Designer adds luxe lady’s touch to former East Village ‘man cave’

When Kerry Dempsey bought her 700-square-foot studio co-op on East 11th Street and Broadway back in 2003, she walked into an abandoned man cave. “The guy who was here built a soundproof studio where he could play drums, and clip lights with wires were dangling everywhere,” recalls Dempsey, who works in business development for a hedge fund.

But she saw the home’s potential: 14-foot ceilings, a cozy loft bedroom and four huge windows with an inspiring view of Grace Church and the old St. Denis Hotel (now office building) across the street — a scene that has remained surprisingly unchanged.

This particular building has history, too: It was constructed in 1868 and became McCreery & Co., a dry goods emporium selling shawls, silks, furs and other selections to attract female shoppers. In the 1940s, the upper floors became a ladies shoe and handbag factory until there was a fire in 1971, which gutted the edifice, though the decorative cast-iron façade survived. In 1972, a developer bought it and turned it into residences.

“I loved the building and the location … this specific apartment was so light and airy — and I fell in love with the windows,” says Dempsey, 43, who snatched it up for under $400,000. The padded drum cell was removed by the seller, and Dempsey hired professionals to strip the floors, re-tile the bathroom, update the kitchen and create a little office nook that could be concealed behind sliding translucent panels.

But there’s only so much you can do without an interior designer’s expert eye. “After seven or eight years here, I felt like the apartment needed a facelift,” she says. “You know, a little Botox.”

So Dempsey went online and, after perusing a few different professional interior design websites, was drawn to the work of NYC-based interior designer Brendan Kwinter-Schwartz, the principal and owner of Kwinter & Company. “I liked her balance of clean design that isn’t too modern,” explains Dempsey. “All of her rooms are designed to be warm and livable.”

Kwinter-Schwartz saw the apartment’s potential, too. The rectangular space was narrow, but the wall of huge windows filled it with light. “The bones were really good,” recalls the designer, “but it looked like someone had lived here, put the stuff in, and gone to work.”

Dempsey is, one could say, a classic New York City woman: confident, attractive, smart, with an incredible shoe collection. She travels often for her job and has only about five minutes to relax before rushing off to the office or dinner with friends. She craved a place “where I can come home and just plop on the couch.”

Kwinter-Schwartz got the message and in early 2012 went to work. “Kerry just kind of handed me the keys and said, ‘Please get this done.’ She’s a busy woman.”

Her client had things in all of the usual places: a dining area was close to the small kitchen and entrance to the apartment; the living room area was off in the far corner, past the office nook. Kwinter-Schwartz flip-flopped the layout, moving the living room/chill-out area nearer to the kitchen and front door, thus making the couch much more plop-able. (“I had a big dining room table there, which was a big use of space that was being wasted,” Dempsey admits.)

The designer got rid of the table but kept the chairs, lightening them up with slipcovers in white and blue. She arranged them — along with two loveseats — around a low coffeetable from Resource Furniture, which can be adjusted in height to a dining table in a pinch, transforming the former living room area into a versatile space for entertaining.

Kwinter-Schwartz’s master stroke ended up being the least noticeable — installing a long, low console of her own design that runs nearly the entire length of the apartment. Painted white with a white marble surface, set discreetly under the windows, it gives Dempsey a vast amount of hidden storage space for dishes, clothes and toys for Grover, her insanely cute miniature Australian Shepherd. Dempsey kept the home office nook the same, which is filled with books and photos. “Now it’s also got my wine fridge,” say Dempsey. “You know, priorities.”

A huge framed mirror leans against the wall in the dining/entertaining area — making the already long apartment feel as if it goes on and on like a hallway in Versailles. The mirror was another of the designer’s tricks, and the biggest challenge since it didn’t fit in the elevator: “They had to use the stairs to carry the mirror up the fourth floor. It took 2½ hours!” Kwinter-Schwartz says.

As for the cozy loft bedroom, the designer brightened things up with a new bedframe and linens, as well as a retractable curtain made of woven cotton with a lining for blocking out light.

The redesign took around six months and, overall, the apartment feels open, clean and optimistic. “I wanted to make it very calm. Like a chic hotel room,” says Kwinter-Schwartz.

But there are also plenty of perfect, personal touches, like the small bar in the living room area, with its encouraging “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere” sign hanging on a bottle. Nearby are solid wooden stool-tables by Tucker Robbins in black and white. A tiger-stripe printed pillow in the dining area provides a touch of funkiness and a huge photo over the couch of a spa in Reykjavik adds mystery. “The water is the color of Kerry’s eyes,” says Kwinter-Schwartz.

The entire process was so inspiring that Dempsey and Kwinter-Schwartz are teaming up for another project: a house Dempsey recently bought in Sag Harbor. It was built in 1947, has had the same resident for 30 years and needs a lot of work: an interior designer’s catnip. “We are gutting and starting from scratch,” says Kwinter-Schwartz, with a glint of excitement in her eye.

Dempsey, who is currently single, is traveling less these days. She hopes the house will be her sanctuary away from the busy city. Still, Kwinter-Schwartz should make sure to carve out space for a man cave, because there will certainly be a lot of room in Ms. Dempsey’s life for one very lucky guy. You know what they say: build it and they will come.