The Ultimate Recyclers

What do you do when your affinity for buying antiques and other collectibles starts to take over your once-spacious home? Start a store (or, in this case, two). That’s what Elizabeth Crowell and Robert Wilson did. After purchasing their four-story limestone house in Prospect Heights in 2004 for $1.4 million, the couple opened a bricks-and-mortar version of their online store, Sterling Place, on Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill and then on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope. It was pretty clear to me early on in the relationship that there was going to be a lot of stuff coming in, Ms. Crowell said, so there was going to have to be a channel going out. The couple’s devoted not only to antique furniture and tchochkes but also to the architectural elements which, luckily, are still in excellent shape in their own house. We haven’t changed any of the original details, Ms. Crowell said, referring to the remarkable carved wood, molded plaster and leaded glass that fill their house, which they bought in 2003 for $1.4 million. The trades don’t even exist anymore to do this kind of work, even if you could afford it, which most of us couldn’t.”
The Ultimate Recyclers [NY Times]