The Insider: Full-Scale Reno, New Decor Refresh Windsor Terrace Beauty
A thorough update opened up the parlor floor, restored woodwork, and injected light and color with pastel paint, fun tile, and wallpaper moments.

Photo by Nicholas Venezia
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Though the early 20th century three-story brick row house had been divided into three units at some point and taken a bit of a beating over the years, its abundance of carved woodwork was happily still intact. A California couple purchased the property, intending to create a duplex for their own family of four on the parlor and top floors. A garden-level floor-through below was to be occupied by a close friend.
In the course of an extensive renovation, architecture firm Dunham Robinson replaced all the windows, ran all-new electrical and mechanicals, and blew out the back wall on two levels. “That was a big point of consideration, whether we would do that or keep some original windows,” said architect Rachel Robinson of Dunham Robinson, which masterminded the project. “Ultimately the owners decided they wanted the large glass openings to connect the interior spaces to the backyard.”
The beautiful woodwork that was the house’s main selling point was covered in layers of dark stain and old paint — including gingerbread detail that required painstaking hand-stripping. While preserving nearly all the woodwork, Dunham Robinson thoroughly replaced the house’s dated infrastructure. “Most walls had at least one side removed in order to run new electrical and mechanicals,” said Michael Dunham, the Manhattan-based firm’s other partner, “but we didn’t touch the wood except to strip it down and refurbish it.”
In the owner duplex, the architects reworked the layout significantly, opening up the parlor floor (top photo) from a sitting room at the front of the house all the way to the kitchen at the rear. “But even the layout changes we made were designed to keep the woodwork and the parquet floor intact,” Robinson said. The unusual chain-like Collier chandelier, by Sean Lavin for Visual Comfort, is a playful touch in the central dining area.
Once stripped, the color of the carved elements suggested the interiors palette, which tends toward warm pastels. Furnishings are mostly new, but include some family pieces.

The house’s brick facade was in good shape, requiring just a bit of repointing. The double entry doors at the top of the stoop are new.

A new mosaic floor from Artistic Tile freshens the entry vestibule.


Hand-stripping all the original woodwork to reveal its natural color was a major component of the project. “During all the months of demo, electrical, and so on, there was someone there stripping wood,” Dunham recalled.

The sunny yellow color of the front room (Provence Cream by Benjamin Moore) was inspired by the swag detail in the original woodwork.

Enlarged openings between rooms on the parlor floor allow for the kind of openness and flow most modern families covet, with minimal disturbance to carved wood detail.

Decades-old wallpaper saved from an owner’s childhood home makes an appearance in an in-between space on the parlor level.


Custom cabinetry by Brooklyn-based New York Woodwork was painted Peale Green, a Benjamin Moore color. “We looked at many greens and found something with vibrance and life to it, but that wasn’t overpowering,” Robinson said. “It’s a lot of cabinetry.” The countertops are quartzite, a natural stone, the backsplash a green mosaic by Morningside Heights, from Artistic Tile.
“The owners weren’t afraid of color or pattern and didn’t want super-modern or stark. That’s not their style at all,” Dunham said.

Across from the kitchen at the rear of the parlor floor is a well-used family and gathering space with a kids’ play table, distinguished by a mural-like wallpaper, Phantasia Prism from House of Hackney. “We were looking for something that would tie all the colors together — yellow from the living room, green from the kitchen, soft pink from the dining room,” Robinson said.
A multi-purpose custom built-in at that end of the room includes storage for dishes, a coffee station, and a small auxiliary fridge.

One of three bedrooms on the second floor is used as a guest room.

The all-new primary bath has a very special carved surround, creating by tweaking a piece of gingerbread removed from elsewhere. “We had to figure out how to close it enough to make it usable as a bathroom screen,” Dunham said. The vanity area was left open to the primary bedroom, while the toilet and shower have their own separate doors.
A stone mosaic floor from Artistic Tile brings in more green, the clients’ favorite color. The vanity was sourced from Signature Hardware.

Dunham Robinson built a new deck and paved the garden with bluestone as part of the extensive project.
Before photos, below, show the extent of the transformation.




[Photos by Nicholas Venezia]
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.
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