Collyer’s Mansion Adds Design Studio in Brooklyn Heights, Expanding Interior Services

Atlantic Avenue homewares staple Collyer’s Mansion has opened a design studio and showroom around the corner from its flagship location, expanding its interior design services and space for showcasing its colorful home furnishings and stylish room vignettes.

Founder Mauri Weakley said the new space at 307 Henry Street, which opened in May, allows the Collyer’s Mansion team to spread out a bit and have a more focused workspace, as the Atlantic Avenue store was “bursting at the seams.” “Our shop, as many people know, is chock full of beautiful goods and we had a tiny little office in the back and we were working out of it elbow to elbow,” she said.

While she initially tried to find a larger space to move the entire business, she said nothing felt quite right. “I feel like our shop on Atlantic has an historic storefront, the beautiful bright blue, there’s an opportunity for it to just feel like it’s always been there and it has character. It’s like the character from the street just carries all the way in.”

During the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, which Weakley and her interior design partner Laura Rucker took part in for Collyer’s Mansion, the pair were frequently “schlepping” up Henry Street past a vacant 307, which they realized would be perfect location for their expansion.

Weakley said on top of having fantastic neighbors and maintaining the business’ strong connection with the neighborhood, the space also offers the feeling you are in someone’s home and gives them the right environment for their interior design work.

“We’re able to lay things down on our work table and pull together all the beautiful fabrics and wallpapers and carpet, and we have space to be creative, and then we also have a dedicated space for clients to come into as well,” she said. It also allows the team extra display space for furniture that doesn’t fit into the Atlantic Avenue location, Weakley added, with everything on the floor for sale.

As a design team, Weakley and Rucker offer consultations and design services for wallcovering, lighting, bookcase styling, outdoor furniture, kitchen and bathroom renovations, art installation, bedding and pillow styling, and color selection. Consultations are $200 an hour and there is a one hour minimum per appointment.

Weakley first opened Collyer’s Mansion in Ditmas Park, where she still lives, saying at the time there wasn’t much retail available in the neighborhood. “I felt like the neighborhood could really benefit from a home and gift shop, and we were really one of the first that opened there,” she said. “It was a tiny 250 square foot store with 14 foot ceilings and my father in law and I built and designed this sort of custom floor to ceiling shelving, and we chocked it all full.”

Since its opening, and through its 2015 move to 179 Atlantic Avenue, Collyer’s Mansion has stocked an eclectic and bright array of home goods that includes furniture from Cisco and Lee Industries, handmade jewelry, textiles from Lisa Corti among others, art, and much more. Weakley said she still carries many of the same makers she did when she first opened, and has developed long-lasting relationships with many of the small businesses.

As Collyer’s Mansion became rooted in the neighborhood and Weakley a trusted source in interiors, she said her design services naturally became a feature of the business’ offerings. Customers, she said, would come in and ask if she could go to their homes and give her opinion or help with styling.

“It really just evolved very naturally from being a mainstay, I think, in the community and really our regulars and our customers we know by name, you know, we know their kids, we know where they go to school, we’re just really a part of their lives. It’s very personal,” she said.

Over the last two years, she said, things had evolved into more of a fully fledged service where she and Rucker are now designing rooms top to bottom.

Collyer’s Mansion is known for its color and use of patterns and layered textiles, and Weakley said she thinks their customers are drawn to that and their “innately very cheerful and happy and warm” aesthetic, as well as the fact their spaces feel comfortable and fun, without being fussy.

“I think a lot of people…they’re inspired by color and they’re inspired by patterns, and the way that we layer all of our textiles and the way we incorporate local artists, and I think they’re inspired by it, but they don’t necessarily know how to do it themselves and I think they come to us for that,” she said.

An important part of Weakley and Rucker’s process, Weakley said, is making sure the customer is totally catered to and represented in the final look of a space. She said one of the most exciting parts of the process is getting to know the customer, their vision, and what they like, and then figuring out how to translate that into the space.

“It’s always really exciting when you’re in the first meeting and the thing that they’re drawn to is also maybe what was our first choice for them as well. That’s a nice feeling because it is a collaboration and the client is part of it, and it’s nice when you feel like you get them.”

Rucker said a big part of the approach and the pair’s style is making spaces that don’t look like they have just been designed and installed, but “almost like it grew organically and was collected over time. There’s I guess a mix where it feels very authentic.”

“One of my favorite parts of the project is when everything gets installed and like you just see this change that you created in someone’s everyday life,” Rucker said.

“Sometimes that can be just a pillow, but it completely changes the room and it’s going to change what that person is doing on a day to day, it’s going to make them feel better about themselves, better about their homes, and they’re going to be excited to have people over.”

Weakley and Rucker said people are welcome to stop by the new showroom and store, which will be open weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. – although Weakley said the best way to ensure they are around is to send an email first.

[Photos by Susan De Vries]

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