How to live the Manhattan high life on a modest budget

Get a slice of Big Apple style with inspired use of colour, savvy use of space and soft

High above the throbbing streets of Park Avenue in New York City, is a world most of us can only dream about. Bejewelled eyries of old money, new money, movie stars, dot.com brats and high-flying executives — it’s Manhattan’s high life and its interiors are nothing short of, well, fabulous (as spoken by Sex & the City’s Samantha).

Actually, it’s later scenes of Sex & the Citythat gave many of us less fortunate earners our first glimpse into the decadence common to Park Avenue living. It’s not simply the newly coiffured dens of financial iniquity but the tradition of wealth on show, baseboard to cornice, when you make it there.