A 900-Square-Foot Prewar Brooklyn Apartment Gets a Kaleidoscopic Spin

Vaishnavi Nayel Talawadekar
·6 min read

Matthew Williams

Thea Traff doesn’t consider herself a quitter—but when the Minnesota native set out to buy an apartment in the Big Apple, she nearly threw in the towel (and tossed out the plan). “When I began looking, everything I saw felt too small for the price it was listed at. I gave up on the search until the day my apartment came on the market,” recalls the editorial photographer, whose work has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone, among others.

A Danny Clinch photograph, a Fern Swivel Chair by Sarah Sherman Samuel from Lulu and Georgia, and a custom Sullivan sectional from Maiden Home, enliven the living room. A vintage brass pharmacy lamp from Vintage Thrift, Manhattan and a brass Art Deco chandelier gleam in the sunlight. The steel stool and cream rug are from Zara Home and Armadillo respectively.

Although the Brooklyn Heights space was only 900 square feet, it had an impossibly spacious bedroom, and its prewar charm (including tall ceilings and white moldings) immediately cast a spell on Thea. The icing on the cake was the price: modest, given that the apartment hadn’t been renovated since the 1960s. “All of that, plus it was in my dream neighborhood, only two blocks from the promenade. I grew up on the water in Minnesota, and being so close to the East River brought me a sense of comfort.” But as Thea soon discovered, for every upside, there was a downside to match, starting with the kitchen and bathroom—which featured a bathtub from the 1800s—that felt like a jigsaw puzzle gone wrong.

On the other side of the living room stands the former owner’s piano, a relic from the home’s past life. Beside it, a vintage two-tone highboy displays a black sculpture from Ferm Living and an antique wooden drawing mannequin from the Mart Collective. The black-and-white photograph is one of Thea’s own works.

Reviving the home was challenging, and Thea realized early on that the project needed more hands (and paws) on deck than she and her wily orange cat, Louie, could provide. Enter interior designer Lucy Gordon Baird of Studio LGB, whose account of what happened next explains the apartment’s dramatic transformation. “Our initial design meetings were spent poring over art and design books, slowly stitching together a visual language across periods and genres. We gravitated towards thoughtful combinations of shapes, textures, and selective yet impactful, color. Before we even talked about materials or furniture, a sense of casual, urban sophistication naturally emerged that would guide my design choices throughout the project,” says Lucy.

Lucy collaborated with Frisenda Architects to design a kitchen that is both simple and functional. The checkered floor, starring Halite and Wrought Iron clay tiles from Fireclay Tile, nods to the home’s prewar heritage, while the modern, flat-panel cabinetry and sleek stainless steel appliances add a modern touch. Brass Wendel wire pulls from Lostine and Lupe wall sconces from Mitzi lend the space a subtle sheen.

Lucy had no intention of altering the bones of the apartment with its thoughtful layout, high ceilings, original wooden floors, wall paneling, and oversized windows. “I couldn’t have asked for a more quintessential New York City canvas,” she remarks. The heritage hallmarks were souvenirs of the home’s prewar past, but they were also reminders of the person who previously lived there: an elderly Holocaust survivor who Lucy describes as “a fearless, independent spirit” who resided in the building for over 60 years. “We felt her presence and wanted to continue the legacy of her happy residency in the apartment’s next chapter,” she adds. For Lucy, who typically seeks out novel contrasts of old and new, this meant exploring a combination of vintage, turn-of-the-century and contemporary furniture and objects while showcasing Thea’s work throughout.

“It’s my favorite part of the home,” says Thea of the dining room. A tulip table takes center stage, ensconced between Knoll Bertoia chairs from Design Within Reach and a Belmar banquette from Crate & Barrel. “It was so important to me to have a space that would bring my community together, and this has been the perfect place to host and foster deep conversations.” A white CB2 pendant levitates above, ceding the spotlight to the black-and-white photograph by Thea.
The red bookcase was designed exclusively for the den, opposite the dining area. “The color brings an unexpected vibrancy and distinction to the room,” says Thea.
The red bookcase was designed exclusively for the den, opposite the dining area. “The color brings an unexpected vibrancy and distinction to the room,” says Thea.
Thea Traff

The color-on-color approach was new territory for Thea, who had unwittingly always lived in white-box spaces. “I have Scandinavian roots, and the aesthetic of my photography has always been very minimalist, due in part, I think, to my family’s origins,” she explains. “While I wanted to keep a touch of minimalism, I was more excited than ever to finally embrace blocks of color in my home.” She ultimately discovered her colorful side after meeting her Mexican partner and traveling with them to vibrant places like Oaxaca and Mexico City, but confesses that it took some major effort to resist defaulting to her typical muted style. “I would sometimes shy away from color when it came to making purchases, but Lucy would help me stick to my vision,” she recalls, citing the all-blue bathroom, which she initially imagined as a black-and-white space. “It’s one of my favorite parts of the house now.”

Thea wanted the bathroom to be both unexpected and dramatic. “The vision evolved into an entire space drenched in a deep shade of blueberry. It took five coats of paint to get the walls and ceiling looking as rich and glossy as the tile,” Lucy shares, referring to the combination of Benjamin Moore’s Blueberry Hill paint and Fireclay Tile’s Lake Tahoe tile enveloping the space.

Ask Lucy if everything went according to plan and she shakes her head, admitting that some things were more difficult than others. For instance, she retained the original doorframe, narrow as it was, but not without fretting over whether it would fit the sectional. (It did.) Pairing the original wall paneling with the built-in bookshelf was another exercise in mathematical precision, one that Lucy ultimately resolved by carefully balancing proportions.

Steeped in sunlight, with views of the city and the tree-lined streets below, the bedroom didn’t need formal design.
Steeped in sunlight, with views of the city and the tree-lined streets below, the bedroom didn’t need formal design.
Matthew Williams

Thea also remembers how the grouting proved to be unexpectedly challenging. “Lucy specified a chocolate brown grout color for the blue bathroom tiles,” she says. “The installer thought it must have been a mistake and that what we really wanted was white. Clearly not sharing our vision, he went ahead with the white. Luckily we noticed before the grout had dried! There was some eye-rolling involved, but they redid it. I’m so glad it ended up matching our original vision.”

“Since [the bedroom] doubles as Thea’s work space, I wanted it to feel comfortable and unfussy,” says Lucy. A photograph by Pari Dukovic of Brooklyn Botanic Garden enhances the wall. A vintage canvas director’s chair and an IKEA desk masquerade as a workstation.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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