Interior designer Ernesto Gloria knows how to nail high-low. A prolific antique shopper, Gloria can telepathically sense if an expensive vintage lamp, heirloom chair, or thrifted artwork will pair well with an IKEA sofa or CB2 table. He’ll source shelving from warehouse supply stores and fabric from textile studios like Schumacher and Zak + Fox. Those unexpected combinations are what make his projects feel immediately lived-in, like each piece has been collected over time.
That intuition is on display in his own home, too. Gloria, who had worked in Tom Scheerer’s practice before branching out on his own during the pandemic, had just established Studio Tre when he spotted a 550-square-foot studio for rent in London Terrace Gardens, a famed, circa-1930s courtyard building he’d longed to live in. He jumped at the chance for multiple reasons, chief among them his built-in community there. But there was also the sitcom of it all: “I go to the barber downstairs. I’ve had acupuncture downstairs, a facial,” Gloria ticks off. “It’s the New York dream of having everything in the building.”
He name checks early-2000s shows like Will & Grace and Friends as design inspiration—his first impressions of what a New York City apartment could look like. “There are little Easter eggs in my apartment that remind me of those two shows,” he says, nodding to a frame over the peephole like in Monica’s apartment and a similar eclecticism to Will’s place. “[They] gave me the permission to be more playful and unconventional with my decorating, not to mention the urge to create little mise-en-scènes throughout the apartment since every shot or angle needs to be considered.”
Plus, the unit isn’t your typical open-plan layout. This one has a separate foyer, kitchen, and dressing room nook that he could tuck his bed into. “I love the separation of spaces, because you have more walls to put art up and play around with,” Gloria notes. Ahead, he gives us a tour around his petite, personality-packed Chelsea apartment.
The apartment was the “landlord special” except for the oak floors, which were great. Everything else was white. I painted the ceiling, the trim, and the smaller rooms except the kitchen. I kept the walls there and in the living room white, because they had a great foundation. The kitchen had black tiles which I also loved, and the window trim was black, which I had been looking for. It’s just sharper, and makes the view a bit clearer. | Kivik Sofa, IKEA; Sofa Cover, Bemz; Uma Hand-Knotted Wool Rug, Lulu and Georgia; Table Lamps, Illume NYC. I love the parameters and limitations of this apartment. This is the only layout that works in my head. It wasn’t that hard to decorate and furnish, because there were very specific places where everything had to go, including the TV. For me, it’s a lot about symmetry. My apartment is kind of a laboratory. I normally do walls a more colorful hue and the ceiling lighter. I wanted to try something different here before we tried it with clients. Plus, I’d already started putting things on the wall, so it was easier to paint the ceiling. The trim motif came from our research in pre-Colombian patterns from textiles and pottery; we were looking at murals for a project in Panama on this series of islands. | Pillows, Nickey Kehoe and CB2. I was stuck at home during the pandemic trying to figure out how to dress up a Noguchi lantern. Those are just fake plants from Jamali Garden stuffed inside. When you turn it on, the color really comes through. The biggest splurge in the apartment was the Schumacher fabric for the custom curtains. We were doing some guesthouses in the Hamptons that were more Americana. We were using it as pillows and I just like the graphic. I thought: I’m gonna make some curtains out of this. | Akari Ceiling Lamp, Noguchi; Saarinen Dining Table by Knoll, DWR; Brimfield Curtain Fabric, Schumacher. The horse panel was a gift from Tom; he had a couple of extras as he was cleaning house. I picked a wall color from it—I just put up all the reds from Farrow & Ball and Picture Gallery Red was the one I liked. I’ve always wanted a red room, but it was an experiment—let’s see how this feels, and would we ever do this for a client? I think the answer is yes. I’m just waiting for the moment. The bed is full size; people do fit queens, but it gets too tight for me. With the proportions of the room, it fits a full better and it creates this little niche that I use for a mirror. I decided to do the headboard in this ziggurat pyramid shape after I got the bedroom lampshade. Picture Gallery Red Paint by Farrow & Ball; Bedding, Yves Delorme; Bedskirt and Headboard Fabric, Zak + Fox. My corner cabinet is one of my prize possessions, and it fit perfectly in this little corner. I added LED lights and mirror panels in the back. I make a good martini and cocktails for friends; that’s how I host. I love pairs of things, like brackets where I can put candlesticks to get that flicker of light on the walls in the corners. I think it’s what people remember; there’s something about the moving candle light that gives the room a bit more energy.
I learned a lot from my previous boss, Tom. I use a mix of high and low, new and old, thrifting and antique shopping. The thread is casual and colorful, just having fun. I’m okay with not everything coordinating because that doesn’t feel collected over time. I think one has to be okay with a little mismatch. I’m always striving for that comfortable, lived-in feeling. | Bathroom storage, Kartell.
I can put coats on the door and there’s a little place to put my keys. Then I hung art on the door that led to the bedroom. | Paint color, Cola by Farrow & Ball.
The bathroom mural, done by a decorative painter, was inspired by Nocturne in Black and Gold, The Falling Rocket by James McNeil Whistler. As a child, I loved the night sky in a bedroom; I wanted something where you couldn’t tell if it was that or water. | Mural, Sopiko Barnovi.
A lot of the art is from my friends, and my nephew. My nephew loves to paint, and he’ll give me things, and I’ll put them in really nice frames. The picture in the bathroom is from a friend, Grant Legan. It’s a man swimming, and I just love the water aspect of it. I’d rather have something that is from an artist that I know versus an artist that I don’t know. It’s way more personal.
