Allison & Ben’s Scenic & Textured Brooklyn Home
Name: Allison + Ben Yarrow
Location: Crown Heights; Brooklyn, New York
Size: 1,200 square feet
Years lived in: Almost four. We’re sad to leave, but looking to rent to someone special in September.
Allison and Ben call a beautifully restored building from the 1890s home. Their view of Midtown Manhattan from their living room is just one of many beautiful vistas.
Allison is a journalist and producer who has worked with outlets like Vice, Newsweek, and TIME, and is the author of The Devil of Williamsburg. Ben is a partner at West Wing Writers, a speechwriting and communications firm based in Washington D.C. and NYC. Fans of laid-back style, the clean white walls give a sense of tranquility that heighten the earthy tones.
With an upcoming move to Carroll Gardens, the pair is looking forward to the start of a wonderful chapter in a familiar home: Allison actually lived in their new (old) place seven years ago!
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Modern/Eclectic/Found Objects
Inspiration: Clean, white art gallery walls. A fabulous converted barn house we once rented in Woodstock, New York. Discarded treasures. Lived in spaces.
Favorite Element: Our large arched window overlooking Brooklyn and midtown Manhattan. And the incredible light. Our building is detached, so we have 12 windows and three different exposures. When we’re home during the day, we don’t turn the lights on until the sun sets.
Biggest Challenge: Paint. We couldn’t commit to colors, so we stuck with white. Everywhere.
What Friends Say: We love entertaining, and friends and family say they are comfortable and feel at home in our home, which is all we could ask for.
Biggest Embarrassment: Window treatments. We had Home Depot paper shades for two years. Friends said they looked good, which nurtured this travesty. We finally caved and had custom blinds installed.
Proudest DIY: For a long time, the wireless router lived in a makeshift box on the floor in the entryway. It was an eyesore and everyone tripped over it. So, Ben built a genius shelf that is hidden away in the laundry closet to house the Internet.
Biggest Indulgence: Mid-Century modern pieces from Baxter and Liebchen
Best Advice: A couch salesman in Allison’s hometown of Macon, Georgia once asked: “Do you want to sit on it? Or Do you want to sit in it?” We want the latter, so we buy those kinds of pieces, which you can really live in.
Dream Sources: Wyeth, Flea, Icooli and Mcallister, the Brimfield Antique market, old things in basements.
Resources of Note:
ENTRY
- Hallway Table and Lamp, Crate and Barrel
LIVING ROOM
- Chairs, Sterling Place
- Farmhouse Table, Memories (RIP, antique store in Parksville, New York)
- Hutch, Baxter and Liebchen
- Lamps, Joss & Main
- Rug, Fab.com
- Table Cloth, Ben’s sister brought it back from Ecuador
- Mirror, Joss & Main
- Chest behind Dining Table, Brooklyn Flea
- Pigeon, Metrocard collage by Nina Boesch
- Red Vase, Health Ceramics
- Newtonian Telescope, Celestron
- Black light fixture, Ikea
KITCHEN
- Green Tea Kettle, Le Creuset
- Utensil Holder, Market in Sayulita, Mexico
- Striped Towels, Fab.com
- Striped Run, Ikea
- Wall Clock, Moma Store
- Stacked Maps of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
- Orange Pot, Le Cruset
- Cow Bells, Feed Supply Store, Dadeville, Alabama
MASTER BEDROOM
- Silver bowls, Vera Wang
- Plants, Brooklyn Botanical Garden Plant Sale
- Wooden Crate, Brooklyn Flea
- Wooden dresser, West 76th street furniture find
- Gold mirror, Allison’s parents
- Towel Rack, A&G Merch Williamsburg
SECOND BEDROOM
- Couch, Blu Dot
- Wooden Wall Clock, Ben’s Parents
- Photograph of Jules Verne, Ben’s Grandfather
- Rug, Fab.com
- Inner Ear Chart, The Human Ear, Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart 1952
- Photograph, 20×200
- Wooden side table, Flea Market in Macon, Georgia
- Pillow, Allison’s mom brought back from Morocco
- Black Book shelf, gifted from friend
- White Book Shelf, Ikea
Thanks, Allison and Ben!
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