“The houses usually find us,” says Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse cofounder and cochair Ellen Hamilton, on how the organization locates an appropriately worthy venue for the biennial neighborhood fundraiser. This year, the honor falls to a stately late-Greek Revival town house on Clinton Street, which, unlike many previous show homes, is actually not for sale. “The homeowner happened to be sitting next to a client of mine, and she said ‘I’m moving, and I don’t know what to do with my old home—I don’t want to sell it, and I don’t want to rent it.’ My client said, ‘Call Ellen! She’ll completely transform it for you.’”
It was, of course, too tempting of an offer to refuse, much to the organization’s delight. But securing a suitable home for the show house was only half the battle: Hamilton, fellow cofounder Erica Belsey Worth, and Leyden Lewis, this year’s Honorary Design Chair and the founder of AD100 firm Leyden Lewis Design Studio, then needed to find the right designers to transform each of its rooms. They cast a wide night to find the talented roster, reviewing around 400 names culled from industry editors and design-forward friends in the neighborhood. The whittling-down can be grueling, and what can secure a designer a winning berth is sometimes ineffable: “We’re always looking for what we call that ‘Brooklyn vibe,’” Hamilton says.
The lucky 16 who were selected only had a moment to celebrate, however. They were granted access to the home on August 8 and had to be finished with renovations no later than September 19, leaving a little over a week to make finishing touches before the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse opened to the public. “We all work hard and fast!” Hamilton says. But none of the final spaces feel rushed, or slapdash. In fact, there’s a surprising cohesion to the rooms, despite each designers’ separate vision.
This, perhaps, speaks not only to that intangible “Brooklyn vibe,” but the designers’ own ears to the ground of what trends are emerging for 2025. If the show house is any indication, dark, moody hues coating walls and ceilings will continue their reign. This choice is apparent as soon as you walk in, in JMorris Design’s foyer, which the AD PRO Directory talent accented with rich, blue-tinged Amazon Green by Benjamin Moore and walls paneled in a tree-lined mural from Eskayel. Downstairs, the mudroom by Shapeless Studio deepens the shade with inky-blue walls and ceiling and another custom mural—this one featuring a playful cloud scene by Esme Shapiro. But no area embodies this color trend more than the subterranean media room, designed by Batliboi Studio. Meant to evoke the feeling of an old-time movie theater, the space is enveloped in oxblood and warmed with regal doses of amber, crimson, and mauve via copious pillows covered in Indian textiles and a Bang & Olufson wall speaker covered in Kvadrat fabric.
Design wise, we also clocked a permeating influence of the Vienna Secession movement, which inspired AD PRO Directory firm JAM’s tomato-hued “midnight study” space, as well as Landed Interiors’ primary bedroom, which features a showpiece pendant light from the period. (The piece is so good that creative principal Lynn Kloythanomsup says it will be going straight to her personal collection post-show house.) Many designers chose to emphasize the home’s rich interior architecture. In their top-floor “Creative Study,” emerging firm Casa Angulo extended the crown detailing and coated it and the ceiling in a chocolate-hued high gloss, lending a richer level of sophistication to the jewel-box space.
