House Tour: The Well-Upholstered Home

Back in the day, when New York was a great newspaper town, Brooklyn was home to multiple printing plants that ran all night, spitting out the papers that were essential reading for nearly everyone. The Daily News presses were housed in a late 1920s brick and limestone building on Dean Street, converted to condos in 2002 and dubbed Newswalk. Like many such conversions, there were pluses and minuses in the units that emerged: high ceilings and big windows among the former, quirky layouts among the latter.

When a pair of almost-empty nesters from Princeton, New Jersey, both of whom work remotely, purchased a two-bedroom unit spread over three levels in 2023, they did a smart thing: They lived in the place for about a year, dreaming about what they wanted, and figuring out what they needed. Then they called architect Dan Kaplan of Gowanus-based Bowerbird to rethink and upgrade the space, and Rachael Rosenblum of Double R Design, who has an upholstery studio in a Fort Greene carriage house and is making the transition to full-service interior design. “They’re in a new stage of life,” Rosenblum said of her clients, whose previous home was very much geared toward life with children. “They wanted a warm, unique place, cleaner and more modern, that speaks to their new adventure.”

Bowerbird gutted and rebuilt the 2,055-square-foot interior, replacing the developers’ dated kitchen and baths, hiding sprinkler pipes and ductwork that gave the space an unwanted industrial feel, and swapping in a friendlier wood version of the staircase linking the apartment’s three levels. Meanwhile, Rosenblum hatched design ideas, threading the needle, as it were, between the clients’ desire to preserve loft-like space for entertaining and the need for privacy, especially when their three college-age kids descend. She conceived a linen curtain on ceiling tracks to cordon off guest space in part of the expansive living room, collaborated on millwork designs for built-in storage everywhere, and came up with an un-shy color palette. The latter started with a deep green stain on the open kitchen’s custom cabinetry, coordinated with the rust-veined marble backsplash and kitchen island.

Working almost from scratch, as the homeowners brought only a couple of rugs and a few vibrant Nigerian artworks from their previous home, Rosenblum re-imagined some two dozen vintage chairs and sofas from such sources as 1stDibs and the Brimfield flea market, revamping them with modern fabrics chosen for warmth and personality. She also conjured upholstered window seats, headboards, pillows, and other soft furnishings throughout.

The apartment’s entry door opens onto a mezzanine perched between the two main levels, a stage set with a round table of pale wood, a custom storage and seating piece upholstered in red velvet, and a vintage caned bench. A trio of Rime glass globes from Design Within Reach, hung at different levels, heightens the drama.

An angled sectional Sert sofa, designed in 1946 by American mid-century designer Harvey Probber, is so large it doubles as a divider in the supersized living room, creating “a space within the space,” as Rosenblum put it. She gave it a snazzy two-tone treatment, with a tweedy lavender bouclé from Knoll on the seat cushions, a solid purple woven wool on the back and sides. Other vintage finds also got makeovers, including a bi-level coffee table with a floating top, now lacquered in charcoal and cream, and a wood armchair found at a flea market, spiffed up with white leather upholstery. A room-spanning window seat in tan leather now runs beneath the wall-to-wall windows, the better to gaze upon the city spread to the north. For a corner of the living room, tucked behind millwork, Rosenblum came up with the “smallest home office ever,” a tiny but efficient custom slide-out unit.

Upstairs in the primary bedroom, a distinctive channeled headboard by Double R Design, covered in moss-colored velvet, incorporates custom floating nightstands of fluted wood. The champagne-colored grasscloth on the wall above was sourced from Schumacher. An oval Hollywood Regency chair in purple burn-out velvet strikes a playful note in one corner.

A formerly unpromising pass-through between the primary bedroom and its ensuite bath now serves as a home office for the husband. Rosenblum turned the windowless box into a showpiece, cutting an opening in one wall and outfitting it with a wooden folding shutter, decorated with an abstract painted mural by upstate artist Rowan Willigan.

Next door, in the oft-used guest room, a long headboard covered in a tailored stripe from Rogers & Goffigon links two queen beds, with a vintage dresser in between and bouclé-covered benches, purchased new from CB2, at the foot of each.

The idea for Rosenblum’s business was sparked a few years ago by an overstuffed ‘70s armchair she inherited from her grandmother and redid in embroidered Mexican cloth. At the time, she was designing textiles and accessories for fashion brands like Banana Republic and Express. “When I finished, I was shocked by how the energy of the chair completely changed. It went from a tired, heavy piece to a bright, joyous vibe,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I can do something here.’” As a sideline, Rosenblum started sourcing vintage furniture, and put together a collection of about 10 reupholstered pieces to show and sell at street markets. Right about then, she said, “The pandemic hit and I was gifted a layoff.” She signed up for interior design classes at Pratt, and in 2022 moved her home-based business to the Vanderbilt Avenue carriage house. “After 18 years in fast fashion, I love taking a more sustainable approach. By reinventing used furniture and keeping it alive, I feel I’m saving something with value and history. That is really meaningful to me.”

[Photos by Matthew Williams]

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