The first thing you notice in the Cheng home is the smell.
Aromatic and pungent, a little bit sweet.
Maybe a lemongrass soup? And rice?
It draws you in, past the sitting room and its Steinway, poised for three generations of residents to play; past the wall of fashion and travel photography (mostly by Patrick McMullan and Frédéric Lagrange, both family friends); past what the owners call their “showroom,” filled with on-trend but durable BoConcept sofas, tables and rugs.
And there it is, the origin of all that gorgeous aroma: the kitchen where design maven Niki Cheng, 42, is creating magically fragrant dishes at the stove. “I love to cook, nonstop,” says the petite brunette, taking some pandan leaves from the freezer and throwing them into the blender for an Asian pudding she’ll make later.
When she’s not showing off her chef’s talents for famous guests, she’s cooking for her live-in crew: husband, engineer Shaokao Cheng, 44; their children, Cienna, 9, and Edin, 6; her parents; and her mother-in-law.
In fact, their six-bedroom, full-floor NoMad loft was built with extended family in mind. “I’m Chinese, and my one obligation as a son is to have a bedroom for my mother,” explains Shaokao, who was raised mostly on a Japanese army base by Taiwanese parents.
He moved to Baltimore when he was 18 to attend Johns Hopkins University, and then to New York to work as a consultant for McKinsey. Through mutual friends he met Niki, who had come from Malaysia to study architecture at Parsons. By the time they married in 2002, they were shacked up in Shaokao’s one-bedroom at 32nd and Madison. “That was before Madison Square Park was even a little bit desirable,” he jokes.
The couple shared a love of design and would browse the pages of glossy magazines on Saturday mornings in bed, dog-earing images they loved. “There was an ad for [Danish modern furniture brand] BoConcept looking for franchisers,” recalls Niki. The call to action sparked an idea. They mortgaged their $90,000 apartment, quit their jobs, and in quick succession opened furniture outposts in Chelsea, Soho, DUMBO and the Upper East Side (along with an outlet in Queens) — becoming the sole BoConcept franchisee for NYC.
In 2005, after a few years of business success, and expecting their daughter, the Chengs bought a 2,200-square-foot half floor on 29th Street for $1.7 million.
But they soon realized the family needed even more space. Niki’s Queens-residing parents wanted to spend more time with their grandchildren in Manhattan, and Shaokao’s mother had moved from Virginia to live mostly full-time with the expanding crew. Niki had only one hope.
“Our neighbor was a single guy, and every time I would see him in in the elevator I would say, ‘When are you going to sell to me, when are you going to sell to me?’ ” she recalls. “And once, he actually said he was ready.”
No broker was necessary when they closed that deal in 2012, for $1.38 million.
About a year ago, after months of renovations, the three generations moved into their new full-floor, 4,000-square-foot home with windows onto lower Fifth Avenue. Niki used her architecture background to eliminate hallways and hide structural beams, maximizing every inch of the grand space. She also incorporated a few tricks of her trade: The 6-foot-long corridor that leads to the childrens’ and in-laws’ rooms is lined with embossed vinyl stripes to give the illusion of length and depth; an earth-tone palette lets the couple change out bold touches, like red throw pillows, turquoise cushions or black-and-white glass chandeliers in the light-flooded living/dining room. “I had those custom-made in Chinatown,” Niki says with a grin.
She also ensured that each bedroom would be to its owners’ liking, even if that meant rather incongruous design schemes. “My parents’ room is done in bamboo and reds, since I know my mother likes an Asian look,” Niki explains. The children picked out their own wallpaper from Osborne & Little; the lofted bed in Edin’s room is kitted out with a slide, while Cienna’s is done in a butterfly theme, with a pink toile canopy and a Plexiglas bubble swing. “She loves to read in there,” adds Shaokao.
Beyond their art-adorned “showroom” and the lacquer-and-gray marble kitchen lies a stroke of genius: the owners’ private lair. The Chengs made the wise decision to move their master suite to the absolute opposite side of the apartment, far from their many roommates. Within its walls are a living room, with chandeliers that give the silver-papered walls a luminous glow, a boudoir, a grand marble bath and closets, plus a door leading to a yoga room. (The couple practice together daily.)
“Honestly, the place is so big, we rarely see our parents,” jokes Shaokao.
But it’s 4 o’clock on a school day, and everyone has trotted into the kitchen — including Niki’s mother, Sau Then Lee, and the two adorable children, one in tears and the other proudly displaying a wiggly tooth. Shaokao takes a weepy Edin into his arms while Niki gets some organic popsicles. “We never use our huge tub, except to let the kids eat snacks in it,” she says with a booming laugh. (This time the little ones indulge their treats at the kitchen counter.)
The Chengs are proud to have created a home that’s welcoming to all generations, a space that allows them to be engaged parents, entrepreneurs, devoted yogis, entertainers and a loving couple. “All the grandparents help with the laundry, the cooking, the kids,” says Niki. “It’s sort of like having a staff, but without any of the weirdness. We never have to worry about anything.”
Indeed, when the couple wants to attend an event or get out of town, they never book a baby sitter — there’s always a trusted adult (or three) at home ready to tend to meals and children and tidying up. “We can be spontaneous and travel to Miami when we feel like it” — which they recently did, sans kids — “but the truth is, we stay home a lot,” says Niki.
It’s traditional living — the way the Chengs’ grandparents lived in Malaysia and Taiwan — in the most modern, New York setting possible. They know they’re lucky to have found an apartment that fulfills every wish they had for a home . . . and life.
As Shaokao puts it, “This is pretty much as good as it gets.”
Prop Styling by Brice Gaillard. Hair and Makeup by Hiro Yonemoto for Atelier Management using CHANEL Rouge Coco.