The Insider: New Furnishings and Custom Millwork Elevate Ditmas Park Edwardian for New Owners
An interior designer deployed paint, custom millwork in a contemporary vein, and modern-leaning new furnishings to create a warm atmosphere in a freestanding early 20th century house for new homeowners.
Photo by Tory Williams
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When interior designer Lexi Brandfon set out to tweak and furnish a freestanding turn-of-the-century house for new homeowners, she approached the project with the same goals and priorities that characterize all her residential work. “I take the architecture into account first and try to create a warm atmosphere, veering away from elements that would make the space sterile or too precious to relax in,” said Brandfon, who established her Brooklyn-based firm, Lex & Hudson, in 2019.
The house was in great shape for 120-something, with shipshape mechanicals, a recently renovated kitchen and baths, original wood floors, and a great deal of carved wood detail. Too much, perhaps. Her clients felt a bit “overwhelmed” by the sheer abundance of vintage woodwork, Brandfon said. In consultation with them, she decided to tone it down with the judicious use of paint, new custom millwork in a contemporary vein, and all new, modern-leaning furnishings.
It was her clients’ love of a particular William Morris wallpaper pattern, Snakeshead, originally produced in 1876, that led the way to a unified decorating scheme. The green in the colorway they chose suggested the forest green for the paneled walls of the dining room, and its warm neutrals a palette for furniture selection.
“Considering the age of the home,” Brandfon said, “I sought to balance out the modern furniture with more traditional elements like vintage rugs, which also allowed us to bring in color.” Accessories displayed on open shelving, leather chairs, and existing architectural elements of wood and brick all help to warm the space.
The most challenging area to furnish was the 27-foot-long living room with two bay windows — possibly two rooms originally, to judge by the decorative borders in the flooring and existing structural columns. Brandfon treated the living room as “two separate yet cohesive areas” — a more formal one toward the front of the house, where she added a ventless fireplace set into a wall of Tadelakt plaster as a focal point, and the other, nearer the kitchen (top photo), conceived as more of a game and reading space with deep lounge seating from Four Hands and a slightly more casual feel.
The house, like many in the neighborhood, has a wraparound front porch and multiple bay windows. A newly upholstered window seat near the entry sits next to a new built-in designed to hold coats and “things that pile up by doors — boxes and boots and umbrellas,” the designer said.
Among the new millwork pieces is a unit with open and closed storage that brings additional function to the area around the central stair.
The living room “needed to feel convivial and promote conversation,” Brandfon said. So in addition to a curved sofa from Lee Industries and comfy leather chairs, she placed a daybed from Croft House in a spot that enables chatting with those on either side of the room.
An asymmetrical modern light fixture from the Australian maker Fair Design, a vintage table from Somerset House, and upholstered chairs from Bo Concept kit out the dining room.
To add function to the already renovated kitchen, Lex & Hudson created an island on casters with a top of engineered stone. It can be pulled into the dining area for use as a buffet or onto the back deck, a boon for people who host frequent parties and dinners.
The primary bedroom has lamps sourced from OKA and nightstands from Serena & Lily.
Brandfon sprayed a West Elm nightstand with purple paint “to punch up” the teenage daughter’s bedroom.
[Photos by Tory Williams]
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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