Prewar Warmth: Conscious Select × Henley
Sarah Henley founded her eponymous firm, Henley, in Salem, Massachusetts in 2017. She majored in art history and studio art at Dartmouth, then studied interior design at UC Berkeley Extension before working under designer Lindsay Anyon Brier. That training shows in every room she touches. Art comes first, and the furniture follows. Her team has grown to seven, taking on projects across the country, and she was named a 2026 New England Home 5 Under 40 winner.
The Greenwich Village project is a seventh-floor pied-à-terre in a prewar co-op, set above the surrounding rooftops and filled with natural light.
The Project
Anchored by works from Eric Aho and Sara Dykstra, the apartment blends saturated colour and tactile materials with the warmth of a favourite boutique hotel. The living room’s arched ceiling and original 1925 plasterwork set the scale, while a chased-silver chandelier by Sawkille draws the eye upward. A Sara Dykstra oil on linen was commissioned for the wall behind the sofa, and its colours guided the silk velvet on the sofa and the moss linen on the chairs.
A custom Sawkille credenza pairs bleached and ebonized walnut with shell inlay and silver appliqué. Among its flora and fauna sit a book and a knot of yarn, nods to the clients’ love of reading, writing and knitting. Off the kitchen, the den works as lounge, dining room and guest room, its darker palette leaning into the room’s small size. In the primary bedroom, amber silk wraps the walls and shifts with the light through the day.
CS Design Values
Adaptive Reuse. The original 1925 ceiling and plasterwork stayed. The existing kitchen cabinetry stayed too, refreshed with two-tone paint and brass hardware. The apartment was improved, not erased.
Sourced with Intention. A walnut vanity by Towards Nightfall with crushed abalone inlay, a glazed ceramic by Cindy Hsu Zell above the bed, a custom alpaca rug and custom carpentry by Wolski Wood Works. Nearly every piece traces back to a named maker.
Why It’s Consciously Selected
Henley treats a home as a place to live with art, not around it. The Greenwich Village apartment keeps what was worth keeping, commissions what was missing, and fills the rest with work from independent makers. Each room carries the people who live there, down to a knot of yarn carved into a credenza. That is a home built to be kept.
Photography by Guillermo Cano. Styling by Emily Karian.