The Insider: Up-and-Coming Designer Gives Williamsburg Loft Relaxed Décor With a “Glam Edge”

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The owner of this two-bedroom loft in a converted 1930s industrial building had lived there about eight years and was thinking of selling. But she loved the location in the heart of Williamsburg, as well as the super-tall ceilings and vast bank of windows.

“She ended up deciding to stay and renovate,” said interior designer Megan Pflug, a Missouri native now based in Brooklyn, who masterminded the makeover that followed.

The two women, who met through Instagram, started by perusing images the client, a personal organizer, had collected. “I made a Pinterest board, and we narrowed down the look,” said Pflug — a look she described as “relaxed, not overly formal, but with a glam edge.”

They made no changes to the condo’s layout, except to expand the kitchen by approximately one-third, utilizing an empty stretch of wall to gain additional workspace and storage.

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Besides a total revamping of the uninspiring contractor kitchen, they scraped the beamed ceilings — “a huge, messy undertaking,” Pflug recalled — and painted the loft a subtly calibrated palette of palest gray (no, it’s not white), dark gray and, in the client’s bedroom, a custom-mixed pink.

Papering one wall in the main living area with swirly gold-and-white mural wallpaper “dictated the use of brass accents” in lighting and accessories throughout, said Pflug, who has a background as a fine-arts painter, with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Columbia.

Furnishings are a combination of pieces the client already owned and others purchased from accessibly priced retailers and local makers.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

The blue door was inspired by the homeowner’s travels in Greece. The enormous mirror and ottoman that serve the functions of an entry foyer are both from Anthropologie, with side tables from CB2.

To define the entry area, Pflug painted the lower half of the wall dark gray.

The painting on the wall — a silver-leafed moon that will oxidize over time — was made by Pflug especially for the space.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

New floor-to-ceiling linen drapes soften the abundant light and emphasize the high ceilings. The sofa and rug, both from West Elm, were already owned by the client.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

Gold-and-white mylar Wabi Cloud wallpaper from Calico was the taking-off point for the loft’s décor.

The pair of velvet chairs came from West Elm, with a table from Dwell Studio in between.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

Pflug chose simple white kitchen cabinetry from Porcelanosa for the kitchen, because it’s open to the rest of the space. Concrete countertops were fabricated by a local maker, Oso Industries.

The chandelier above the table is from Workstead, also Brooklyn-based.

Brass pendant lights over the kitchen counter are from Rejuvenation; the wooden stools came from White on White.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

The bedroom walls are a mix of two Ralph Lauren colors: Bonneted and Box Pleat.

The four-poster bed already belonged to the client. Pflug positioned it in front of the window “for drama” and added tall black candlestick lamps “to help ground our pink color story,” she said.

Interior Design Ideas Brooklyn Megan Pflug Williamsburg

A rough-textured shagreen dresser from Restoration Hardware sits beneath a fiber art piece by Ben and Aja Blanc.

[Photos by Marili Forastieri]

Check out the new ‘The Insider’ mini-site: brownstoner.com/the-insider

The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning. Got a project to propose for The Insider? Contact Cara at caramia447 [at] gmail [dot] com.

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