This Vogue Alum's Manhattan Loft Is Beach-House-Level Breezy
Sean Santiago
Updated
I step into Meredith Melling’s NoHo loft as she’s striking a pose. Her son, Wolf, and youngest daughter, India, are crowded around her feet. “What was the best pose?” she asks the kids. It’s a fitting introduction to a woman who spent the better part of her editorial career at Vogue, over the course of which she became something of a style icon known for mixing a distinctly East Coast sensibility (Melling loves a good nautical moment) with bohemian flair. But when she and husband Zach Iscol found and purchased this home four years ago—a contemporary take on a turn-of-the-century factory that challenged the couple with new proportions but also promised modern ease—Melling was ready to work with a professional.
The couple enlisted interior designer Ariel Ashe, of Ashe + Leandro, a mere two weeks after move-in. Ashe had worked with Iscol informally for 20-plus years as a design and art consultant, and Melling knew her taste would be a great fit for the space. For her part, Ashe has deftly handled the evolving needs of the couple's growing family. “When we first moved in, I had one child, one dog, and I was pregnant,” remembers Melling. Now, the two youngest share a nursery (the more-pragmatic decor of which is admittedly a point of contention) and toys abound, yet the space is quintessential loft living—light and airy, with warmth and color imbued throughout by way of textiles and art. It helped that the apartment had been extensively renovated by the former owner right before the family moved in; the closest the couple came to any renovations was resurfacing the kitchen cabinets. “And we had to add closets,” Melling says with a laugh. “Sixteen years at Vogue, you acquire some stuff.”
Along with a traditional upbringing in Boston and adult years spent in prewar apartments, that stint at the fashion brand certainly informed Melling's tastes. One of her initiatives at Vogue was to incorporate more lifestyle elements into the pages she oversaw, in line with the magazine’s preference for the romantic and feminine. At home, she decorated accordingly. “I brought in all of my furniture from my old apartment and it looked like dollhouse furniture,” she recalls. She enlisted Ashe to do for the space what she had always done for her own wardrobe. “It’s such an investment, so I didn’t have as much confidence [mixing and matching].” The living room alone makes bedfellows of a large seagrass rug, a tufted blue velvet sofa, and gray linen wingback chairs; lacquer and marble make appearances throughout. The sofa is Melling’s favorite purchase —“it’s also become the dog’s favorite thing, unfortunately”—a streamlined iteration of a similar style done in linen (also tufted) from her former home.
Ashe kept the front of the apartment geared toward more formal entertaining, while the relaxed family spaces are in the back. “I drew more from her fashion sense than her previous apartment, as I didn’t think that was really a fit,” says the designer. Accommodating husband Iscol’s tastes has been relatively easy, aside from the constant push for one decorative flourish both women declare non-negotiable. “He would just love to hang a surfboard on a wall somewhere,” says Melling. “And we just keep dodging it,” laughs Ashe.
This Vogue Alum's Manhattan Loft is Beach-House-Level Breezy
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