Inside Amanda Seyfried’s Peaceful New York Home

Hi, AD, I'm Amanda Seyfried

and this is my New York City apartment.

And I'd love to show it to you 'cause it's very cool.

[light jazz music]

My designer architect is Sarah Zames from General Assembly.

It is not the first time I've worked with her.

I live upstate on a farm, so I have all that,

and she's done a great job with my old stone house.

And what I wanted here was something that felt natural.

And I just feel so at peace here in the big city

feeling like we're slightly home even though we're not home.

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This oak wall kind of sets us away a little bit

from the kitchen and it elongates the foyer

and the mirror is essential because you gotta

check your look before you leave, you know?

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So this kitchen is open, very airy, very light.

Honestly, I don't know what this is,

but my husband wanted it.

Never used it but looks stunning in a kitchen.

Makes it seem like it's a gourmet kitchen.

Is it a gourmet kitchen?

One day, but it isn't right now

because I'll tell you who hasn't cooked here yet,

my husband.

Like most New York City apartments,

we have this amazing feature

which we couldn't get rid of even if we wanted to.

And I don't know if you're interested

but I can do my own wash in my apartment,

which is a luxury for you New Yorkers, you know that.

That's the powder room.

It's tiny, it's got a pocket door because that's practical.

It was Sarah's idea.

I was like, Do we need a powder room?

And she said, Yeah, we do.

So I'm gonna, no, I don't have to go.

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This is my old table from my old apartment.

I will never part with it.

Dinnertime is just oil and food on the floor and messiness,

and a new stain is made and a new memory is made

and that's just how we have to look at things.

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I love the curve of the wood here

because it just softens everything.

I mean there's just hard edges everywhere all the time

so I love the fact that Sarah wanted

to kind of soften it up.

Everything's a little softer in certain ways

because of the curve of the windows that softens things.

Even to the curve of like this custom bookshelf.

It's so open and each shelf is very tall

and it was made for this space.

Oh, this is actually, my daughter's like, old work.

It was right when she started drawing people.

This was years ago.

My daughter's actually actually an incredible artist.

It blows my mind.

I was never that good.

And this is my sister, she made this in high school.

I've had it in my apartment since I moved downtown.

There is in every room I guess there's toilet art.

Yeah, it's funny.

I actually, in my house upstate,

I have like a wool vagina hanging, custom vagina.

Not kidding.

I don't know why, I like to remember that we're all human.

And then I have all the cookbooks that I organized

specifically to be closer to the kitchen.

And then all the books that didn't fit upstate

or that I had in my old apartment, I just put it all here.

And you know, I try to keep the kids off of here.

There's a little bit of a marker mark.

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We really paid homage to these arch windows.

I also think that old is beautiful

and if you can restore anything that's that beautiful

and that iconic, you should, it's our responsibility.

And then I have my favorite piece of art ever

by Mark Ryden.

He was inspired by something I said about me wanting him

to paint me with a dead cat,

and he literally painted me with a dead cat.

But it says Amanda.

Really that is me.

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We use this space wisely.

We use the space more than any other space

because it's the TV room.

And I'll show you where the TV is in a minute.

But first, another very essential piece is the table.

I had to have it because it's, again, it's like a circle,

so it's soft and my kids can actually sit around it

because it's really low.

This couch actually, I bought a little before I moved in

and it was like the first L-shaped couch I've ever bought.

I was like, Is this really gonna fit in this apartment?

And it's perfect.

Everybody can fit.

And so we spent a lot of time here.

This rug is from my old apartment.

I got this at ABC Carpet.

It was the first rug I ever bought from them.

I was very young

and ties in, like, my past with my present as a mom.

This whole space, my kitchen, dining room, living room,

the fact that they're all sharing pretty much the same space

makes it feel really cozy

'cause it's totally different from my house upstate.

But there are also so many similarities

and and tie-ins to, like, the way we live up there

and the way we live here.

We're still in nature.

I will say like one of my favorite things is these plugs.

There's so many places to plug plugin electricity

and they're so gorgeous.

It's so chic.

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These chairs are actually from my old apartment

that Sarah reupholstered.

I love antiques.

I love mixing antiques with modern furniture.

I love it.

I think it's such a puzzle.

I love the fact that you can just reupholster them

and make them look totally different.

And the bones are the same.

