Apartment tour: 2BR in Prospect Heights

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Philadelphia native Anna Greenacre and her London-born husband, Kerry Warwicker, might spend their days in the corporate world (she works in health-care research and he in banking IT), but the fourth-floor walk-up they come home to is anything but stuffy. Since purchasing their pad in 2007, the couple has stocked it with a fresh mix of clean, modern furniture and a carefully culled collection of family heirlooms, travel souvenirs and plenty of artwork. "I've always been into making things look homey, but interesting-looking too," says Greenacre.

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For furniture, the pair sought "small pieces that wouldn't crowd the space," like a tufted-back couch from Design Within Reach (locations throughout the city; visit dwr.com). Striped pillows from Crate & Barrel's outlet at Woodbury Common (650 Bluebird Ct, Central Valley, NY; 845-928-1008, premiumoutlets.com/woodburycommon) jazz up an otherwise neutral sofa.

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The twosome filled the living room's pre-existing built-in shelves with a mix of personal photographs, decorative pieces (many of them wedding gifts), and plenty of favorite reads from authors like Ian McEwan, Michael Chabon and William Gibson. "I love the physicality of books," explains Warwicker.

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Among the many treasures that found a home in the duo's collection of meaningful objects: a polar bear figurine that belonged to Warwicker's aunt. "When I was a kid visiting her in London, I loved this thing," he recalls. "When she passed, my father smuggled it out of her apartment for me."

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While the husband and wife like to pick up art and decorative souvenirs during their frequent travels, most of their furnishings are locally sourced. The antique chest was a parting gift from their previous landlord on the Upper West Side, who liked them so much she refused Warwicker's offer to buy the piece. "Who knows where it's from or what it is," he says. "It's old and battered, but we love it." A vintage-style poster from Manhattan Art Gallery (568 Sixth Ave at 16th St, 212-366-6290) hangs above it.

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If Greenacre, who scours design magazines and blogs for ideas, is the driving force behind her home's decor, then her husband's job is to keep her in check. "Kerry's more the editing factor," she admits, parroting, "No, we don't need that. No, it won't fit." One statement-making piece that made the cut: a faux saber-toothed tiger skull from Z Gallerie (zgallerie.com).

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Greenacre gravitates toward midcentury modern pieces, and particularly enjoys designer Jonathan Adler's fun, chic aesthetic---so it's no surprise that this cheery peach-colored chair jumped out at her while she was browsing Craigslist. She added the sequined Union Jack pillow, a London find, for a little contrast. "I like to mix materials: wood with metal, and something organic with something shiny," she says.

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"Most of the pieces have a story behind them," says Warwicker of the prints, antique posters and photography that make up their gallery display. In the mix: a London map the couple discovered in Hawaii, pictures Greenacre snapped in Florence and Miami, and an antique Coney Island beach photo purchased at the Brooklyn Flea (1 Hanson Pl at Ashland Pl, Downtown Brooklyn, brooklynflea.com). "We're happy with it because it camouflages the television a bit," notes Greenacre of their ever-expanding collection.

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"We travel a fair amount and try to pick up things along the way to remind us of good times and vacations," says Greenacre. She and Warwicker found this mask, originally from Sierra Leone, during a trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

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The couple relies on modern chain store CB2 (451 Broadway between Canal and Grand Sts; 212-219-1454, cb2.com) for functional pieces like the dining-room table, which seats up to ten of their friends during frequent social gatherings. "It arrived the day of our first dinner party," remembers Greenacre. "I'm sitting there cooking, and Kerry's screwing legs on the table!"

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Greenacre recently painted the foyer a fiery orange called Fall Harvest from Benjamin Moore after spotting a similar look in decorator Carleton Varney's book, Houses in My Heart. "Then it dawned on me that my mom had actually painted one of our walls like this at home in Philadelphia---which is terrifying," she laughs.

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"The challenge of having high ceilings is that you have to fill [the space]," says Greenacre of her quest to find the perfect bedroom accents. "We wanted something kind of different." They settled on a cityscape wall decal from French company Paristic (paristic.fr) to serve as their headboard and a dramatic, oversize pendant lamp from Restoration Hardware (935 Broadway at 22nd St; 212-260-9479, restorationhardware.com).

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"There is nothing so satisfying as owning a staple gun and a glue gun," enthuses Greenacre, who loves DIY projects like reupholstering and painting furniture. One of her favorite creations is this bubble light fixture, made of CB2 glass balls, chopsticks, string and threads. After spotting a "really, really expensive" store-bought version at Lindsey Adelman Studio (55 Great Jones St between Bowery and Lafayette St; 212-473-2501, lindseyadelman.com), she found instructions on design blog Re-Nest (re-nest.com) and decided to make one herself.

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"I got the bug," admits Greenacre of hanging multiple pictures on nearly every wall of her apartment. For the stairwell leading up to their roof deck, she tore out pages from the 1978 photojournalism tome British Journal of Photography (scored at a secondhand bookshop) and mounted them in simple Ikea frames. "Kerry's like, 'Can you please stop perforating our home? When we move, we're going to have to fill in every one of these holes!'"

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Shelves in the guest room display various objects that evoke fond memories, including Greenacre's first camera, a yellow toy convertible to commemorate the one she and her husband once got stuck with on a California road trip, and a bottle from her father's "significant" collection of 1960s port.

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"It's nice to have a piece in our home that has been in my life for a while," says Greenacre, referring to her childhood desk, which now has a place in her guest room. More recent acquisitions include a vintage W sign found at the Brooklyn Flea and an Ikea bench, bulletin board and carpet. "I like going in for inspiration," she says of the superstore. "But I always end up with a cart full of stuff!"