There is no denying that Athena Calderone’s Brooklyn townhouse is a design epic. Undoubtedly one of the most grammed and pinned interiors on the internet, this home is the culmination of three years spent manifesting, educating, renovating, and seeking to create her masterpiece. But it certainly didn’t start out this way. The late 1800s Greek Revival had been stripped of much of its original detail when Calderone got her hands on it however the visual storyteller could see its potential and over time, she slowly reinserted the ornate traditional architecture with a modern sensibility (and her nonconformist stamp, too).
Much like the beautiful lining on a coat jacket, the hidden details of a room are what I love most about design.
When you dissect each room of Calderone’s Brooklyn townhouse, there are concealed layers that aren’t always immediately obvious to the untrained eye—but they all amalgamate to create the masterpiece you see before you. A huge part of the design process was collaborating with the plaster aficionados at Kamp Studios to bring back the old-world sculptural detailing and wall paneling into the space. But perhaps the most transformative consideration for each room was the paint. In the same way, she obsessively searched and deliberated over every piece of décor for the townhouse, Calderone was just as committed to finding the right shade of white.
