Inside Antoni Porowski’s Sophisticated New York Home
Today, AD is welcomed by Antoni Porowski to tour his sophisticated New York home. The Queer Eye star has always been something of a self-professed nomad, but when the pandemic hit it was time to lay down some more permanent roots. Despite dreams of a historic loft in downtown Manhattan, Porowski wasn’t keen on a huge renovation, instead finding ‘the one’ in a new build. With the help of Andrew Torrey, a good friend, and AD PRO Directory interior designer, Porowski transformed his new home into a chic, sophisticated space full of unique art and custom artisanal furniture pieces. “Every corner here is a memory,” Porowski notes. “I do love to travel, but then I can’t wait to come home.”
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey, AD. I've been dreaming of saying this for a really long time. Welcome to my apartment.
00:07Come on in.
00:18I've been here about two years now, and it's definitely been a process. I've been collecting
00:23pieces since I basically moved in. And before that, my dog, Neon, was a huge factor in choosing
00:29this apartment because it's in proximity to a park that is littered with squirrels.
00:36If I had to describe the vibe of my apartment in one sentence, it's mine. No. I'm obsessed
00:41with nostalgia, and I love looking back and kind of looking how far I've come, how much
00:46I've changed, how much I've stayed the same. And this space really allows me to do that.
00:51Let's get started.
00:57So we're going to start out in the kitchen. What I love is that the kitchen really is
01:00central to the entire apartment. This is my happy place. And I panic-bought these this
01:04morning on my way back from the gym because I realized I didn't have any fresh fruit or
01:08anything fresh in general because I haven't been here in a little bit. So these are my
01:12bananas, and I'm glad they made it into the final shot.
01:14The drawers still need a little bit of organizing, but I'll just kind of walk you through it.
01:19My flatware, I went hard and I decided to opt for the Chantico collection from Preforca.
01:25They're very deco-y, and they weigh about 50,000 pounds each, so they feel very solid.
01:29I have more kitchen knives than any human will ever need, and one day they will be organized
01:34and put into their sleeves. So any chef watching this would be cringing right now, but they're
01:37easy access because I'm a lefty.
01:39And then I'm a big beverage guy, so I'm all about rituals. And at night, when I finally
01:44stop drinking caffeine, I really get into teas. And so I have a big tea collection here.
01:49And then my spice drawer is very chaotic and not organized, but this is very symbolic
01:56of my brain. It makes sense to me, but not anyone else. I'm obsessed with sumac. It's
02:01kind of floral and citrusy and it's bright red and it bleeds beautifully if you mix it
02:05with a little bit of oil. So I have that from Edie's Grocer in Greenpoint, which is amazing.
02:10And then za'atar can never get enough. I like to toast it on a pan with some olive oil,
02:16bring up the heat really nice and high, and then throw some eggs on there and get those
02:19beautiful crispy edges.
02:20So another really fun, very cool thing about me is that I'm obsessed with Star Wars. And
02:26so my very favorite mug is this one right over here. It's a Stormtrooper. And you can
02:31actually fit a lot and actually we'll do bone broth in here sometimes too, because it's
02:34the perfect size.
02:35Can I show you inside my fridge? My father is alarmed every time he comes over because
02:39he's like, you have more beverages than anyone I've ever seen in my life. Anyone who knows
02:43me knows that I'm obsessed with Nando's. I think it's the best fast food ever in the
02:47world. And I only enjoy Nando's with my face on it. I also have Nutella as well. And then
02:52my freezer is stocked with the most shocking amount of frozen steaks, chicken, chili, soups
03:01that I make because I get lazy sometimes. So I cook in large portions and then I kind
03:04of freeze everything.
03:06Neon is basically my shadow. So she's typically right on the ground, like a little sphinx
03:10staring at me because she knows that she tends to get a treat because I can't help myself.
03:14This is her very sensible little Tom Brown piggy bag that has her poop bag dispenser.
03:20And then I have her little cookie jar. She's a good girl. She doesn't really do tricks.
03:25She sits, she lies down and she's always pretty. Good girl. Gentle, gentle.
03:38Other than the kitchen, the living room is my number one favorite spot. This is where
03:41I do all of my lounging and relaxing. This was actually originally a three-bedroom and
03:46I had the wall blown out because I really wanted to have, my dream was always to have
03:49a sectional. I know they're controversial to some people, but comfort is number one
03:53for me. My designer, Andrew, basically built it custom. So it's modular. It's beautiful.
03:58These are my pride and joy. If this place was burning down, I would grab one with each
04:02arm. These are oxblood Adenae leather chairs that have that beautiful contrast stitching.
