Brownstone Voyeur: Life in a Stylish Shoebox in Boerum Hill

1.1 LIVING RM

Back by popular demand, Brownstone Voyeur, a collaboration between casaCARA and OTBKB. For more pictures and text go to CasaCARA.

THIS APARTMENT IS REALLY SMALL. If you dance like a dervish, I wouldn’t recommend doing it in Jane Rosenbaum’s apartment.

Just two rooms totaling 375 square feet in a pre-war State Street rental building, it’s nevertheless got a ton of charm and some good DIY ideas, yours for the copying. Such as:

  • Limited color palette — white and periwinkle blue –
    keeps the tiny space from looking too busy. (This takes discipline! I
    intended to use only blue and white in my Springs cottage, but keep
    bringing in things that are red, brown, green, orange…)
  • Secondhand furnishings were all painted periwinkle to unify them.
  • Round table folds, below, to store against a wall. Open, it seats six for dinner.
  • There’s a Murphy bed, below, behind a white curtain in the living room (and you thought they were only in Marx Brothers movies!)
  • Salvaged chandelier in the living room is painted white and used with candles. Bookshelf up high makes use of every inch.1.5 LIVING RM

Moving on to the only other room, the kitchen:

2.5 KITCHEN

  • Galvanized buckets organize utensils, below.


  • The cabinets are painted with chalkboard paint; Jane uses them to display the menu for dinner parties.

2.9 KITCHEN


2 thoughts on “Brownstone Voyeur: Life in a Stylish Shoebox in Boerum Hill”

  1. That looks awesome! If you are interested..there is actually colored chalkboard paint on the market! The company is called Tilano…it comes in 10 colors!

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