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CREATIVE LICENSE
Homeowners give their designer free rein, and the results are stunning
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JSE INTERIORS/DENTE TRADING/LIZA FRIEDMAN
T
he homeowners hailed from the
Upper East Side of Brooklyn,
where their young family of four
had lived in a three-bedroom
apartment. They loved their new
home on Myrtle Avenue, but
didn’t love its shabby-chic interior design – at
all. They were referred to Julia Epstein, owner
of JSE Interiors in Brooklyn, who, it turns out,
shared an “eclectic modern aesthetic with the
wife. They said, ‘Do whatever you want,’” says
Epstein. And that is what she did, with assis-
tance from Classics Reborn, the contractor.
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OPENING ACT
(Opposite) Epstein turned the home’s unexceptional foyer into a dramatic entry-
way with black-and-white marble tile flooring, and hand-drawn millwork on the walls
consisting of concentric squares that wrap around the space; white and silver metallic
grass-cloth paper covers the walls above them. The cobalt blue in the lamp provides
a pop of color.
(Above) The couple had inherited antique French lithographs and the collection of
leather-bound books seen on the mantelpiece, as well as Lalique candelabras and the
artwork on the wall. “It was almost a shrine to the wife’s mother,” says Epstein. She
used the pieces as inspiration for a Parisian flea market look, with Louis XIV settees
upholstered in a modern fabric. “The hide on the floor has a modern design, and [its
use here] is almost tongue-in-cheek,” she says. The pre-existing, painted coffered ceil-
ing was lightened up with a hand-applied pearlescent paint, and the red brick fireplace
was distressed and covered with a metallic wash derived from the ceiling paint.