How One Designer Brought a Discerning Eye to Her Deeply Personal Manhattan Apartment

Ask an interior designer about their most difficult client, and there’s a good chance they’ll name themselves. Dani Dennis spent more than a decade at Mark Cunningham Inc. before founding her own New York–based practice, Danielette Dennis Interiors, translating other people’s tastes into rooms. “I’m such a decisive person,” she says of her approach to projects ranging from a traditional Brooklyn Heights townhouse to a sleek Park Avenue pied-à-terre. But when it came to decorating her own Gramercy Park apartment that she shares with her husband and two daughters, Dennis had no client brief to answer to—and no one to make the final call but herself.When the family moved in three years ago, the apartment had plenty going for it: tall windows, handsome moldings, and an airy living and dining area. Dennis left the architecture alone, putting furniture, textiles, and her growing art collection to work instead. Benjamin Moore’s Steam keeps the walls a warm white, though the rooms are anything but hands-off. “I almost wanted it to feel like a gallery,” she says. “But, obviously, it’s lived in, and I have kids, so nothing is too precious.”A portrait by Patrick Eugène, sourced via Mariane Ibrahim, anchors one end of the living room. Nearby are an Alfred Grenander chair upholstered in Toyine Sellers fabric, a black mushroom side table by Emma Donnersberg, and Christian Woo’s Noga Cube side table. A portrait of a young girl by Jerrell Gibbs hangs near a Pierre Augustin Rose Cadillac ottoman upholstered in Rosemary Hallgarten’s alpaca bouclé. Vintage Saint-Louis crystal, sourced at the Paris flea market, sits atop the credenza. The living room’s opposing sofas encourage conversation. The sofa (right), upholstered in Pierre Frey wool and mohair, is by Marked NYC. The ceiling fixture is a reedition of Pierre Chareau’s Quart de Rond lamp, and the rug is by Scott Group Studio. Joseph-André Motte chairs surround the dining table, while a 1960s Italian burlwood credenza from Naga Antiques sits beneath an abstract painting by Carmen Neely. The dining rug is by Crosby Street Studios. A first-generation American of Liberian heritage, Dennis has built a collection of art that includes contemporary Black artists from across the diaspora. A painting of girls playing in a circle takes her back to her school days in Côte d’Ivoire. Others show Black women in moments of rest and repose. “I want my kids and my family to be surrounded by reflections of us,” she says. Her clients’ collections tell their own stories; this one tells hers. Black joy runs through the collection, but Dennis doesn’t shop by theme; she listens to her gut. “I buy what I love,” she says. “I don’t buy for decoration.”Dennis is equally at ease with an English-country chintz and a graphic geometric. In her own home, she borrows a little from everywhere, favoring clean lines and unexpected combinations. A custom sofa in Sanderson velvet faces a curved Marked NYC design in Pierre Frey wool and mohair. Camel-colored lounge chairs play against the sharp geometry of a Roger Sprunger coffee table; a 1906 Josef Hoffmann side table and an early-20th-century Alfred Grenander chair join the mix. “When the harmony comes from shape and proportion and feeling, I think that’s what makes spaces dynamic,” she says.An expressive Ferrari Sheppard painting, acquired through Massimo De Carlo in Milan, hangs above a custom sofa upholstered in Sanderson’s indigo Quartz velvet. Camel-colored chairs wear Holland & Sherry fabric. A glass-and-metal coffee table by Roger Sprunger joins a modernist stool by Charles Vandenhove and JM Szymanski’s slender Table No. 3. HAY Amanta ChairArhaus Kenneth Martini TableDennis took a moodier approach in the library, where the family gathers. The walls and ceiling are painted the same dark hue, creating a cozy retreat for her two daughters, who prefer sprawling on the soft rug to sitting on the sofa. Artwork includes a floral painting by Alexandria Tarver and Hazel Mphande’s Stone or Lavender (2021). The striped pillows are in Fortuny fabric. Waymaker Wall Art by Tyler GuinnQuince Wool Camp BlanketThe dining table seats 10. Dinner guests, however, are still forthcoming. “I haven't had people over yet, because in my head it’s not done,” Dennis says. Joseph-André Motte chairs surround the table, while a 1960s Italian burlwood credenza and a Crosby Street Studios rug anchor the dining area. The living room sofas were positioned for entertaining too, although the family’s day-to-day use of the space is less formal. For Dennis’s daughters, 10 and seven, the mohair-and-wool sofa comes with ground rules: “You guys can sit on it, you can perch, but if we want to play, let’s do it elsewhere.”The library, on the other hand, is fair game. The girls can sprawl out with a book or watch TV, though they rarely bother with the sofa. “They’re always lying on the rug,” Dennis says. She painted the walls a deep olive-green, carrying it across the ceiling for an enveloping effect. The art also takes a moodier turn, with a floral painting by Alexandria Tarver and a black-and-white self-portrait by Hazel Mphande. The primary bedroom, meanwhile, provides a brighter, quieter escape. “I always wanted to be in a cloud,” the designer says of the neutral palette. The upholstered bed, 1970s steel bench in alpaca wool, and leather-bound nightstands supply the texture.Since the photo shoot, Dennis has switched out accessories and rearranged objects. When she recently swapped a lamp in the living room, even her husband took notice. “Another one?” he asked. At work, Dennis knows when to call a room finished. At home, she’s beginning to wonder why she should.“I always wanted to be in a cloud,” Dennis says of the primary bedroom, where texture takes precedence over color. A vintage 1970s steel bench with alpaca upholstery sits at the foot of the bed, while leather-clad nightstands add another tactile element. The ceramic lamp is by Christiane Perrochon, and the understated artwork above the bed is by Carmen Neely. Pierre Augustin Rose Cadillac OttomanCrate & Barrel Ophelia Ceramic Vase