{"id":361612,"date":"2026-10-01T06:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T06:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361612\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T06:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T06:36:40","slug":"flights-of-fancy-transport-at-brooklyn-heights-showhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/361612\/","title":{"rendered":"Flights of Fancy Transport at Brooklyn Heights Showhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"BROOKLYN\"BROOKLYN <\/p>\n

The parlor in the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse designed by Unionworks. Photo by Susan De Vries<\/p>\n

Suspend disbelief, ye who enter here. There should be a sign to that effect above the door at the 2026 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, a biennial project of the Brooklyn Heights Association, which begins its month-long run on the corner of Monroe Place and Clark Street October 2. Five floors of rooms, transformed by a score of local interior designers and architects in two months of whirlwind decorating, are an inspired, irreverent feast for the eyes \u2014 playful, theatrical, and even over the top.<\/p>\n

The abundant display of creativity was driven, foremost, by the boundless imaginations of the designers, abetted by the sponsorship of suppliers like Farrow & Ball, Schumacher, Calico, Remains and Apparatus lighting, Momeni Rugs, Tile Bar, and other design-pro favorites. And in large part, the flights of design fancy are a response to the opportunities and challenges of an 1850s corner brownstone, blessed with multiple windows, that recently emerged from scaffolding after a multi-year gut renovation.<\/p>\n

The work magnificently refurbished the Greek Revival-Italianate exterior and restored the stoop, top floor, and mansard roof. The building\u2019s interior, however, was left with white-box rooms tied together by a utilitarian back stair (now enlivened by painter Katie Westmoreland\u2019s graceful, gestural brushstrokes).<\/p>\n

\"PARLORThe parlor by Unionworks<\/p>\n

Beyond the parlor level, whose lavishly appointed spaces are easily understood as living room, dining room, and kitchen, the rooms upstairs and down lack the expected hierarchy of spaces in a typical Brooklyn row house. That gave designers carte blanche to freely reimagine, and fancifully rename, rooms as they saw fit.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Rachael Rosenblum\u2019s garden lobby, inspired by the occult; a serene, sunken gathering room recalling a 1960s conversation pit, conceived by Llewellyn Chupin; and Madelaine Mayer\u2019s wellness suite, with a carpet of live moss on the ceiling and a faux sauna. They are joined by a \u201csnug\u201d imagined by SRF Interiors, for cozy times by the fire with a landline phone in hand, and an otherworldly listening lounge by Max Aboody Interiors.<\/p>\n

A narrow garden-level space was envisioned by Crystal Maki of Silverwing Interiors as a study for Mary Louise Booth, a Brooklyn resident and the first editor of Harper\u2019s Bazaar in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my head, when you look out the window, there are horse-drawn buggies going by,\u201d Maki said.<\/p>\n

On the roof, Stollar Fearins Welch\u2019s tongue-in-cheek homage to the white, green, and wicker decor of a tony tennis club (table tennis, in this case) is serving Pimm\u2019s Cup highballs in a spirit of sporty nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\"PARLORParlor by Unionworks and the dining room by Sugarhouse Design & Architecture<\/p>\n

The complete roster of designers, most New York City based, also includes Brian Cash Works, Emily Eng Interiors, Field Form, Hallie Goodman, Hannah Hemmerly Studio, Innerform, Isy\u2019s Interiors, Paige Blodgett Interiors, Studio Olivine, Sugarhouse Design and Architecture, and Unionworks.<\/p>\n

The house\u2019s front parlor sets a rule-breaking tone from the get-go with an avant-garde mix of chic furnishings masterminded by Unionworks\u2019 founder and principal designer, Poonam Khanna, who added architectural heft to the formerly featureless space with classic moldings and trim. Brazilian mid-century pieces dominate, including a curved tobacco-colored mohair sofa, a plywood chest of drawers by Jose Zanine, and an olive mohair chaise longue of South American hardwood.<\/p>\n

These rest on an eye-popping chiaroscuro carpet based on traditional Turkish amulets from Atelier F\u00e9vrier, along with varied side tables sourced through Future Perfect. The whole is crowned by an asymmetrical illuminated mobile from lighting designer Lindsey Adelman\u2019s recent line. In the box bay window opposite, a painted metal and aluminum Bower Bird light fixture by Karl Zahn, a proteg\u00e9 of Adelman\u2019s, strung with a constellation of tiny lights, sits above a round table by Joaquin Tenreiro, a Brazilian master woodworker of the 1950s.<\/p>\n

