“Purchasing the townhouse was the final step in seven moves in 12 years,” says Alex White, fashion stylist and proud owner of a renovated, light-filled brick townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. Admit it. “We wanted a house that could put our stamp on it and raise two kids.” Their forever home needed a lot of love, from a one-bathroom Greek Revival to a one-bedroom Transformed into an enthusiastic 4 bedroom owner’s triplex built on top of a garden rental. ” [garden] The apartment was essential,” says Shaheen Knox, White’s partner.
To get here from there, White and Knox looked at a lot of fixer uppers before finally landing in a sun-filled 25-foot-wide house on a quiet New York street just a block long. The fact that their residence was part of a neighborhood organization that hosted potlucks and festival street parties was also a big draw. “I grew up in a village, so the close-knit community appealed to us,” says White. So was the expansive backyard, where the couple’s son could play basketball. , and added three more and a glass back wall.” The project required an architect, but most of the work involved not only configuring the HVAC and one I-beam, but also getting the permits. I needed it. Tom Van Den Bout of NV Design Architecture spearheaded the effort. The rest was a personal labor of love.
The couple had renovated lofts before, but embarking on the 5,000-square-foot home was promised to be a process. Saved the torn paper that helps inspire. White used fabrics for the Prada fashion show she was working on (which was eventually used primarily to upholster the headboard in her room) and Oleg her early 20th-century fabrics from her Cassini mansion. The Venetian, like her mirror, kept objects she had traveled around the world and collected. Some of the couple’s favorite pieces of furniture — a rare Marc Newsom dining chair from the 1990s, a Paola Navone table, and a 19th-century Austrian slipper chair — have been waiting for years to be perfectly placed in storage. The two scoured showrooms and purchased floor models from high-end suppliers like Boffi at deep discounts to stay within their budget. They moved into her two different rental properties during her two-year renovation. Best of all, they were patient and employed subcontractors for different parts of their work.
A few years of inconvenience paid off big. Today, the White-Knox family cooks on the backyard patio and hosts small dinner parties at the vintage dining table. The whole family added something to the home design. The first thing most guests will notice is the Chanel surfboard hanging on the living room wall. “I worked with Karl Lagerfeld for many years and someone must have heard how much I wanted this surfboard I saw at the Chanel event in the Hamptons many years ago. ’” recalls White. “After finishing my home renovation, I magically received a Chanel surfboard! What a delightful piece. It brings a touch of my work into the home in a subtle way.”
Today, the residence is a true reflection of all four families and their shared lives and histories. [our son] Harrison gave us. [Our daughter] The Indian room is a happiest space, all fuchsia. All of our individuality is found in little nods throughout the townhouse,” says White.