04:07They're insanely comfortable. I think that they're so beautiful and they're positioned
04:11here on purpose so that they only get used when there's more than four or five people
04:15here. And then my second pride and joy is that little Louise Nevelson piece over there.
04:19I've been a big fan of her work forever and I get to look at it every day. So with Queer
04:24Eye, we tend to film in all of these different cities. So I'm away from my home. So when
04:30I come back here, I really want it to be a place that's again, just filled with all of
04:33the things that I love that make me comfortable. Because often we stay in, you know, different
04:38rental homes or like corporate apartments, which are just that. They're very corporatey
04:43and they don't have as much soul as I like to have. And then in the center, this is one
04:48of my favorite pieces, the manjarate table. I love that it's not perfectly shaped. The
04:53top actually rests on the base, so there are no screws or anything. It weighs about a million
04:58pounds and what I love is that it's so solid you can put your feet up on it. This is a
05:01great little ottoman when I'm sitting here and I have guests because I force them to
05:05sit in the corner because that's the most comfy spot and Neon loves it as well. I can
05:09put my feet up on this. This is Brett Robinson. He does really cool contemporary stuff and
05:13that's a teddy mohair. I have this, I believe it's the metronome lamp from Apparatus and
05:18it's wrapped in suede, which made a lot of sense when I didn't have a dog. But this piece
05:22is really beautiful and it gives like a nice little soft light. Behind me, I'm very excited
05:27about this. This is my protective baseball bat if anyone ever breaks in. It's actually
05:31by a Vancouver and Okanagan artist named Brian Yungin, which is a Rawlings bat that
05:36he kind of carved to sort of mimic a totem a little bit, which I think is really cool.
05:40This horse is one of artists I really love named Miguel Barracal. If you press on the
05:44eyeball and on the balls of the penis, it actually comes apart. So I saw it at the gallery.
05:51I thought it was astronomically priced, not going to say where. And so I went on eBay and
05:55I found it for less than a tenth of the price. They sent it to me in an old briefcase with
05:59newspapers from like the fifties and sixties with a book on the instructions on how to
06:04make it and a signed drawing of the original, which I think is really cool.
06:15As I mentioned, this was actually originally a third bedroom, but I didn't need that and
06:19I wanted to have a dining space that is basically books. And so I have a bunch of Peter Beard
06:23books because I adore him. This is a really cool piece by a Philly artist named Roberto
06:28Lugo. And I just thought it was a unique piece. I'm not too much into pottery, but
06:31it really spoke to me and it reminds me of sort of like those Greco Roman urns that you
06:35see at like fairs. This is really exciting. I just got, it's a Wolfgang Tillman's piece.
06:39I love an old ripped t-shirt and I love how carefully it's kind of hanging on the hanger.
06:43It just looks like it's about to fall. Kind of like my sanity most of the time, but I'm
06:47calm today. There's no overhead lighting in the apartment, so I wanted something that
06:51kind of gave a nice soft glow and I love a classic Noguchi pendant. I love that it's
06:55nice soft light. It's not too aggressive. I don't like things to be too bright. This
06:59massive photograph, which I really adore is by an artist named Erwin Olaf. Yes, it's,
07:04it's not, not a little homoerotic and a little Tom Ford's a single Manny, but at the same
07:09time apparently, so that's the artist himself. And apparently this was as his mother was
07:14passing away and he was very aware of the finiteness of life and he was kind of looking
07:19at his own youth. Some people love this. Some people don't love it, but I think that's the
07:23fun thing about art. Wait until you see the bedroom. I got this old farm table on first
07:27dibs. I probably paid more for shipping than I did for the actual table. But what I love
07:31about it is that you don't have to be precious with it. It's sort of like very roughly finished.
07:40The bedroom is definitely on the tonal side. I wanted this to be like my peaceful sanctuary.
