Everything Has a Story in This Culinary Consultant's Chelsea Aerie—Even the Molding

PublishedFeb 24, 2026 7:59 AM EST

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OK so here's the thing about living in New York City—it's a LOT of schlepping. Trudging through snow to the subway, hauling 30 pounds of groceries like they're kettlebells, climbing five whole flights of stairs just to visit a friend or get home.

Five flights is no joke—you're basically getting a glute workout twice a day just to exist. But when editor, culinary consultant, and general powerhouseChristine Muhlkefound herself staring at a 900-square-foot pad on the top floor of a gorgeous circa-1898 building in Chelsea, all those doubts? Gone. It was 2023, she'd just moved back to the city after a Covid-era stint upstate, and her temporary sublet nearby was about to expire.

And trust me, the space was rough. Like, truly unlivable. Destroyed floors, cramped ceilings, layers upon layers of grime. You could tell nothing had been touched in decades—the previous tenant's stuff was so piled up that the super told her it took six months just to clear his things out.

But Muhlke? She could see right past all of it. "I always say in real estate that if I can feel every hair on my head stand up, or I feel like I've mainlined espresso, that's my spot," she says. This place gave her both feelings. Plus, the price was honestly too good to pass up.

She dragged several friends over for those classic "Am I crazy?" walkthroughs, including designerLithe Sebesta, an old friend who tells it like it is. Sebesta—who Muhlke says "has the spatial equivalent of perfect timing"—immediately got the vision. So Muhlke went for it, negotiating the purchase price with the building owner. After closing, it took until 2024 for the board to greenlight the plans she'd drawn up with Sebesta and an interior architect. And to finally get things moving? She bribed the then-board president with custom-curated travel guides—one of her signature skills, honestly iconic.

Looking back, that extra time "was really important because it allowed us to refine what we wanted," Muhlke says. "The main objective was a clean envelope with nice materials. We were able to add quiet details. My goal for this apartment was to have a calm atmosphere because the city is so crazy. I wanted a place with light and for my son Max to have a real bedroom."

Sebesta's design superpower is her ability to blend past and present so seamlessly you barely notice. With this apartment, she basically started from scratch—but that freedom meant she could bring in elements that would actually work for Muhlke's life (and look like they'd always been there). She introduced fresh touches that feltoriginal, with a modern edge, plus seriously clever storage—because Christmas ornaments, seasonal clothes, and suitcases don't just stash themselves, you know?

Here's a fun twist: while installing new flooring, Sebesta called Muhlke with the best news. They were working with 1,100 square feet, not 900 like the listing said. "It was one of those dreams of opening the medicine cabinet to find another apartment on the other side," she jokes. Of course, that meant extra flooring—and not cheap, since they covered everything in engineered white oak. They also poked through the ceiling to score another foot and a half of height, and then decided to carve one of the rooms into a bedroom for Max plus a private workspace for Muhlke.

Muhlke invited me over for afternoon tea recently, and I'm honestly obsessed with how the apartment just naturally unfolds as you move through it. A tiled entry opens right into the dreamy kitchen, dressed in Muller Van Severen– and Inge Sempé–designed cabinetry housing her incredible collection of ceramics and cookware. As someone who writes cookbooks, runs a culinary consultancy, and helpedDanskcatalogue their archive, it's no shocker that this is her favorite room. The Dekton countertops are basically indestructible—Max can go wild with his own recipe experiments without a single stain worry—and that wall-mounted pot filler is just the right touch of luxury. In the evenings, she cooks dinner while her son does homework or friends hang out at the banquette. (If she could do it over? She'd absolutely make room for a wine fridge.)

Fun fact: this unit used to be two separate apartments. Now, floor-to-ceiling cookbook shelving runs along the wall between the kitchen and dining area—right where the old corridor connected the two original spaces. Above the dining table, Sebesta dropped the ceiling just so and switched up the flooring direction for a subtle little wink at the transition. Instead of ornate Parisian-style trim, she added gorgeous stepped molding and window trim, then echoed that same style on baseboards throughout.

The bedrooms branch off from here. Muhlke describes hers as a cozy hotel room—complete with a custom oversized headboard in Chiarastella Cattana fabric, a dressing area that doubles as laundry central, and an en suite bathroom. The living room is seriously stunning—custom millwork bySummerfield Fabricationlines the walls, art she's collected over the years fills every surface, and a grand window with elegantly-shaped panes looks out on the city (you can even spot a sliver of the Empire State Building). "I'm just setting up all these little conversations around the apartment," she says. Around the corner is her office, packed with more shelving, a custom daybed so it doubles as a guest room, and a beloved vintage Georg Jensen desk she inherited from a mentor—her fairy godmother, as she calls her.

"What endures are the things that are really personal," Muhlke says—and she's talking about treasures like her dad's 1974 Bang & Olufsen receiver, a set of Agnes Martin prints, a vase from Bilbao, and wood nesting bowls from Japan. "Everything is here because I love it. I would rather have fewer things and have them be very important." Honestly, same.

Settling in after the years-long renovation was instant—the apartment felt like home the second she walked in. Muhlke plans to stay as long as she can, but she knows it won't be forever. "This is not my forever apartment, because I'm not going to be able to go up and down the stairs forever," she admits. "But I wanted to do it in a way that I was going to be happy with forever." And honestly? She nailed it.

Samantha Weiss-Hills is the managing editor for Domino. She edits and writes home tours and features, and she's the friend who everyone texts for glassware, sofa, and sheet recommendations. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Alex, and their beagle-corgi, Elsa.

Belle is the in-house photographer and associate photo editor for Domino, capturing everything from home tours to gift guides, plus the occasional how-to project. She joined the photo team as an intern in 2018 and was brought on full time in January 2021.

Naomi deMañana is a freelance stylist and editor who has worked in the publishing industry for the past 15 years.

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