Last Thursday, I attended my first event since before the pandemic. It was a beautiful dinner to celebrate the launch of The Virginia Collection, a tableware inspired by Virginia, where Cece Barfield Thompson quarantined during the pandemic. The table for the dinner was set with all the pieces she designed including embroidered linens, porcelain hand-painted in France, and silver-plated brass pieces hand-carved by the finest Armenian craftsmen in Istanbul. It’s currently all available to order during her trunkshow on Moda Operandi who also hosted the party.

I figured this was also a good time to also look at Cece’s apartment on Gramercy Park that was featured in and on the cover of the May/June 2021 issue of Veranda.

I found a floorplan of the apartment and some before photos from the old real estate listing.

I love all the green in the living room. I also have green velvet and chintz pillows on my ivory sofa. The chintz pillows need to be replaced so I’m taking note of all the fabrics Cece used in her apartment.

“I had dreamed of living in Gramercy Park ever since I moved from Texas to New York for college. When we found this apartment, we felt so lucky, not just for its location but for its layout, too, which is formal, with a separate entry hall, gallery, kitchen, living room, and dining room. It reminded me of the classic apartments I’d worked on when I started out as a designer at Bunny Williams’s firm. People associate formal layouts with fancy living, but to me separate rooms work so well for a busy, modern family. For starters, I can close the kitchen door when we entertain and forget the dishes until tomorrow. I also love that each room has a distinct character for a different purpose and time of day. There’s space for us to each get away and do our work, as well as space to be together.“

– Cece Barfield Thompson

An oil painting by London artist Daisy Cook hangs over a nine-foot Schneller sofa upholstered in stain-resistant fabric from Perennials. The coffee table is crafted from a 19th-century Chinese screen.

This corner of the living room with a games table was featured on Cece’s website and allows you to realize the entire layout of the room.

An olive drinks table from KRB complements a leafy dahlia hand-block linen from Clarence House, and green ranunculus.

The real estate listing photo of the living room with the original fireplace that was replaced with a marble surround.

This seating area sits to the left of the fireplace and was also not featured in Veranda.

“The white walls, tonal carpet, and punchy green curtains in the living room give the 19th-century American paintings and Louis XVI chairs a light, modern presence.”

In the living room, a George III secretary is paired with a Tom Sachs’s futuristic Shop chair.

You can find similar desk blotters and pencil cups from Il Papiro.

“The chocolate brown in the study doesn’t need sunlight to look great and makes the space work as an evening room, a TV room, and an intimate retreat (and it also doubles as a guest room, thanks to a lightweight, movable coffee table).”

The study as seen in the real estate listing.

Robert Kime’s Indian Pear fabric brings graphic botanicals to the glossy chocolate den.

A view of the study from Cece’s website.

A gracious, all-over ticking stripe from Pindler covers the walls, windows, seating, and the table. The series of glossy color-block lithographs are by William Turnbull while the Samarkind rug is from Doris Leslie Blau.

The dining room as seen in the real estate listing.

Cece Barfield Thompson in the dining room.

The dining room is the perfect place to host dinner parties and style all of her tableware collections.

“I love setting a captivating table; it’s like a decorating project in microcosm, with pretty layers and playful details,” The table is set with hand-painted Cece Barfield Dinner Plates, Veranda Placemats, and Veranda Dinner Napkins.

“In the dining room, which also gets less natural light, a grid of hand-screened color-block prints brings radiance, like a wall of psychedelic windows.” 

Laid out on the table are the Heirloom Napkins, Ceylon Cocktail Pitcher And Stirrer, Ceylon Cups, and Ceylon Square Tray.

Ceylon Cocktail Pitcher And Stirrer, Ceylon Cups, and Ceylon Square Tray.

The Perennial Placemats and Perennial Dinner Napkins complement the Cece Barfield Dinner Plates.

The Perennial Rectangle Tablecloth is available in different sizes.

he Perennial Placemats and Perennial Dinner Napkins are paired with a different tablecloth and plates here.

I love the shade of green of these Heirloom Napkins and Heirloom Placemats.

Sunlight illuminates stained checkerboard flooring by Floe Painting through original steel casement windows that were painted black.

The scary before photo kitchen as seen in the real estate listing.

In this photo of the kitchen form Cece’s website, you can see that she kept the pass through to what is listed as an office on the floorplan.

“I look at color all day long, so I wanted a creamy white bedroom as my refuge.”

The main bedroom as seen in the real estate listing.

A detail of the bed from Cece’s website.

The bed is skirted in a printed floral linen from Lisa Fine Textiles and draped with sheer panels from Clarence House. Bed linens are from Julia B and the wall sconces are from Visual Comfort. 

Audubon prints flank an 18th-century Italian mirror.

The Ceylon Square Tray can work on a dining table or a bedroom dresser.

Climbing floral wallpaper from Farrow & Ball envelopes the room while painterly hearts bedding from D. Porthault, and troupes of roses chair in Raoul Textiles dress up her daughters’ bedroom.

A view of the girls’ bedroom as seen in the real estate listing.

A another view of the girls’ bedroom from Cece’s website.

“I love history, but I dislike pastiche, so one thing I aim for in all of my projects is to make classic elements feel inviting, fresh, and new. The entry-hall walls recall 19th-century pastoral murals brought up-to-date with a black-and-white palette and brightened by bursts of sunshine yellow from the artwork and upholstery.” 

The entry hall as seen in the real estate listing.

Another image of the entry from Cece’s website. While below, the Ceylon Square Tray is the perfect catchall atop the Louis XVI–style chest.

Photos via Veranda, Cece Barfield Inc, and Moda Operandi