susan and william brinson are high school sweethearts. the couple met at william’s 16th birthday party (when his parents were out of town – always an ingredient for a cool party!). after high school, the couple jointly attended the savannah college of art and design and then shortly after graduation, they moved to new york which has been home for the last ten years. then just six months ago, they moved into this loft in the newly christened NoMad neighborhood (north of madison square park). as a commercial photographer, william needed more space and the loft’s 2,000 square feet has been converted into mostly work space. susan is an art director and has her own stationery line – she also designs custom wedding invitations. the apartment is filled with friends and clients, and most days you’ll find them gathered around the huge dining table! (see additional photos on flickr!) {thanks susan and william! and particular thanks to william for the lovely photographs!} -amy a.
[Overall, our style is about contrast: black and white, light and dark, masculine and feminine, old and new, rustic and modern. Many of our belongings are collected, or given to us by friends or family. The items that friends and family give us are our favorite because they mean so much. We also buy a lot of vintage on Craigslist, Ebay, and thrift stores. We are DIY junkies, we built all the walls, installed lighting, wallpapered, you name it we are into it!]
[image above: Our bedroom is a bit more feminine and softer than the rest of the loft. This is our retreat and a place we relax. We made it large enough for a sitting area so if I come home while William is shooting, I can sneak in the back and let him wrap up the shoot. The furniture is almost all vintage, the headboard was William's grandparents, the dressers are from Savannah - we bought them in college. I have a tea cup collection that my Grandma, Mom, Aunts and friends have contributed to. Each tea cup has it's own personality.]
CLICK HERE for more of Susan and William’s Peek (and all 20 images on one page!)
[image above: The lighting fixture is a DIY project we tackled. It has 100 bulbs. It took us a while to put it together! Only 10 bulbs are active, so they light up the non active bulbs. It is really beautiful when lit. The back wall with salon style art work was a great way for us to display collected art that was very different from each other. Pages from The Grammar of Ornament and a skull from William's uncle are included. Our favorite piece is from artist Emily St John - an oil painting portrait of our boxer dog, Nero.]
[image above: The table is from Restoration Hardware. We had to think about seating everyone on a photo shoot, so the table is very large. We have eight Thonet chairs purchased from Craigslist.]
[My brother-in-law, Mickael Fonteneau designed and built two custom benches to increase the seating to 18 for large photoshoots/dinner parties. The benches are like having 8 folding chairs!]
[image above: Our kitchen is a bit unconventional. We have a very large open kitchen because William photographs food, so we needed a good work area for him and a food stylist. We also love to cook, so we use the space as well. There is almost no furniture in the studio because William photographs using daylight and photo lights, so he needs a lot of empty space to set up. The cabinets, sink and counter are from Ikea.]
[image above: We wanted to make the kitchen feel 'older' so we added the embossed wall paper you can paint. We painted it with outdoor, high gloss paint.The island is a craigslist purchase. Most of our cookware is vintage, I like to buy little pieces for a few dollars, they are nothing fancy, and the more used they look the more I like them.]
[image above: The knife pattern on the wall is from Lamson & Goodnow, which is based in Shelburne Falls - it is the left over part after the knives have been cut out. We picked up at Brooklyn Kitchen.]
[image above:The desk is a DIY project made from plywood covered in cork tiles. Most of the desk objects are vintage. The horse shoes are really donkey shoes (below) and were a gift from our friend Tiziana Agnello who brought them back from a trip to Mexico.]
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