot with a Tribeca penthouse.

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It was a pinch-me moment for the self-taught Expert, who founded his design studio in Tennessee over a decade ago. “I love a challenge and doing something new. Plus, New York is one of my favorite cities,” he says.

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Sean and his team were recommended by architect Jaimie Abel, who was reconfiguring the apartment for a young family moving from just a few floors down in the same building. “The unit they were in had exposed brickwork and that typical loft living materiality which they enjoyed, and here was just sheetrock, so we wanted to re-incorporate some of that,” explains Sean.

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Despite choosing to reside in one of downtown New York’s most densely populated neighborhoods, the family also possessed an outdoorsy quality which resonated with the designer: “They spend a lot of time out West in Wyoming and Utah, and wanted to harness some of those characteristics.”

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Cue a marriage of two opposing ends of the design spectrum: slick, industrial-luxe (by way of steel doors and opulent slabs of veiny marble), and modest yet authentic (thanks to the patina of reclaimed woods and metals). “A lot of my work highlights this—it’s often a push and pull of these opposing points of view that I like so much,” muses Sean.

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The entry and kitchen feature a stone paver floor with tumbled edges to offset the crispness of the millwork and waterfall island. “The floor almost has a decay to it, and with everything else feeling brand new, we wanted to incorporate a sense of a storied past,” explains Sean, who echoed the sentiment on the ceilings with salvaged wooden beams.

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As the kitchen is wrapped in windows and bathed in light thanks to its enviable corner plot, drenching the cabinetry in ebony helped ground the space. As sophisticated as it all appears, the function of everyday life was at the forefront of the design, with Sean conceiving a slim desk for the owners’ two kids to sit up and do their homework.

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A library-meets-den carved out of a hallway connecting the living spaces to the bedrooms makes the most of unused square footage. “It's one of those tricky narrow spots, so we had to ensure the flow worked. We re-imagined it as a cozy spot where you could curl up and read,” says Sean, who designed a custom daybed with a wraparound headboard to do exactly that. Color-drenching the space (using Porcini by Benjamin Moore) is an easy paint trick with a big impact: “The eye doesn’t fight the opposing colors as much, it just serves as a backdrop for everything else you want to highlight.” In this case, the focus was placed on the pair of suede-wrapped ceiling lights by Apparatus, and the rusted screen Sean found in a local vintage store and had mounted on the wall.

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With moody statements dominating the living areas, the neutral principal bedroom was intended as a palate cleanser. “We kept it very simple and tonal, with interesting pieces like the vintage tapestry for the artwork, and the 1930s French dresser,” says Sean. The room is blessed with a serene en-suite where even more Arabescato Corchia marble steals the show. Jaimie conceived the his-and-hers vanities complete with stone drawers, while Sean repeated the steel and glass doors from the kitchen for cohesiveness.

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In the guest room, a trip back around the color wheel awaits with Farrow & Ball’s cocooning Hague Blue on the walls. Attuned to the guest experience, Sean upholstered the niche behind the bed to make a super-size headboard: “If you’re sat on your laptop or reading, it gives you something softer and padded to lean up against.”

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A refuge from the city for both its owners and those lucky enough to stop by, this apartment is a study in elegance. It also provides clever inspiration for how to sweat marble offcuts: look closely and you’ll see slabs of it encasing the entry to the great room and kitchen. It’s an elevated detail you don’t need a Tribeca penthouse to get on board with.

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