AB: Were these shelves here when you moved in?
CM: No, we put them in. They’re from a used lumber place on Metropolitan. They were like eight dollars a piece. They were nothing… Part of the reason that we like this building so much is that the details are original, but that also means all of the wiring is original and all the plumbing is original. It’s ancient. It’s being held together by scotch tape.
AB: How old is this building?
CM: It was probably built between 1900 and 1915, somewhere in there. This has never been a fancy neighborhood. It’s always been a working class neighborhood and the buildings reflect that. It’s not like the kind of construction that you find in Brooklyn Heights or Carroll Gardens, where it’s this nice middle class brownstones. This is very working class. Between the whole apartment, this was probably home for two households – maybe not families, but households, so the construction’s shoddily done. So, we started to put these shelves in and you opened the wall up and it’s held together with – there was newspaper shoved in there in some places, so we had to reinforce this whole wall. It was going to be a very easy thing to do and it suddenly became a nightmare.
AB: You like that shoddy construction?
CM: Again, it’s context. You see the Domino Sugar plant when you’re walking down the street and you know that this was built for people who worked in places like that. I like the history.
AB: Williamsburg has been called the most toxic place to live in America.
CM: It probably is, yeah.
AB: Doesn’t that worry you?
CM: Um, I mean – a little bit. I wouldn’t want to raise kids in Williamsburg. Everything in New York is toxic: the air, the water. That’s what you trade off living in the city: your health.
AB: And your sanity sometimes.
CM: Mental and physical health, yeah.
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Chad is very mellow and has a very good understanding of himself. That is something many people in our society never even consider. My luck to Chad and Ed in NYC or Yucca Valley.
It's who you are not where you are.
Danny,
Long Beach, CA.
Belmont Heights ( just blocks from OC)
blah blah blah…yawn…
Speaking of design, the blog containing this article needs a redesign. A thirteen page article with just a few lines of content on each page? I quit already.
I agree with Tiger. It was very tedious to read an article spread over so many webpages.
The commentary so far illustrates those divergent individuals who blog on Queerty.
The first person, dantiger, was positive, upbeat and he himself has a "very good understanding of himself".
However, there is a group of LBG persons who actually live in self-loathing transferred into words and behaviours that this 61 year old guy would call a "bitchy queen."
Many minorities suffer from this "dis ease". It is the acceptance of majority loathing for despised minorities. It is spending lives in closets in some part of their lives. It is often about loathing certain segments of the LGB or the T community as a whole.
It has made this old bishop stay on his Canadian blogs, and lurk and visit to observe the very sins that others accused my American spouse and me about. Nothing new, I have heard enough confessions in my life to realise that the world is not purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr fect…….just cattttttttttttttttttttttyyyyyyyy.
Who the hell is this guy and why should we care?
His boyfriend needs to lay off the sauce and take a much-needed nap.
I too was annoyed with the picture/text to page ratio as I was going through the article, but the pictures are amazing. That place looks so soothing–I love the relaxed, eclectic vibe of the apartment–kind of like the anti-interior designers answer to interior design. There is an authenticity and sincerity to the look of this place you don't find on the pages of interior design magazines these days. Big ups to McPhail.
Kitchen utensils in a Dixie cup on a laminate counter? Teddy Bear in cutesy costume on the bed? this guy is a designer??? Queerty, why not just go to the Men's Drop-In shelter across from Port Authority for a design feature?
That is a vintage glass bowl holding utensils, a real butcher block counter, and an antique Babar from childhood on the bed. I suppose you shop at BangBang Men and West Elm for all your household needs?
Friend of Chad; I don't care about their provenance, where they were bought, or how much they cost. they're fugly.
Wild, you get it. Authenticity and sincerity, this is the man I raised. He designs for others, he lives for himself and those he loves. Whether you care doesn't really matter. It is about life, about a man who has known who he is for many years, a man who is confident, loving, generous, sensitive and devoted. Isn't that what life is all about? Love, Mom
GRIZZZZZLY BEAR IS EFFIN AMAZING CHECK THEM OUT!
UHHH… thanks mom.
My mom doesn't "get" NY apartments at all.
Chad, we are so proud of you!!! You got yourself a feature spread in an online, "subculture" magazine. Your house is so nice and neat, it makes Dana long for Santa Barbara again. Oh, Dana wanted me to let you know she's getting married and I am going to be her maid of honor (yay!). We miss you, come back to your roots, and by roots, we don't mean the high desert. You look as handsome as ever. Way to go Chad! Hi Ed:)
Sorry "off subject" Will someone please tell this small town southern guy what "poppin" means?
Thanks Danny.
UG! Why should just any old drip be able to comment on Chad's personal taste? Thank God I don't have to read every one's hick opinion of articles I flip through in the Doctor's office waiting-room. And thank Jezus for Deb Korobkin!
I really enjoyed the interview & photos
I kinda knew (of) Chad when he worked for Laura Kirar - he's kind of scenester/hipster designer wannabe. No offense, but that was one of the most boring articles I ever read. "I like mid century modern" - wow…. exciting.