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Sybil & Dan’s Canopied Brooklyn Riad

Written by

Nasozi Kakembo
Nasozi Kakembo
Nasozi Kakembo is a designer, author, and arts advocate who has spent her career at the intersection of the arts and impact. She has over 15 years of experience working for a range of impactful institutions and organizations, such as The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and…read more
published Oct 8, 2014
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Name: Sybil Domond + Daniel Lessin
Location: Greenpoint; Brooklyn, New York
Size: 900 square feet
Years lived in: 6 years; Owned

You didn’t misread the headline; this home is in Brooklyn. And just like the borough that it is located in, it is a composite of places near and far. Sybil and Dan are the husband and wife powerhouse duo behind Greenpoint’s People of 2Morrow vintage apparel and gift boutique. Sybil also is a florist and interior decorator for private clients, while Dan co-owns the Afro-Brazilian Bembe nightclub in Williamsburg. All of their creative work outputs are extensions of their Bohemian and global lifestyle at home, and together they spared no detail when gut-renovating their Greenpoint townhome.

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(Image credit: Nasozi Kakembo)
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(Image credit: Nasozi Kakembo)

Floor-by-floor, Sybil and Dan designed and built out each level of the four-story home, living in each unfinished space until they finally reached the top just over a year ago. The fourth floor generously boasts double-height ceilings which have allowed them to make room for their own semi-private loft, perched atop their daughter’s sleep and play quarters, and luminous clerestory windows. Days before I photographed their home, the family returned from a holiday in Puerto Rico, where they scored two crocheted hammocks that call even more attention to the dramatic height and eclectic architectural details of the loft home.

Sybil and Dan weave together their strong creative tastes to personalize the finishing touches of their home. Sybil curates furnishings and decor accents directly from designers, markets, and their own boutique, while all-things-craftsman are a result of Dan’s masterful carpentry work. He and a small crew of friends handcrafted the cabinetry and windows in their kitchen and dining area, and throughout the entire townhome as well. Their hands-on design and construction approach paired with the global origins of the decor accents —Senegal, the Dominican Republic, and Pakistan are just a handful of the countries represented— amount to this veritable artisanal riad in Brooklyn.

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(Image credit: Nasozi Kakembo)

Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Reclaiming and reusing materials, and mixing old with new.

Inspiration: Accents of French Caribbean, beach, and Moroccan influence.

Favorite Element: Height of ceilings, loft living, textured finish.

Biggest Challenge: To create a natural raw organic feeling.

What Friends Say: Feels like a tree house in Costa Rica.

Biggest Embarrassment: Nothing to report.

Proudest DIY: Finishing the majority of the walls with a cement like natural pigmented finish.

Biggest Indulgence: Purchasing of 100 year old French Cement / Handmade Moroccan tiles and detailing of handcrafted woodwork throughout the apartment.

Best Advice: Choose one direction and let that dictate your direction for renovation and design.

Dream Sources: An abandoned French Chateau.

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(Image credit: Nasozi Kakembo)

Resources of Note:

PAINT & COLORS

  • We made our own color pigments for cement finish walls, all done by hand.

    • LIVING ROOM

  • Pakistani handmade rug – Just purchased from flea market and in love
  • Crochet hammocks – Purchased on vacation in Puerto Rico
  • Boy Jumping in Pond Photography – was given as a gift by our friend – Adriano Fagundes
  • Headdress painting – painted and gifted by close friend, Patricia de Oliveira
  • White sofa – IKEA
  • Throw pillows – Various, People of 2morrow Home
  • Pink and white basket – People of 2morrow Home, from Senegal

    • DINING ROOM

  • Barn table – Purchased at yard sale in East Hampton
  • Throw pillows – Mostly purchased at People of 2morrow
  • Third eye wall hanging – Artist, Amber Shap
  • Ceramic egg wall hangings – By Farrah Sit of Light + Ladder
  • Paper Mache Cow head -Land of Nod
  • Woman on beach photograph -by friend, Xaviera Simmons

    • KITCHEN

  • French cement tiles – Exquisite Surfaces in NYC
  • Handmade mugs – Mostly purchased at People of 2morrow Home
  • Vintage artifacts purchased at flea markets, stoop sales, yard sales, Etc
  • Light Fixtures – Purchased from artisans in the Dominican Republic

    • KID’S BEDROOM

  • Calabash Pendant light –People of 2Morrow Home
  • Handcarved chest – Flea market find
  • Bed canopy – IKEA
  • BONJOUR Pillow –Atsuyo et Akiko

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    (Image credit: Nasozi Kakembo)

    Thanks, Sybil and Dan!

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