\"kitchenThe kitchen by Sugarhouse Design & Architecture
\n\"KITCHENKitchen by Sugarhouse Design & Architecture<\/p>\n

Sugarhouse\u2019s two atmospheric rooms \u201ctake cues from history, but not too rigidly,\u201d Jonathan Nahon said. Beamed ceilings and wainscoting, with stencil detail evoking the Arts and Crafts movement, impart gravitas heretofore lacking. Glorious flowered wallpaper on a dark ground from House of Hackney, a contemporary spin on William Morris, forms the backdrop for a round vintage dining table surrounded by modern Italian chairs, a 1930s credenza, and a galvanized metal chandelier resembling a Victorian\u2019s idea of a spaceship.<\/p>\n

In the adjacent kitchen, the Nahons extended the marble countertop on an existing center island and added new millwork drawers and a pair of turned legs for an English country house look. Bespoke tiles for the sink backsplash, their subtle colors woven together by a wavy strand of 24-karat gold, were sourced from Riwal Ceramika in Poland.<\/p>\n

\"detailsA powder room and bar by Innerform<\/p>\n

Off the front parlor, a darkly glowing, Schumacher-papered jewel box of a powder room, with a porcelain sink in a marble stand, and its adjacent pass-through minibar, were inspired by \u201cthe rebirth of the house and the cycles of nature,\u201d said designer Elle Liu of Innerform. She painted the room\u2019s switch plates to match the paper, typical of the attention to detail found throughout the house.<\/p>\n

\"DRAWINGA drawing room by Hannah Hemmerly Studio
\n\"handpaintedA bath by Hannah Hemmerly Studio<\/p>\n

Hannah Hemmerly Studio\u2019s second-floor drawing room feels like history made fresh. \u201cI always go to historic references,\u201d Hemmerly said. \u201cEverything here is vintage, or new with a vintage reference point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence the new millwork bookcase with glass doors climbing just halfway up the wall, and the muted \u201cseafoam-y blue\u201d of the grasscloth wall covering and ceiling, a color once revered as a symbol of wealth and status. Twenty-first century ingenuity is also present: When a group of black-and-white Ginori china plates arrived broken, Hemmerly framed and mounted them, still in pieces, as wall art.<\/p>\n

The ensuite bathroom is half-clad in tile wainscoting, above which Hemmerly herself hand-painted charming tone-on-tone neoclassical scenes.<\/p>\n

\"pinkA snug by SRF Interiors. Photos by Tori Sikkema<\/p>\n

For a narrow space with a marble fireplace, called \u201cthe snug,\u201d Sarah Reinhart Fleischer of SRF Interiors, who has two sons at home, craved unabashed femininity. \u201cIt\u2019s pink and floral and warm and cozy, a place to sit and have a quiet conversation with a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleischer converted a former closet to a tiny bar with an undulating corner banquette, papered the walls with shell pink scallops from Marova, and hung framed art, mostly arresting oil portraits of women, salon style.<\/p>\n

\"CHILDRENSA child\u2019s bedroom by Isy\u2019s Interiors
\n\"aA child\u2019s bedroom by Isy\u2019s Interiors<\/p>\n

Two small bedrooms nearby are easy to love. Isy\u2019s Interiors\u2019 cheery child\u2019s room is \u201cage neutral,\u201d as project manager Melanie King put it, designed to grow with its occupant. The room is all delightful touches: mixed wallpapers, a cloud ceiling, a draped bed with red-checked bedding, an armchair upholstered with cherries, a desk in a cozy nook, and red scalloped trim on bookshelves and the mirror in the adjacent bath.<\/p>\n

\"BEDROOMA bedroom by Studio Olivine
\n\"BEDROOMA bedroom by Studio Olivine<\/p>\n

Across the hall, Hannah Blumenthal\u2019s inviting corner guest room benefits from two windows with views of greenery. The Studio Olivine designer hired Brooklyn-based decorative painter Aislinn Forbes to adorn a pair of plain white closet doors with blue flowers, the inverse of the Penny Morrison wallpaper that envelops the rest of the room. A rug from Moreni, a vintage style bed handmade by Country Bed Shop in Massachusetts, an upholstered bench, and a velvet armchair all sport the kinds of mellow retro colors \u2014 oxblood, olive green, mustard \u2014 that Blumenthal, a self-described color fanatic with an art history background \u2014 gravitates toward.<\/p>\n

