The Insider: Years-Long Park Slope Townhouse Reno Concludes With Fresh New Decor
In 2018, interior designer Liz Lipkin got a call from prospective clients who thought they saw light at the end of the renovation tunnel and wanted help pulling things together, decoratively speaking.
Photo by Sean Litchfield
In 2018, interior designer Liz Lipkin got a call from prospective clients who thought they saw light at the end of the renovation tunnel and wanted help pulling things together, decoratively speaking. It would be three years before they actually got to the end of that tunnel.
When the couple, who have a young daughter, bought their four-story row house, it was being used as a three-family, with a garden rental and two upstairs apartments. Architect Nicholas Moons of the Brooklyn-based design/build company MontesBuild converted it to a two-family, with an owner triplex on the garden, parlor and second floors, and a rental unit on top.
As the process ground on in phases dictated by the homeowners’ budget and then by pandemic-related setbacks, including construction delays and Lipkin’s own bout with Covid, the homeowners lived first on the top floor, then on the garden level.
Lipkin, formerly based in Brooklyn, moved to Hudson, N.Y., two years ago and now takes on projects in both city and country. She worked with her clients’ stop-and-start schedule, providing input on everything from hardware, lighting and kitchen tile to paint colors, fabrics and furnishings.
Using mostly neutral colors and natural materials, she varied the mood from room to room. The light-filled kitchen, white with blue accents, has glossy surfaces to amplify the light streaming in through new glass sliders, while the front parlor is grounded in an organic grey and brown palette, and the primary bedroom is swathed in cool, monochromatic tones.
The family’s main living space in the front parlor strikes a balance between comfortable and family-friendly and more sophisticated, with an airy, corded-detail chair and ottoman from Herman Miller and a leather sofa of small proportions suited to the narrow room.
Lipkin sourced furnishings from a variety of well-known sources. The sofa came from ABC Carpet & Home, the coffee table from CB2, the mirror from Room & Board, and accessories from such vendors as Target and Rejuvenation.
A cozy L-shaped banquette with built-in storage, fabricated by Brooklyn Workroom, subs for a dining table. Above, a salon-style gallery wall displays framed menus and photographs from memorable meals the homeowners have enjoyed in their travels.
Blue and white terra cotta tiles from Walter Zanger were a splurge. “We debated whether they should go behind the range as a backsplash or in the fireplace as an unexpected element,” Lipkin said. “I’m glad they landed where they did.”
The banquette, covered in wipe-clean faux leather from Kravet, seats six. “Extra seating happens at the bar stools” in the kitchen, Lipkin said.
Chairs from Rove Concepts and a table from Lexmod are frank knock-offs of Herman Miller and Knoll pieces, and a whole lot less pricey.
A skinny galley kitchen with a pass-through window into an adjacent dining room became one open space, with new glass sliders running the full width of the back wall.
Custom cabinets with pure white quartz countertops, bar stools from Restoration Hardware and a hanging globe from West Elm add up to an inviting, unpretentious space. A vintage runner found online ties in with the red knobs on the Wolff range.
Lipkin designed the primary bedroom as a soothing retreat, with textured wallpaper, plush fabrics and long drapes striking a luxurious note.
A hidden closet door with no hardware melds into the wallcovering. “A regular door would have felt really cramped so close to the bed,” a velvet-upholstered king from ABC Carpet & Home, the designer said.
The striking modernist chair, unusual side tables and shaggy fringed rug all came from Anthropologie.
[Photos by Sean Litchfield]
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The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a noteworthy interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.
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