Building a Home in Bed-Stuy
“The stoop was the deciding factor,” journalist Eli Rosenberg said, explaining why he chose this Bed-Stuy brownstone after scouring Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Garden. Kelsey Keith, editor in chief of Curbed, moved in last October after living in Williamsburg for four years and agrees that it feels more neighborhood-y—more people wave and say hi, their friends live nearby, and they love the local restaurants like Le Paris Dakar and Peaches Hothouse. High ceilings and original moldings give the apartment character, so they didn’t need to do much to change it structurally, just painted the walls white and fixed the stippled ceiling. Keith, who previously worked at Dwell, errs on the minimalist side—inspired by Scandinavian modernism—but keeps the place from feeling cold with lots of textiles. They’ve filled it with personal touches, like the radio Rosenberg hauled back from Memphis; a midcentury chair by the designer Charles Pollock, who Keith interviewed; a photo by Spencer Tunick from a shoot in Montauk they participated in; bedding by local designers Dusen Dusen; and gold-rimmed glasses from Keith’s great grandmother.
All photos by Seth Caplan.
