We experienced a true “pinch me” moment last Thursday when we woke up to see one of our projects featured in the Home section of the NY Times. The house is the home of one of our clients who lives in a lovingly restored Brownstone in Carroll Gardens. We were hired to take on the project of decorating the house over two years ago, when Morgan (our dear client) e-mailed after seeing our book, and then our blog. She and her husband, Scott, both originally from New Orleans, impressed us with their interest in filling their house with antiques and quality pieces of furniture that settled in comfortably to a house with so much history. Also, they wanted to purchase pieces that had “legs”– that could some day be passed down to their daughter, Lise. While they were certainly our youngest clients at the time, they had very sophisticated ideas about how they imagined their home could look. In an early e-mail from Morgan, she sent us a list of “things” to help us get to know her taste, explaining her preferences with “The Frick not Moma,” “Art Nouveau not Art Deco,” “Serifs not sans-serifs.” This preliminary email was incredibly useful and helped guide the design process from the beginning to the very end. Below, the front parlor with a Swedish love seat (at left) found at Brimfield flanked by a pair of articulated lamps from Paris. A burgundy ceramic lamp from Christopher Spitzmiller (below right) brings an additional jolt of strong color to the room.
We found the Windsor bench in the foyer at Brimfield as well (it had originally come from a home in New Hampshire). We had an upholstered seat cushion made for it in one of our favorite Bennison red and white floral patterns. The mohair chairs are from Oly.
Morgan is a collector of New Orleans photographer Frank Relle’s work and this piece above the love seat below ended up being the perfect scale and colors for the room.
The back parlor is used as a cozy place to curl up with a book and watch a movie with family. The custom roman shades are made out of a fabric designed by Katie Leede. Because the front parlor opens up to the back parlor, it was important that these rooms speak to each other. The grey blues, burnt orange, and hints of red are carried throughout the first floor.
Above the sofa in the back parlor, we hung a collection of 19th Century Japanese knot prints. This was something we found at the very, very end of the project after all of the pillows had been made and the fabrics for the entire room had been selected. It’s always fun to share how a room came together because most people have guessed that we found these prints early on and used them as inspiration for the colors and patterns of the room.
The kitchen on the ground floor is a chef’s dream, and this couple loves to cook. The countertops are a gorgeous Luce di Luna quartzite. The chairs are from Restoration Hardware.
The powder room, also on the ground floor is a perfect melody of gray and white. We found a vintage mirror with a distressed painted silver finish at Hampton’s Antique Galleries in Stamford, Connecticut to complement all.
The dining room chair seats are covered in a damask by Proenza Schouler for Knoll Luxe. The Italian pewter and brass chandelier is a great vintage find from the Antique and Artisan Gallery in Stamford, Connecticut.
This custom designed love seat upholstered in a wonderful print by Elizabeth Hamilton was also added towards the very end of the project. It provides the perfect perch for guests to sit and enjoy a slice of pie at the end of dinner or a cocktail at the start.
The master bedroom was designed using many of our favorite fabrics from F. Schumacher & Co. on the window treatments, headboard, and bed pillows.
A little bit of whimsy is brought in with a Bunny Williams for Mirror Image Home mirror over an antique faux grain painted dresser we found at an antique gallery in Stamford, CT.
The guest bedroom feels like a slightly more animated version of the master bedroom, with a lovely print by Raoul on the headboard and a pair of custom green silk lampshades for that nod to old school decorating we love so much.
The baby’s room is a very small room on the third floor. We used a Raoul print for the roman shade that is playful, but still sophisticated.
(Photos by Bruce Buck) To read the full story, click here!