An Interior Designer Spent 11 Years Slowly Renovating This 125-Year-Old Brooklyn Townhouse
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director
For more than 10 years, I've led Apartment Therapy's real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
published now

An Interior Designer Spent 11 Years Slowly Renovating This 125-Year-Old Brooklyn Townhouse

Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director
Adrienne BreauxHouse Tour Director
For more than 10 years, I've led Apartment Therapy's real home content, producing thousands of house tours from around the world. Currently, I live in my maximalist dream home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with my partner, a perfect dog, and a cute cat.
published now
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Bedrooms
Square feet

2100

Sq ft

2100

“When we saw this home — with its east-west exposures and windows that could be seen on both sides — we were immediately sold,” begins Alison Jennison of this three-bedroom townhouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

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The home she had previously shared with her husband, Josh Jennison, was an East Williamsburg loft that was north-facing and very dark. The interior designer and owner of A Jennison Interiors described the space as “so depressing in the winter, and with two kids it was time for a new scene.”

Credit: Daniel Wang
Alison says that something guests to the home always ask is if the brick wall and beams are original. She replies, "They are and we love them."

“It was the third house we looked at, and we were so lucky the owner accepted our offer. It was a very competitive moment for home sales in the neighborhood, and the fact we were able to make it happen felt like a dream,” Alison continues.

Credit: Daniel Wang
After 11 years in the home, Alison describes the space's style as an "eclectic, warm, and lived-in family home — bright, bold and transitional."

Though the home’s amount of light was perfect for the family, which includes kids Decker, 15, and Margot, 12, as well as their two golden doodles, Nellie and Louise, Alison knew that the home would need a lot of work, writing that “everything would need to be replaced. That said we had a limited budget at the time and did what we could right away, but it has been a decade of thoughtful and slow renovations and I think I can finally say the house is ‘done.'”

“Honestly I love a slow and thoughtful renovation — we really learned how we would best live in the space — and with the kids growing from ages 1 to now 12 and 4 to now 15 our needs have grown and changed with them,” she writes.

Resources

Credit: Daniel Wang

PAINT & COLORS

  • Doors/Trim — Benjamin Moore “Calm Satin”
  • Walls — Benjamin Moore “Calm Matte”
  • TV Room — Benjamin Moore “Pale Oak”
  • Primary Bed — Benjamin Moore “Guacamole”
  • Bedroom Wallpaper — Apparatus Studio
  • Kitchen Cabinets — Benjamin Moore “California Redwood”
  • Decker’s Room Floor — Benjamin Moore “Chantilly Lace” Matte Finish
  • Decker’s Room Ceiling — Benjamin Moore “Frosted Petal” Matte Finish
  • Margot’s Bedroom Walls/Ceiling/Trim — Benjamin Moore “Fairest Pink” Matte Finish
  • Second Floor Wallpaper — Timorous Beasties
  • TV Room Wallpaper — Eskayel
Credit: Daniel Wang

ENTRY

Credit: Daniel Wang
We were also able to salvage one original marble fireplace from a third-floor bedroom — we had it stripped of paint and installed in the living room. It doesn't work but is one of my favorite things in the house.

LIVING ROOM

Credit: Daniel Wang

DINING ROOM

  • Table — Components purchased from a local woodworker, and we assembled
  • Chairs — DWR
  • Lighting — Token Lights
  • Rug — Forsyth
Credit: Daniel Wang

KITCHEN

Credit: Daniel Wang

SECOND FLOOR ENTRY

Credit: Daniel Wang

TV ROOM

Credit: Daniel Wang

PRIMARY BEDROOM

Credit: Daniel Wang

DECKER’S BEDROOM

Credit: Daniel Wang

BUNK BEDROOM

  • Rugs — Vintage bought in Marrakech
  • Lighting in Niche — Marrakech
  • Desk — IKEA
  • Shelving — Custom
  • Sconce and Ceiling Lighting — Schoolhouse
  • Bed — Oeuf
Credit: Daniel Wang

BATHROOM

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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