Jamie Chung and her husband Bryan Greenberg fell in love in New York City, so they both knew it was only a matter of time before they settled down there for good.
The Lovecraft Country actress, 37, and the One Tree Hill alum, 42, who tied the knot in 2015, recently purchased a condo in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn near one of their favorite parks and called on online interior design service Decorist and Bed Bath & Beyond to helpmake their new place feel like home.
The couple collaborated with Decorist designer Will Wick on the multi-room project, making over the kitchen, living room, main bedroom and bathroom. Chung has worked with Decorist in the past on her homes in L.A. and Atlanta, so she knew Wick had the chops to create the “warm and timeless” aesthetic she was looking for.
“Our L.A. home was a bit Bohemian. It felt like a really cool beach cottage in the Hills because it's very mid-century. Atlanta, I wanted to feel a little bit more refined because it was an industrial space,” the actress explains to PEOPLE of her past homes. “For New York, we wanted it to feel like a combination of the two, and that's what we got! It's not so much Bohemian, but it's still homey and cozy. It's still filled with timeless pieces, but everything in New York is a little elevated, right?”
Chung’s favorite new spot in the home is their bedroom — even though she wasn’t sure about the color, at first.
“I'm all about white walls, and Will was like, ‘Let's do a really dark wall,’ and I was like, ‘I don't know if I'm into that,’” Chung explains of the suite, which is wallpapered with a washed grey print. “But I'm so glad that we did. I love the darker aesthetic. It does kind of have a moodier feel, but it's still so comforting.”
The couple’s favorite place to hang out is on the light-grey, velvet couch in the living room, a piece that Chung jokingly describes as “comfortable, but not too comfortable that you can stay on it all day.”
“It looks expensive and it feels great, but it's actually quite affordable,” she says of the L-shaped sectional, which she’s covered with neutral pillows and a tasseled throw.
Chung and Greenberg began the design process earlier this year, so they planned to have a freshly-designed home filled with family and friends by the fall, but the coronavirus pandemic hit not long after they began.
“We really used quarantine to put the space together ourselves,” Chung says, noting that “it was a lot of furniture building for my husband and me, but we were blessed with having a roof over our heads and being able to spend that time together.”
In between decorating and furniture building, Chung also spent the time stuck at home working to help first responders, specifically at the nearby Brooklyn Hospital Center in Fort Greene. The actress helped coordinate donations of touchless soap dispensers, protein bars, and PPE.
“Brooklyn was hit very hard and in fact, our hospital, which is just on the other side of the park, was completely overwhelmed, but it was a sense of community,” Chung explains, noting that people quicked banded together to wear masks and also fill community refrigerators for neighbors experiencing food insecurity.
“That's what I love about New York,” she adds. “It's like, ‘All right, we're in this together.’ Just do it. Just f—king do it.”
Her and Greenburg’s love for the Big Apple and their beautiful borough is what makes Chung certain that this apartment will be in their lives for quite some time.
“This is our forever home,” she says. “We're not getting rid of it.”
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