Reader's home of the month
This month's £150 Habitat giftcard goes to lindsaydglasgow's 'terrace on a teeny budget'...
New York Brownstone
A rundown Brooklyn Brownstone gets an elegant makeover
Jenna Lyons is known in New York as the woman who made American clothing giant J Crew hip. Not surprisingly then, Jenna has used her razor-sharp style intuition to dress her tall, slender 1890s house in Brooklyn, which she and her husband, artist Vincent Mazeau, rescued from devastating neglect. A virtual ruin, the town house had never been wired properly and had a heating system that pumped out toxic fumes. 'The house was a two-year project before it became a home,' explains Jenna.
This cool New York couple also fell for the space because it wasn't a fashionable loft. 'In this city, it's very unusual to have a front door and a back garden,' says Jenna. Now the former wreck oozes modern elegance mixed with a touch of faded English country-house grandeur. Jenna has made one dramatic style statement per room.
The couple deliberately chose furniture and decorative details that grow old gracefully and look good with a little mess. In their bedroom, which flows into their en-suite bathroom, the herringbone slate floors mature the more they're walked on and splashed with water. The concrete work surfaces in the kitchen also improve as they take on scratches, scrapes and red-wine spills.
In their search for fixtures and fittings with a history, Jenna and Vincent also tracked down vintage English taps, baths and even toilets. 'Yes, they're used, but in a good way. I treated the taps with a spray bottle full of sea water to make them look old and unpolished. The effect is lived-in and low maintenance.'
Take a room-by-room photo tour around Jenna, Vincent and two-year-old Beckett's home to get a closer look inside this magnificent four-storey Brownstone.
This cool New York couple also fell for the space because it wasn't a fashionable loft. 'In this city, it's very unusual to have a front door and a back garden,' says Jenna. Now the former wreck oozes modern elegance mixed with a touch of faded English country-house grandeur. Jenna has made one dramatic style statement per room.
The couple deliberately chose furniture and decorative details that grow old gracefully and look good with a little mess. In their bedroom, which flows into their en-suite bathroom, the herringbone slate floors mature the more they're walked on and splashed with water. The concrete work surfaces in the kitchen also improve as they take on scratches, scrapes and red-wine spills.
In their search for fixtures and fittings with a history, Jenna and Vincent also tracked down vintage English taps, baths and even toilets. 'Yes, they're used, but in a good way. I treated the taps with a spray bottle full of sea water to make them look old and unpolished. The effect is lived-in and low maintenance.'
Take a room-by-room photo tour around Jenna, Vincent and two-year-old Beckett's home to get a closer look inside this magnificent four-storey Brownstone.
