Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

You may recognize Rajiv Surendra from his role in the 2004 cult classic Mean Girls, but we know him as the slow craft movement artisan binding his own books over on HGTV Handmade's YouTube channel. Rajiv shares how he artfully curated his dream space — from designing a jewel-box kitchen with everything he loves, to hand-drawing architectural details with chalk that have lasted more than eight years.

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May 04, 2023

By: Rajiv Surendra

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Patrick Cline

Photo By: Rajiv Surendra

Photo By: Patrick Cline

Rajiv Surendra's Truly Handmade Home

I often find myself standing still in my apartment and just looking around; looking at my living room from the little hall outside my bedroom, or standing at the kitchen sink to view the entire perimeter of the small space. I realize that so much of my time in my apartment is spent thinking about seemingly mundane things, like what I need to stock the fridge with for making dinner, but also thinking about my past and my future, and setting up plans to achieve certain goals, small and large.

My mind needs space to think. I prefer total silence when I’m thinking, and in terms of my physical surroundings, I always feel like I can reach a conclusion faster if my eyes aren’t scanning the room and being met with clutter, a mess and tasks that need to be attended to. So over the nine years that I’ve lived in my apartment, it has become a stage that is set for some great or small activity to take place and then end. In those nine years, I’ve created my ideal home with what I consider the very basics: things that are useful, beautiful and made with care.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

A Clean Palette

The living room is the largest room in the apartment and I spend most of my time in here. The walls, painted in Benjamin Moore’s Metropolitan, sit in calm contrast to the 1950s' lemon-yellow sofa (recently reupholstered). The sofa opens up into a pull-out bed for overnight visitors.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Living Decor

Fresh flowers change the mood of the room. I make arrangements with blooms that are in season whenever possible.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Flea Market Treasure

I found a lot of furniture and light fixtures for my apartment at flea markets, junk stores and even the curb on garbage day. This ottoman is from the Sunday Chelsea Flea Market and was $30. The sturdy fabric, an oversize wool tattersall, is in excellent condition.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Fruit Display

I eat a lot of fresh fruit, but there’s such limited space in the kitchen to store it all. I arrange it in beautiful baskets, or on platters and cake stands, and put it in the living room. They end up being wonderful little displays of color.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Musical Beauty

I started learning to play the harp a couple of years ago. This Lyon and Healy Troubadour harp sits in the corner and brings a smile to my face regularly, even when I’m simply walking by it. There’s something magical about a harp.

Watch the Video: How Harps Are Made

Characters

Every now and then, a statue or a bust appears in a junk shop or antique mall and I know I have to bring it home. My method of figuring out where they should live involves just taking them around the whole apartment and trying them out on all the shelves, tables and windowsills.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Galley Kitchen

The kitchen in my apartment is tiny, but I spent a large amount of the pandemic revamping it myself. I put up pine wainscoting and repainted the cupboards.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Bracket Shelves

I added pine shelves (and painted them, too) to display my collection of ironstone and yellowware.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Background Color

I chose a dark gray for the walls because I wanted them to serve as a perfect background for everyday objects. Each summer, I buy a California-grown garlic braid that lasts all year.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Containers and Labels

Because the kitchen is so small and cupboard space is at a minimum, I very vainly buy stuff I’m going to consume based on its packaging. If it’s going to be sitting around in the open, I want it to be beautiful to look at.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

In Hiding

Small appliances that are used infrequently get put away so they’re out of sight. This vintage, painted tin breadbox houses my toaster. The antique yellowware dog bowl is for Prince, my neighbor’s dog who I occasionally take care of.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Souvenirs

Onions need to breathe. I found this wonderful hanging wire basket in an antique mall in Louisville. When I go on a trip, my souvenirs are often practical things like this.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

One Weird Thing

Garrow Kedigian, my friend who’s a fantastic interior designer, always says that every room needs one thing that sits oddly in the space but is, at the same time, harmonious with its surroundings. When I spotted this pineapple at a thrift shop in Brooklyn, I knew it would be the "weird thing" for the kitchen.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Counter Crock

A crock for holding utensils is a very practical thing that also unifies a bunch of tools that are otherwise rattling around chaotically in a drawer.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Shaker Peg Rail

Black Creek Pioneer Village was a historic site in Toronto where I worked as a teenager. Many of the buildings had peg rails, and I’ve been using them in my living spaces ever since.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

No Plastic

When I redid my kitchen, I made a vow to myself that even the insides of the cupboards would be stunningly beautiful. I put all my pantry staples in old mason jars, other glass containers and vintage painted tinware.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Practical Collections

I’ve been collecting solid silver cutlery since I was a teenager. All my forks, knives and spoons are Fiddle pattern silver from the late 18th and early 19th century, made in London. The more that silver is used, the less polishing it requires.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Small Things

I make my own goat's milk soap, but every now and then I take a break and use a store-bought bar. Boxes like this one are so Old World and classically beautiful, they make me feel like I’m time-traveling through the simple act of using a bar of soap!

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Cotton Lace

I made a flat panel out of cotton lace, tethered between two café-curtain rods, to cover half of my kitchen window. It offers privacy, lets in some natural light and serves as a wonderful backdrop for everything sitting on the windowsill.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Bedding

My antique bed was made in Nova Scotia around 1830. I chose to leave the canopy uncovered — it feels more airy and sculptural. The coverlet on the bed was woven by hand for me by my good friend Deborah, who runs Upper Canada Weaving.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Studio Space

The bedroom is also my main workroom. My supplies and works-in-progress live both inside and outside the closet.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Utilitarian

Another shaker peg rail holds antique gilded frames I’ll use for my paintings and other things that previously lived on the floor. The bedroom became a lot tidier with this recent addition.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Sparking Joy

Marie Kondo’s rule of only owning things that spark joy created a curated order for my possessions. Most of the things that survived the purge ended up being worthy of putting on display.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Mirrors

I have small antique mirrors in almost every room of my apartment, even in the kitchen. Because the tarnished silvered glass is reflective but obscured, these mirrors act similarly to windows, capturing light.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Corner Office

This is my favorite spot in my whole apartment: my work table in the corner of my bedroom. I spend hours here working by the natural light from both east- and south-facing windows.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Replacing Utilitarian With Beautiful

I try to replace ubiquitous, modern utilitarian things with their older, more beautiful equivalents. This crocodile document folder, made in France in the ’20s or ’30s, perfectly fits my laptop.

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Shopping in My Closet

My clothes closet is tiny, but Marie Kondo again had a major influence on its contents. I kept only the few things that I love, mostly suits and dress shirts. In the fall, winter and spring, I wear a three-piece tweed suit on even a normal day of running errands around the city. A man in a suit is never overdressed.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Chalkboard Paint

I’ve used chalkboard paint in two areas of the apartment that are small, plain and otherwise fairly boring. Architectural details drawn on in chalk completely transform the flat surfaces into something with feeling and character.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

References

For my chalk designs, I use pattern books like this Empire Style Design and Ornaments, adapting various elements to custom-fit the space I’m drawing on.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment

Home

A house doesn’t really feel like a home unless it has a soul — a real part of the person or people that live in it. Moving into my New York apartment was the very first time I lived alone in my own space, and curating every single aspect of it has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

Watch the Video: Tour Rajiv Surendra's New York Apartment