A Designed-Down-to-the-Last-Inch Greenwich Village Apartment

The couple bought the two-bedroom in 2014 because of its bones: 13-foot-high ceilings and arched windows over 10th Street. Then they gutted it to build something more spectacular. Photo: Michael Weinstein

Rudy Weissenberg and Rodman Primack customized every inch of their two-bedroom co-op on 10th Street. They ripped out the floors, opened walls, and replaced windows and doors. Custom oak cabinetry, which warms up the kitchen, runs the length of a passageway, hiding a set of deep floor-to-ceiling closets. Oak also frames a custom L-shaped sofa, designed by Primack and topped with velvet cushions in Yves Klein blue. Thirteen feet of cracker-thin steel bookshelves that seem to float is anchored into the wall by designer Gabrielle Shelton. In the bedroom, playful arrows zip across wallpaper that came from the mind of Primack himself, the former executive director of Design Miami who runs his own design firm, RP Miller. “It was a true gut. Everything is custom,” says Weissenberg, an entrepreneur and designer. “We really did this apartment together.”

For the bathrooms, the couple gave over control to their friend Max Lamb, a British artist who produces thoughtful, occasionally bizarre furniture. Lamb had recently spent two years working with Italian quarries to concoct a terrazzo made of red Rosso Verona and green Verde Alpi, suspended in a milky, pinkish marble. The material, which he calls Marmoreal, quickly took off — as an ideal background for Instagram selfies at the Maison Kitsuné store in Paris and in various dining rooms and trendy cafés. But its best use may be in Weissenberg and Primack’s bathrooms. In each, every wall is covered with the stuff, which also forms the sink basin, toilet-paper holders, and matching footstools. “I find the material makes everything seem soft and delicious,” says Weissenberg, who nicknamed the material “nougat.” “It’s welcoming. It’s happy. It’s uplifting — the colors, the monumentality of it.”

A single slab — 49 by 120 inches — costs around $2,000, but the couple are not pulling it down to sell; they consider their bathrooms to be site-specific art installations. “Everything, including the bathrooms, has all been done by artists and craftsmen at a very high level,” says Mary Ellen Cashman, their broker, who started showing the place this week and learned she needs to book more time for each appointment. “You have to give people a minute to kind of take it all in.”

The entrance, on the right, hides between custom oak closets in a wide foyer. On the left side, between more cabinetry, is the kitchen, whose wall was opened up in a major renovation. Photo: Michael Weinstein

All the shelving, outside of closets, is open — better to display Weissenberg and Primack’s many collections. “Our spaces are sort of safe spaces where we enjoy the things we collect,” Weissenberg says. Photo: Michael Weinstein

The kitchen features stainless steel — more practical to clean — and a yellow faucet. Broker Mary Ellen Cashman says some of her clients are bored of the safe black-and-white finishes. “I think having a little more character and having an apartment that has more personality is really appreciated in the city,” she says. Photo: Michael Weinstein

Oak paneling that matches the cabinetry leads into the bedroom. The floors are a stained concrete. “Part of our ethos is to use as few materials as possible,” says Weissenberg. Photo: Michael Weinstein

Primack is a textile designer who created the playful wallpaper, which continues onto a headboard that was embroidered with cacti by artisans in Guatemala, where Weissenberg is from. Photo: Michael Weinstein

The en suite bathroom is almost entirely encased in Marmoreal, a terrazzo created by their friend, designer Max Lamb. Weissenberg says they consider the bathrooms to be site-specific installations. Photo: Michael Weinstein

The couple converted the apartment’s second bedroom into a home office and installed new casement-style doors and windows. The door leads to a private terrace that stretches down the width of the apartment. Photo: Michael Weinstein

The terrace, behind the building, is removed from the bustle of 10th Street. Photo: Michael Weinstein

Thin steel shelves that stretch to the ceiling accentuate the apartment’s 13-foot-high ceilings. It was custom-designed by Gabrielle Shelton, and the couple supported the use of steel throughout the rest of the apartment — in a kitchen backsplash and casement windows. Photo: Michael Weinstein

Blue burlap wallpaper adds texture but is simple enough to showcase art. The built-in sofa is as wide as a twin mattress and doubles as a guest bed. “We wanted this very thick, delicious velvet,” Weissenberg says. “This very deep blue just drew us in.” Photo: Michael Weinstein

The main bath features a tub, walled-in Marmoreal, and a Marmoreal footstool. “I find the material makes everything seem soft and delicious,” Weissenberg says. Photo: Michael Weinstein