The wood is stunning and they're so old.

We just renew and recycle and repurpose.

So these are closets, coat closet.

This is really cool because, again, small spaces.

And I'll be honest, we never close these.

I only closed these for you.

This guy.

Essential for watching Dateline with your husband

after your kids go to bed.

And then these little drawers, they are the toys.

We don't have to see them all the time, right?

Are you with me, parents?

Another gorgeous.

You don't wanna see that

'cause I actually threw everything in there for your visit.

Oh, I'm gonna need that later.

Okay, I'm gonna close these back up

and I'm gonna show you how easy they are.

We're not gonna use this part, right?

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And that's it.

That's my big living space.

And then things get pretty narrow after this.

So hold on.

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I have a hallway, which is not something I've had before.

It's really long and finding a rug long enough was so hard

but then we were able to find a a place

that custom made it for just a great price.

I mean there's four doors in this hallway

and they're all incredibly stunning.

Like, just the archway, like I never had that.

And then all these windows.

I mean, I can see what anybody's doing,

if anybody's out on the roof deck, which I share.

So the kids actually have this tricycle, this two seater,

and they're obsessed with it.

And I'm actually not sure that we're allowed bicycles

on the roof, but no one has caught us yet.

And they get so much energy out and it's great.

And this is my bedroom.

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This is the only room that has 12 foot ceiling

and I don't know why.

I have my old carpet.

I have my dresser, I have a walk-in closet,

I have my desk, and my bed from my old apartment.

I have my hands from my old apartment.

See?

Yeah.

Had to do it.

Sarah's like, You really want this hands?

And I was like, I do.

These hands are just special.

I don't know where they came from.

I don't know if they exist anywhere else.

They feel like one-offs or two offs,

and it adds like a little bit of a vibe to the room.

It's actually a really perfect place to sing in.

Only when I'm alone, of course.

I don't know why I still am afraid to sing

in front of people.

But there's just a lot of reverb in this room

because of these tall ceilings.

You sound better with reverb, you just do.

But I will also show you, I've never had two doors.

I've never had two doors.

So this is a secret.

It's a secret.

That's another exit.

Just in case.

I thought that was really fun.

I love secrets.

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I brought my dog onto David Letterman.

I dunno why.

I guess because I was, you know, he's cool.

He's a special guy.

And I was showing him my dog trick

'cause David Letterman used to do like, pet tricks.

And I showed him that he could have a hamburger

on his head without eating it.

And yeah, it worked because he's a badass.

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I have to show you my bathroom

because it's the best bathroom I've ever experienced

as my own.

It's so crazy bright.

It's so beautiful.

The tile is the perfect color by NYC standards it's huge.

Like, really beautiful, classic traditional fittings.

And the fact is like, yes, of course,

we don't keep this open, but it's just so bright.

It's so bright.

So much control of these.

It's so pretty.

I love this marble.

We're using the same marble.

It's like everywhere.

I've got two big medicine cabinets

and these are, they give the most beautiful light.

I love them so much.

But it's very zen, very zen and very light.

And then I have a walk-in closet

and then a giant mirror so I can make sure that I look cool.

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Now I'm gonna show you my kids' bedroom,

which is actually, probably the most fun room.

Of course it is, it's for the kids.

First I'll show you this art that one day will be, I dunno,

taken down.

Bunk beds, ideal New York City living.

This wallpaper, I don't even know what to say.

It couldn't be more perfect.

Little watercolor prints.

I'm obsessed with it and it really gives pops of color.

This light was in my closet in my last apartment

and my daughter was so obsessed with it.

It's just birds so we had to do it.

We have my playhouse that I designed with my friends

that's gonna be on the market soon

because I of course have another, I have a business venture.

My girlfriends and I are very into architecture

and house designs.

And we wanted to create a space for our kids to play

and explore and make their own inside

but with an aesthetic outside that was pleasing,

calming to the parent.

It's a small room but we made the most of it.

And my daughter loves sleeping in it.

And someday soon, my son is gonna love sleeping it too.

Fingers crossed.

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So this is the second bathroom,

the kids' bathroom or my mom's bathroom,

because she also has a room in this place

because she lives with us and she's everything.

[upbeat music]

So that's my home away from home.

Thank you for visiting.

I hope you come back.

I'll see you later, AD. [upbeat music]