The Insider: Custom Details and Quirky Art Star in Revamp of 'Burg Loft-Apartment for Young Family
Ready-to-hang artwork from emerging artists and custom upgrades by an artist/designer discovered via a handyman service enhance this Williamsburg condo.
Credit a handyman service for bringing together the owners of this 1,750-square-foot space in a former foundry building and artist/designer Adam Bierton of Bed-Stuy-based Creative Workshop.
Feeling an urge to nest while expecting their first child, the homeowners hired Bierton, who began working in wood, metal, glass and other materials as a teenager and came to New York City from Rochester about five years ago. (He’s also known for his award-winning handlebar mustache.)
Bierton first did “some odds and ends,” including painting and small repairs. Then he came back to do more extensive work in the condo, which boasts a dozen windows that flood the apartment with light, and a sprinkler system the homeowners appreciate for the way it harks back to the building’s industrial beginnings.
Other things were less to their liking, like the “junky” baseboard heaters Bierton replaced with more attractive cast-iron baseboard radiators.
He also constructed a grid-like shelf system using safety glass and black steel pipes; built a custom bar with a concrete top in a dead corner of the sitting room; replaced track lighting with recessed halogen cans in every room; and rebuilt all the window frames to accommodate new tilt-and-turn sound-reducing windows.
Uprise Art, an online gallery that offers installment plans for ready-to-hang, one-of-a-kind works from emerging artists and photographers, was another major player in the revamp of the space. A variety of intriguing artworks, carefully chosen to play off the apartment’s neutral, modernist furnishings and hung to best advantage, turns the apartment into an art gallery as well as a home.
Vintage seating came from Las Venus on the Lower East Side, the rug from ABC Carpet and Home, with art by Baron Von Fancy and Brea Souders from Uprise Art.
The striking hand-printed wall covering is from Brooklyn’s own Flavor Paper.
Bierton created a custom shelving unit of common materials found at Home Depot.
The metal dining chairs, modeled after a 1930s French design, came from Anthropologie, the light fixture from an Etsy dealer.
A glimpse into the TV room reveals a sofa and ottoman from The Future Perfect and a jute rug from West Elm.
The bull’s head is art, not taxidermy.
The side table in the master bedroom came from Anthropologie, the bed from West Elm. Art above the bed is by Eric LoPresti from Uprise Art.
Art by Erin Lynn Welsh from Uprise Art hangs above a Highland crib from DaVinci in the nursery.
“Brooklyn Toile” wallpaper from Flavor Paper brings whimsy to the powder room.
[Photos by Jen Brister]
The Insider is Brownstoner’s in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here Thursday mornings.
Got a project to propose for The Insider? Contact Cara at caramia447 [at] gmail [dot] com
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