Shonda Rhimes’ Cozy New York Apartment Is Eclectic Perfection! Tour the TV Showrunner’s Home

With a TV empire including the long running ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, as well as Netflix’s Bridgerton and Inventing Anna, showrunner-creator-producer Shonda Rhimes can afford to live in luxury. But she chose to go with quirky and eclectic designs for her cozy New York City apartment, even using rooms for multiple purposes rather than have a huge living space in the Big Apple.

“This is my favorite place to be whenever I’m in New York City. It really is like one of the comfiest and coziest places in the world” Shonda told Architectural Digest of her living room during a video tour of her apartment released on March 3.

The wallpaper featuring Asian-inspired flowering tree branches was the first thing that caught her eye for the apartment. “When I bought this place, I didn’t have any furniture,” Shonda explained. “I started with the wallpaper and built outwards from there.”

She uses her living room as an office, as well as an entertaining space. It includes several cozy white sofas, a desk, elegant table lamps and vases, as well as mismatched furniture. “Every piece was a find,” she said of the decor.

“I chose pieces for comfort and simplicity, but it also made it possible to combine both antique and modern and feel a little bit eclectic, and I can just sort of go crazy with something like this, but not feel like I had to stuck to any one style,” Shonda explained while showing off a black and gold Asian-inspired hutch that sits against the contrasting light blue wallpaper.

“Instead, I really let the wallpaper be the choice for the room and let everything else sort of complement it. Which was exciting for me,” she added.

Shonda’s dining room also has multiple uses — including doubling as a guest bedroom! She has a dining table with a banquette in one corner, while across the room is a wall featuring a mounted big screen TV and several tall cabinets containing books. With a small sitting area, the room is also a library and reading area, but the kicker is that the TV wall pulls down into a Murphy bed so that extra guests can stay over! With a bathroom just around the corner and doors on each entryway that close for privacy, it’s the perfect spare bedroom! 

Scroll down to see more photos of Shonda’s New York City apartment.