{"id":268493,"date":"2026-06-16T14:41:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268493\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T14:41:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:41:51","slug":"mark-grattan-turned-a-brooklyn-rental-into-his-own-design-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/268493\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Grattan Turned a Brooklyn Rental Into His Own Design Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today, the apartment bears little resemblance to its former self. With the eventual blessing of his benevolent landlords, Grattan has completely transformed the rental unit \u2013 widening doorways, upgrading electrical systems, and reimagining every wall and ceiling. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.admiddleeast.com\/story\/decorating-with-leopard-print-expert-tips-to-keep-things-chic-and-sophisticated\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Think leopard print<\/a> in the den and kelly green in the central dressing area.) He gutted the kitchen, replacing an outdated scheme with a sexy m\u00e9lange of mirror, lacquer, Rouge Griotte marble, and African mahogany. All that remains of the old bathroom is the tub, now refinished in a cherry hue and complemented by a blue-glass shower panel, red mosaic tile, and a matte-black toilet and fittings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was all trial and error,\u201d says Grattan, a virtuosic cabinetmaker and jack-of-all-trades who spent months living in a construction site, executing the renovation alongside the similarly intrepid Lynx Contracting. \u201cIf you haven\u2019t negotiated with reality you haven\u2019t designed, you\u2019ve fantasized,\u201d he avers. \u201cIf you can\u2019t build it, you don\u2019t fully understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Flower Flower Arrangement Plant Ikebana Indoors Interior Design Chair Furniture and Potted Plant\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/AD0526_GRATTAN_5.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Painted in Direct Green by Sherwin-Williams, the central room features an altar to Grattan\u2019s late mother, with a Diptyque candle holder (bottom shelf); on coffee table, a candlestick by Refractory studio from R Hughes and a platter by Naoya Arakawa from Roman and Williams Guild.<\/p>\n<p>That hands-on approach is at the heart of his multi-faceted philosophy. Grattan isn\u2019t afraid to roll up his sleeves \u2013\u00a0or raise a few eyebrows. Since exploding onto the scene as the winner of the reality-television competition Ellen\u2019s Next Great Designer, the Ohio-born talent has operated on his own creative terms, whether fashioning interiors for the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird or making sleek editions of case goods, as with his 2024 Thick collection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDesign is not how it looks when everything behaves,\u201d says Grattan, whose work can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture. \u201cDesign is how it survives friction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today, the apartment bears little resemblance to its former self. With the eventual blessing of his benevolent landlords,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,10782,19768,2419,9,24,63,19769],"class_list":["post-268493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-digital_syndication","tag-home-tours","tag-homes","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-textabovecenterfullbleed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}