\"aThe yoga studio by Adroit Architecture & Interior Design<\/p>\n

Real moss and birch bark swathe the ceiling of Adroit Architecture & Interior Design founder Madelaine Mayer\u2019s wellness suite, a fantastical yoga\/meditation room with a faux sauna in a former closet. Local artist Rich Midler collaged a pair of sliding doors sheathed in the same metallic wood-veneer wall covering from Phillip Jeffries that clads the rest of the room.<\/p>\n

\"LAUNDRYThe laundry room by Paige Blodgett Interiors<\/p>\n

Paige Blodgett\u2019s petite laundry room, papered with trellised ivy and kitted out with custom-upholstered ironing board and pinboards, is a palette cleanser off the second floor hall \u2014 no make-believe here, just prettiness and function.<\/p>\n

\"STUDYA study by Emily Eng Interiors<\/p>\n

Designer Emily Eng, taking inspiration from Napoleon\u2019s neoclassical bedroom at Malmaison, worked with French Finish, a specialty wall upholstery shop, to give a small guest room depth and dimension. In upholstering the walls and tenting the ceiling with pale neutral fabric, she conjured a trim and tailored hideaway with an antique bed, a 1920s French desk, and a vintage ceiling fixture from Remains.<\/p>\n

\"MAINThe primary bedroom by Hallie Goodman
\n\"MAINThe primary bedroom by Hallie Goodman<\/p>\n

The top-floor primary bedroom is one of the showhouse\u2019s most provocative spaces. Designer Hallie Goodman, based in Hudson, New York, describes the imagined occupant of the room, which is dominated by an oversized red velvet headboard, this way: \u201cShe left the nunnery and she\u2019s having herself a time.\u201d A monumental mantelpiece of plaster and foam by artist Maayan Zilberman \u2014 a \u201cpretend ruin\u201d comprised of neoclassical columns and multiple busts \u2014 is a theatrical backdrop intended to conceal an un-beautiful fireplace.<\/p>\n

The room\u2019s spare elements include a chair upholstered in blue cut velvet, a large leather rhinoceros, an expressionist flower painting by Jay Batlle, and a graphic contemporary silkscreen with a Wall Street theme, hung on improbably quiet, neutral wall covering from Schumacher.<\/p>\n

The en suite bath is the work of versatile Elle Liu of Innerform, who also created the darkly atmospheric parlor-floor powder room. This one is all light and bright, with a pale checkerboard floor, soaking tub before the window, and Sputnik chandelier from Remains Lighting.<\/p>\n

\"LOUNGE-A listening room by Max Aboody Interiors<\/p>\n

Max Aboody devised his compact listening room as \u201ca place for recharging the senses,\u201d where shutters with circular cutouts close out the world\u2019s hubbub. One can sit on a sinuous striped banquette, backed by walls draped in red velvet and hung with satin tassels, gazing into a semi-circular mirrored bar that \u201cfeels like a portal,\u201d the designer said, to another world.<\/p>\n

Blue-black wallpaper from Art\u00e9, a dreamy version of a Tuscan landscape, brings one back to earth. Meanwhile, curated lounge music spinning on a turntable emerges through bullet-shaped silver speakers. We\u2019re not in Brooklyn anymore.<\/p>\n

Brian Cash could have looked out the window and lit upon Brooklyn\u2019s legendary bridge as a jumping-off point for his top floor bedroom. Instead, the red neon sign on the next block \u2014 \u201cLiquor Store St. George Hotel\u201d \u2014 caught his eye. The hotel was a hub of gay life in the 1920s and \u201830s, Cash discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to play with the feeling of subversion and tension\u201d he imagined between the propriety of the neighborhood\u2019s Victorian townhouses and the goings-on a block away. A folded patchwork quilt, one of three kaleidoscopic designs Cash has made by artisans in India, represents the traditional, on a bed covered in a metallic stripe.<\/p>\n

