Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird open the doors to their swanky New York apartment as USWNT’s biggest star gets ready for life away from soccer after the World Cup
- ELLE DECOR took a peek inside their 1,650 square foot SoHo apartment
- Rapinoe is currently in New Zealand, taking part in her final World Cup
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
The latest edition of the home design and style magazine ELLE DECOR has a more athletic flair to it than normal.
United States women’s national team player Megan Rapinoe and retired WNBA legend Sue Bird opened up the doors of their home to discuss the different design elements of their new home in New York City.
The athletic power couple found themselves a 1,650 square foot, two bedroom pied-à-terre complete with high ceilings, great views of the city, and a rooftop terrace.
Rapinoe says that after getting the place in 2021, they enlisted the help of designer Mark Grattan – who had previously been highlighted by the magazine.
As the story goes, Rapinoe went into Grattan’s DMs on Instagram, saying, ‘My fiancée and I just got a place in SoHo and need HALP!’
Megan Rapinoe and her wife, Sue Bird, have been featured in the latest issue of ELLE DECOR
The athlete power couple gave an inside look into their NYC home and its re-designed interior
Rapinoe is currently in New Zealand, taking part in her final World Cup with the United States
Grattan, who says he ‘typically let[s] people sweat a bit’ when they ask for his services, said he responded the same day.
The apartment, complete with a specially designed open-plan kitchen featuring Brazilian quartzite on the countertops, backsplash and its custom built island, reflects an emerald color.
That may tie in some way to the couple’s shared time in the Pacific Northwest, where they both played their sport professionally for many years.
Rapinoe said that the apartment is a place that they’d like to keep happy and build a future upon.
‘New York is a really special place to both of us,’ Rapinoe says. ‘Sue is from here. It feels like the place where we fell in love—it feels like home in so many ways.’
The couple were constantly traveling while the remodel and design of the place was being done – mostly living at their home in Seattle.
‘Athletes and artists aren’t that different,’ Bird says. ‘There is a process. And you can’t skip steps, you just can’t.’
‘Whenever I think about retirement and the future, I think about our friends and family sitting on the couch, sharing joy with each other,’ Rapinoe says.
The SoHo 1,650 square foot apartment features a beautifully designed open-concept kitchen
As Rapinoe tells it, the couple chose New York because ‘it feels like home in so many ways’
Rapinoe has played in two World Cup matches so far, with the knockouts coming up
For Rapinoe, that retirement is coming sooner rather than later.
The two-time World Cup winner, Olympic gold medalist and women’s soccer great announced prior to the start of the 2023 World Cup that she’d be retiring at the end of this NWSL season.
It’s the end of a long and accomplished career that has taken her across the country and to places all around the world.
So far at this World Cup, Rapinoe has featured only twice in the World Cup group stage.
She came off the bench in the 61st minute for both the 3-0 win over Vietnam as well as Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Portugal.
That result saw the United States advance to the knockout stages once again, but struggles in all three of their matches have cast doubts on their ability to become the first nation to win three straight World Cups – on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Following the conclusion of the World Cup for the United States, Rapinoe’s NWSL team – OL Reign – have six regular season matches left in the season before the playoffs.