The Insider: New Parents Seek "Casual But Elegant" Furnishings for Heights Condo

The new owners of this skylit three-bedroom in a converted industrial building near Brooklyn Bridge Park are also new parents. Nevertheless, they wanted the space “to look like adults live there,” said Bushwick-based designer Luna Grey, whom they contacted for help with furnishings and lighting.

Her clients, late of Manhattan, “knew their previous furniture, all espresso-brown wood, didn’t fit” with the unit’s somewhat rustic elements, like steel girders and exposed brick. “Casual but elegant” became the watchwords as Grey, who is something of an online shopping wizard, combed websites for pieces that would do justice to the dramatic double-height space.

There was also the matter of color. At the initial consultation, Grey recalled, “She was wearing all black and he was wearing a bright orange shirt.” Grey helped negotiate a visual compromise, taking advantage of the sun-splashed space to produce a pale neutral palette, with color coming mainly from art, throw pillows and a blue chaise in the living room.

Happily, the condo’s previous owner had “renovated the apartment smartly,” said Grey, with white lacquer window seats and other useful built-ins, while the distinctive beams and arched windows of the existing architecture “gave us a great canvas to work with.”

Grey found nearly everything they needed online. What may look like an expensive decorating job was actually “a mix of high and low,” the designer said. Among the splurges was an enormous L-shaped sofa from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, covered in Sunbrella indoor/outdoor fabric to protect it from the resident baby and French bulldog.

Some of the lighting, too, was pricey, but “everything else was pretty cost-conscious,” Grey said.

Grey hired a contractor to widen the wall above the fireplace, adding a few inches on each side, to accommodate a large TV.

The living room’s mix of materials and textures includes a soft handmade Moroccan rug found on Overstock.com, a cocktail ottoman from Wayfair used as a coffee table, and two side tables. One is teak from Houzz and the other brass by Arteriors.

Even the long custom cushion for the existing white lacquer bench under the arched window was ordered online, from Loom Decor, in a turquoise stripe.

The striking print above the sofa, which anchors the back wall with a burst of blue, was inexpensive. Grey found it on Minted.

The blue lounge chair in the corner came from Crate and Barrel.

Saddle-brown leather stools from West Elm warm up and soften the white lacquer and gray quartz of the kitchen area.

The homeowners created the dining room’s accent wall, using thin sheets of self-adhesive reclaimed wood wall paneling from Stikwood.

The live-edge maple dining table on hefty steel legs came from South Cone, a California-based website, the linen-covered dining chairs from Khazana, a furniture store in Austin, Texas.

Grey’s clients decided to splash out on a pipe-and-crystal chandelier from Lumens.

An elm bar cabinet and steel credenza from Crate and Barrel, reclaimed wood shelves from Ballard and a hand-knotted Turkish Oushak rug from Williams Sonoma Home round out the dining area.

[Photos by Kelsey Ann Rose]

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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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