A standing screen and octagon-shaped armchair of Cash\u2019s own design take up a corner, along with a 1953 American modern desk sourced from Jarontiques in Williamsburg, and a minimalist artwork by Alex Bruyckner, whose red element, Cash said, is \u201cshorthand for sensuality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"rooftopRooftop by Stollar Fearins Welch
\n\"rooftopRooftop by Stollar Fearins Welch<\/p>\n

From here, it\u2019s a short flight up to Stollar Fearins Welch\u2019s high-concept rooftop, where the three partners of the Manhattan-based design studio, Rachael Stollar, Erin Fearins, and Ward Welch, attired in tennis whites, have conjured an elaborate, imaginary athletic club with container landscaping by Evan C. Lai. \u201cWe leaned into not making it serious,\u201d said Fearins, who called the temporary trellised walls and pergola \u201ckind of scroll-y and cartoon-y.\u201d There\u2019s a ping-pong table on an AstroTurf checkerboard floor, and a lounge area furnished with a shapely wicker sofa and chairs from Janus et Cie, from which to admire the city views.<\/p>\n

\"LOUNGEThe garden level entry by Rachael Rosenblum Design
\n\"LOUNGEThe garden level entry by Rachael Rosenblum Design<\/p>\n

What lies beneath, on the house\u2019s garden level, is equally intriguing. Designer Rachael Rosenblum, based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, took on the challenge of a narrow semi-subterranean space with a door leading to the sidewalk outside. Green tile wainscoting \u201cadds architecture\u201d to the mysterious room she titled \u2018The Unseen.\u2019 \u201cIt\u2019s inspired by memories and the stories behind vintage pieces,\u201d Rosenblum said.<\/p>\n

Schumachers\u2019s Giove fabric on walls and ceiling features intertwined, emerald-colored snakes. Rosenblum\u2019s clever Overnite pull-out sofa, upholstered in dark plaid wool and trimmed with thick fringe, has a comically exaggerated undulating profile.<\/p>\n

Fanciful wall mirrors and Rosenblum\u2019s signature Lollipop ottomans dot the walls and floor. A hidden surprise awaits: the decorative wonder of Rosenblum\u2019s Tarot-inspired elevator, crowned by a valence with a giant appliqu\u00e9d eye by Ali Mack.<\/p>\n

\"LOUNGEA gathering room by Llewellyn Chupin<\/p>\n

Lewellyn Chupin, a Clinton Hill-based designer who arrived from France 13 years ago, \u201calways had a dream to do a sunken living room, but I couldn\u2019t change the floors,\u201d she said. When she took on a squarish room a couple of feet below ground level, with lower-than-normal windows, her dream was realized.<\/p>\n

Chupin\u2019s \u2018gathering room\u2019 is a serene, visually simple space built around a U-shaped white seating banquette and a pale travertine coffee table. Bronze wall mirrors on either side expand the space; floor-to-ceiling drapery \u201ccreates a sense of symmetry and architectural coherence.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, in your zeal to enter the showhouse, you hurried past the front and side gardens, admire them on the way out. They\u2019re the work of Field Form, a Gowanus-based firm focused on resilient landscaping and flood control. Their plantings reflect \u201cthe species we prefer to use in New York City,\u201d now that our climate has been reclassified as subtropical and \u201csome older species are not doing well,\u201d explained Sam Robinson, a partner in the business with Line Kaasine.<\/p>\n

Among the natives arrayed in pots along the house\u2019s side wall are swamp cypress, sumac, and chokeberry. In the front garden, Field Form removed some slate pavers to allow for rain runoff and installed mostly regional and coastal plants, including Atlantic white cedar, chartreuse spirea, and still-flowering plumbago as ground cover. A stunning viburnum in its fall color glory anchors the front wall, with heath among the plantings in painted pots on two wide ledges under the parlor floor windows.<\/p>\n

\"frontLandscaping by Field Form
\n\"landscapingLandscaping by Field Form<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse at 1 Monroe Place opens to the public Friday, October 2, and runs through Sunday, November 1. Hours are Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets for the fundraiser are $50, available through the Brooklyn Heights Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"OFFICEA garden level office by Silverwing Interiors
\n\"flowersHandpainted details in the back stair by Katie Westmoreland
\n\"aThe wellness suite by Adroit Architecture & Interior Design
\n\"bathroomA bathroom by Innerform<\/p>\n

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]<\/p>\n

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