The renovation was guided as much by lived experience as by design intuition. The homeowners—a husband-and-wife team, working as a creative director and a production designer in independent film—designed the unit with visiting parents and out-of-town friends in mind, drawing inspiration from classic European pied-à-terres. The space had been occupied by long-term tenants in years past, yielding lessons for where the space felt generous and where it needed more breathing room.