Michael Zhao: Baby-Prepping an Entire Apartment

The end of this month marks the start of my tenth year renting the same parlor-level brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. The décor has declined over time as my wife and I cycled between living here full and part time, with and without roommates. It had reached a nadir by the time we reclaimed it for ourselves last month. We moved the furniture we liked to Vermont years ago, so all that was left was a hodgepodge of castoffs, various roommates’ belongings, and stoop finds. It was in desperate need of a redesign, but with our first baby on the way, we had new considerations to keep in mind and a hard deadline for completion.

Last fall, interior designer Max Rollitt told me he gets all his color inspiration from old oil paintings, and I thought of him as I took in Raphael’s Madonna With the Fish at the Met’s recent exhibit. The colors of Mary’s blue dress, the honey-hued wooden seat, pink and red robes, and the backdrop of velvety green felt achievable in our living room.