B075
Brooklyn, NY
Interior Design + Architectural Advisory
Contractor: M Construction
Millwork: Elephants Custom Furniture
Photographer: Claire Esparros
Press 1stDibs Instrospective
The grand proportions, modernist architecture, and perhaps intentionally exhibitionist-scaled windows of this six-story, new construction townhouse provided an invitation to theater — and to the gazes of voyeuristic passersby. Envisioned as an urban sanctuary for a couple and their young children, each room is its own chapter in an eclectic, daring narrative penned with deliberate orchestration of globally-sourced and custom furnishings, enveloping surfaces and dynamic art.
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PROJECT DETAILS
• Finishes and built-ins to enhance the developer designed property
• Furnishings to complement existing art collection
• Statement and arhitectural lighting to establish desired moods
• A comfortable media room with beer taps for movie and football watching, board gaming and kid's activities
For this top-down renovation, we were inspired by the jewel-toned palazzos along Venice's Grand Canal and sought to choreograph a poised, modern production for lavish living with materials and finishes sympathetic to the shifting moods of natural light.
For improved access and navigation in the compact entry foyer, we demolished the existing coat closet and designed a full-height, white oak storage wall with a coat wardrobe, integrated bench seat, shoe storage, charging stations, and a custom cantilevered bronze tray to hold wallets and keys.
The living room doubles as lounge and gallery, where works by Michaela Eichwald, Kaari Upson and Goshka Macuga hold court. Soaring, wall-to-wall millwork punctuated with brass shelving and heavily-veined Golden Spider marble quarried in Greece backdrops sculptural furnishings upholstered in mohair and bouclé. Within sight, the dining room's 36" diameter enigmatic, illuminated orb by UK artist Stuart Haygarth seems to levitate above a monolithic, MHLI designed table.
The children's level was conceived as an immersive sensory experience. Flanked by bedrooms wrapped in wallcoverings of shapeshifting technicolor and gilded gridding, the play nook evokes a rocky glade with its tactile 'grass' carpet, boulder cushions and suspended clouds.
Harmonic hues swathe the surfaces of the primary suite: straw marquetry nightstands, silk window dressings and carpet, and slubbed linen upholstered walls. We recovered the client's existing saddle leather bed in a soft mocha velvet to maintain aesthetic continuity with the new material palette. When mapping the bedroom's storage, including triple wardrobes faced in smoked acrylic and wire mesh and an adjoining pass-through closet, we meticlously inventoried the client's wardobe and accessories and assigned specific locations for each. A geometric, metallic tile fireplace surround and a madcap Massimiliano Locatelli neon coil chandelier counterpoint the restrained formality of the space.
In the office at the apex of the residence, where dual roof terraces and a skylight illuminate blackened oak millwork, an immense mixed media assemblage by Frieda Toranzo Jaeger surmounts an elegant divan for repose. MHLI's signature custom perforated steel valences disguise motorized shades while preserving the visual height of glass wall.
Low maintenance, resilient floors of resin-encased, hand-troweled quartz ground the subterranean, windowless basement, where we employed uniform, monochromatic color on walls, millwork, perimeter sofas and the MHLI-designed bronze shelving to warm the formerly nondescript media room and humanize its immense volume. A sculptural 1960s Richard Barr brutalist table lamp energizes a quiet corner.
When we presented the living room fireplace stone sample, the client loved it, but surface imperfections in the available slabs disqualified them from use. With critical installations pending and time running short before the client’s return, we launched a 100 mile search for replacement. After four failed attempts, a new vendor — our Hail Mary — arrived with two slabs tethered to the bed of his pickup, enabling timely approval and fabrication.
Once the primary bedroom's wardrobes were completed, the client's brightly colored shirts became a conspicuous eyesore through the wire mesh faces. We resolved this disruption to visual cohesion by installing smoked acrylic panels to subtly increase opacity without compromising the design intent.
Our client originally envisioned the large-scale artwork now showcased in the living room for the top-floor office. However, its 10-foot width made access through the entryway and up four flights of stairs impossible. To preserve the piece, the frame was custom-assembled on site, allowing us to install it on the parlour level where its scale and presence proved more impactful.
Design
16 weeks
Implementation & Construction
15 months
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