07:47I say this without irony as you look and you probably see one of the more aggressive
07:52pieces of art I've ever seen by Simon Johan and it's two lions literally attacking each
07:58other. But I think it's stunning and beautiful and it makes me think of those awesome Nat
08:01Geo photos. It took a while for my designer to convince me that Laurel Piana curtains
08:06were the way to go, but they're so soft and every once in a while I'll come in here and
08:10touch them. So I'm a massive fan of George Nakashima. I decided to have a custom pair
08:16made which I waited so long for, but I kind of love. I think this is walnut. It just has
08:21like a beautiful natural handle and everything is so nice and clean and the way the wood
08:25perfectly fits into it. And then my bed, I wanted something that was low to the ground
08:30because I'm always thinking about my dog and when she gets old, her hips are going to give
08:33out eventually. And so I wanted to keep it nice and low so she can jump up because she's
08:37allowed 30 minutes in bed with me when I'm watching TV and then she gets off and she
08:41sleeps in her own space because she's an independent woman. And then I get to enjoy the bed all
08:46by myself. One of my favorite Canadian artists, Kent Monkman. I have these awesome like little
08:51drawings that he found in like hieroglyphs of like different creatures and kind of did
08:55this like evolution into what they became. So those are really cool because it reminds
08:59me that I'm Canadian because sometimes I forget because I've been in the US for so long. So
09:03I know this is all about furniture, but I would just want to give a little shout out.
09:07Not paid. I'm just a big fan. This computer right here is called Eight Sleep. It's actually
09:12hooked up to the bed. TMI my chest sweats at night, especially when I get the meat sweats.
09:16And so what I do, my room is freezing cold at night. I keep the windows open in the dead
09:21of winter. I want my nose to hurt. Like I want to, I want to worry about my health when
09:25I wake up in the morning. And the Eight Sleep actually is a mattress cooler. So when I slip
09:29in, it's nice and toasty. And then I set it to cold and it progressively gets colder,
09:34which Neon does not like. And that's typically when she jumps off.
09:39Okay. Primary bathroom. This is where I get ready every day. It's definitely very kind
09:44of clean, crisp, hotel-y vibes. I didn't want too many things in here. I didn't want
09:48any photography, candles, every single room. Neon likes to protect me at all times. And
09:54typically when I'm taking a shower, she likes to sit down right on this little plush situation
09:58and she curls up like a little pretzel. She doesn't like to sprawl out. I also do cold
10:03plunges. I go to the pharmacy downstairs and I get a whole bunch of bags of ice sometimes.
10:06I'm up to six minutes, which is really impressive. And apparently it's very good for this autoimmune
10:10thing I have called Hashimoto's. The only two pieces of art in here are, again, a nod
10:15to one of my favorite things in the world, Star Wars. So Darth Vader, I actually found
10:20in a dumpster. And Little Chewy here, I have from season one of Queer Eye when I went to
10:25Target, also known as Target. And I stocked up on all kinds of like G.I. Joes and things
10:31that make me really happy, that make me nostalgic for my youth. And so I have that as a little
10:34memory from when we first started filming. They weren't friends in real life, but they're
10:38friends in my bathroom and that's all that matters.
10:47So the den is basically kind of a multi-purpose room that's used as my office. It's where
10:52I take my therapy sessions. I do all my Zooms and it's also a guest room for when guests
10:56come. The rest of the apartment is very light colored. There's a lot of lime plaster. I
11:01wanted this to just feel dark and masculine and library-ish. And so it all started with
11:06the rug, which is a really cool Tom Brown rug that I got. And then I kind of wanted
11:09the Mad Men vibe of an Herman Miller chair. I love wood furniture and Guillerme Chambron
11:16made this awesome, I think it's like 40s or 50s, wooden desk that's L-shaped. And what's
11:20nice is that it overlooks outside. So I get a lot of natural sunlight that comes in. Kent
11:25Monkman did these handkerchiefs. And then a friend of mine actually pointed out, I thought
11:29these were hands praying because I'm innocent, but apparently these are butt plugs, which
11:35is really nice when my dad and his girlfriend come stay here and they have questions that
11:38I don't really want to answer. Oh, the lightsaber. So yes, I did buy a lightsaber. It has all
11:45kinds of different voices and sounds on it. I paid way too much for it. It's not charged
11:50right now. Otherwise I would give you a demonstration. Maybe next time when you come to the farmhouse
11:54that I don't have yet. So my designer, Andrew, designed this as well. He knows that I love
11:59Jeannerette. And then I have this beautiful Bertinski photo. He's a Canadian photographer.
12:04The OG Fab 5. Kate McKinnon did it. Kate McKinnon did it because we played sirens in her podcast
12:11and she sent that to us. And I think Tan has it in his house as well. Usually have a blanket
12:15laid out here because Neon knows she's not allowed on the couch. She has like specific,
12:19actually it's this blanket that's here and she can sit on here and watch me as I do my
12:22zooms until she gets to zoomies. And then we go to the park. You can get up today. There
12:27you go. Isn't she good? She won't jump up until I give her permission. She's a sweet
12:32girl.
12:33Well, AD, thank you so much for coming. But Neon and I got to go to the park. So we're
12:46going to ask you to leave. Thanks so much.