Real Estate

Keep it ‘Real’

I really do have it all,” Ramona Singer says happily. “I have a great husband, a wonderful daughter and such a pretty home.”

But Singer, one of “The Real Housewives of New York City” (which had its Season 3 premiere last Thursday on Bravo), has to admit that her home came about because she didn’t get what she always wanted.

“I wanted an apartment on Park Avenue,” she says. “In my mind, it just had to be Park Avenue. But everything I saw was either dark or needed to be totally renovated. We got into a bidding war for one place.”

Singer lost: “I decided to let it go.”

She finally looked at a new Upper East Side condo that was farther — and less fashionably — east. “I realized,” she says, “that I could make this look like a prewar apartment.”

In 1998, Singer, husband Mario and their daughter, Avery, now 15 years old, settled into a 2,500-square-foot, four-bedroom, 3½-bathroom condo they bought for $1.4 million. It has a den, a maid’s room, a storage room with a washer/dryer, a breakfast room and plenty of space for Singer’s elaborate wardrobe.

“I have more closet space than a classic 10,” she says. “I know because I’m a clothes fanatic, and when we were looking for an apartment, I would go with a measuring tape.”

The living/dining room is a spectacular double-sized room — 20 feet wide and 38 feet long — with five wide floor-to-ceiling windows. “The best part is that it gets lots of light. On sunny days, you need sunglasses,” Singer jokes.

As the original owner of the condo, Singer made lots of changes. The ceilings were already beamed, but she put in molding throughout the apartment and around all the doors. (About those doorways: Since the building is completely wheelchair-accessible, they are a roomy 36 inches wide.)

She opened archways, closed off walls and put in a door of etched glass leading to the breakfast room. “I changed every door because I love the three-paneled look,” she says. “All the doors were custom-made, and I put new hardware on them, too.”

The living room is painted a soft, sunny yellow. “It’s my own custom mixture,” she says. “I call it Ramona’s Special Color. I saw something like it in an antiques store. They had their walls painted a deeper color of this. But that was too dark. So I, with the painter, toned it down to this color.”

The end result is an apartment that looks like a page out of Architectural Digest. Not surprising since Singer, who did all the decorating herself, reads the magazine for inspiration. “I really like design,” she says. “My home’s traditional; I’m a traditional woman.”

Though it cost “several hundred-thousand” dollars for all the renovations, “it only took about three months,” she says. “I’m very efficient.”

Efficiency is crucial because Singer’s got an awful lot on her plate. Besides being a wife and mother, Singer has a multipronged career.

In addition to being one of the city’s original “Real Housewives” (the New York show debuted in 2008), she and Mario work on her line of affordable jewelry, True Faith Jewelry (truefaithjewelry.com). And she recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Ramona Singer Jewelry line for the Home Shopping Network, which includes estate jewelry and Art Deco pieces. She also has a skin-care line, Tru Renewal, which she calls “food for the skin.” (It’s available at ramonasinger.com.)

And now she’s starting to design a handbag line.

“Some women like to lunch. Some like to shop. I like to create businesses,” Singer says. “I love the whole challenge of it, the creativity of it, and the success of it.”

And does she still enjoy being a Real Housewife?

“When I first spoke to the producers about being on the show, I thought it was just a hoot,” she says. “I had no intention of doing it.” But she’s glad she did: “It’s been the best adventure.”

Given Singer’s busy schedule, it’s no wonder she cherishes her time at home with her husband and daughter.

“I make my family feel good about themselves,” she says. “There’s a reason why I’m married 18 years. I make my husband feel good. And I have a great daughter, who I make feel good. The No. 1 priority of a housewife is her family. That’s my priority. I have a business, but family is everything.”

Ramona Singer’s Favorite Things

* Daughter Avery’s room; Avery decorated it herself

* A small covered dish that’s a memento of a trip Singer and her husband, Mario, made to Turkey

* Photos of Singer and Mario in Positano, Italy; they go there every year

* Her bed with its Ann Gish linens

* Her Biedermeier tables, chairs and dining room set from the 1800s

* A chandelier made from one piece of alabaster, a birthday present from her husband