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My Houzz: Warm Industrial Style in a Brooklyn Apartment
Natural tones and travel-inspired mementos decorate this cozy Park Slope rental
Roommates James Cregan and Hayley Hanes were both drawn to the mantel and brick wall when they found their two-bedroom apartment Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. The two graduates of Washington University in St. Louis got jobs in New York City — Cregan as a junior merchant, Hanes as a business analyst. Over the past nine months, they have filled their rental with keepsakes and cherished items that add a warm quality to the space while reflecting their modern millennial style.
In the corner of the living room is a little reading nook. “We don’t collect Kinfolk, but we like to keep magazines that we enjoy reading, especially in lifestyle and fashion,” says Hanes of the publications on display. The roommates also refer to recipes in The Kinfolk Table when they’re entertaining guests or cooking dinner for the themselves.
Bookshelf: Vintage Pine
Bookshelf: Vintage Pine
“The design process has been equally involved. James is more the handyman and puts idea to practicality, while I just see things that look great and buy them,” Hanes says.
The bookshelf is filled with their favorite books and some Paris-inspired items as a reminder of their first trip to France together.
The bookshelf is filled with their favorite books and some Paris-inspired items as a reminder of their first trip to France together.
A vintage sewing machine and containers of dried weeds form part of the vignette on the mantel.
The roommates designed the apartment using its available attributes rather than chasing their own design aesthetic.
“We both brought in a lot of dark furniture, and the apartment had a brick wall, which we embraced,” Hanes says. The bar stools are a natural wicker that complements the space’s natural wood tones.
Bar stools: Crate & Barrel
“We both brought in a lot of dark furniture, and the apartment had a brick wall, which we embraced,” Hanes says. The bar stools are a natural wicker that complements the space’s natural wood tones.
Bar stools: Crate & Barrel
The roommates try to save time and money by having all the apparatus they need to make their own coffee each day.
Portica tables: Room & Board; shelf brackets: Brooklyn Reclamation
Portica tables: Room & Board; shelf brackets: Brooklyn Reclamation
Hanes kept the bedding and furnishings in her room simple and airy. “The style of our apartment has been described [by friends] as both ‘prewar chic’ and ‘Anna Wintour minimalism,’” Hanes says.
Bed and nightstand: West Elm
Bed and nightstand: West Elm
The nightstand is dedicated to her favorite travel and style magazine, Cereal, and cherished vacation photos.
“We both keep instruments. I keep a guitar, and James keeps a violin,” Hanes says. This dynamic corner in her bedroom gives a fresh look to the space while collecting and reflecting a lot of light.
Midcentury dowel mirror: West Elm
Midcentury dowel mirror: West Elm
The roommates enjoy going on photography walks together and keep their cameras easily accessible on shelves in Hanes’ room.
A wall-mounted coat rack is a handy way to display both everyday items and special seasonal accessories in Hanes’ bedroom.
In Cregan’s bedroom, a side table holds a family photograph with his father and sister, and other travel-inspired mementos.
“We were good friends through all of college and decided to live together our senior year while out in Chicago on New Year’s Eve,” says Hanes, pictured with Cregan.
Hanes says their dream apartment would be a 2,000-square-foot flat in Paris with marble counters, a back terrace and a rooftop garden. For now, though, the two are happy with their current home.
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Hanes says their dream apartment would be a 2,000-square-foot flat in Paris with marble counters, a back terrace and a rooftop garden. For now, though, the two are happy with their current home.
See more of this home
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: James Cregan and Hayley Hanes
Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York
Size: 900 square feet (83.6 square meters); two bedrooms, one bathroom
The main living space is primarily decorated in warm tones, characterized by the wood bookshelf, media console and leather sofa. A record player sits atop the media console as a decorative touch. Hanes and Cregan chose white accents for this room to contrast with the wood.
“We made the coffee table from wood of buildings that burned down in a Chicago fire,” Hanes says. The reclaimed wood was sourced from a warehouse on the west side of Chicago, and Cregan cut the wood to the desired size, then added legs from Hairpinlegs.com.
Clayton leather sofa in Déjà Vu Holster: Arhaus; media console: Room & Board; Pure White ceramic vases: West Elm; Larkin LED task table lamp: Pottery Barn