This is the first in a regular Thursday series that will take you behind those pretty Brooklyn facades to see what’s inside (admit it, you’re curious).

Brownstone Voyeur is a joint project of casaCARA and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, which has been spreading the word about all things local since 2004. Welcome, OTBKB readers!

We’ll walk you through the interiors and gardens of brownstones, brick row houses, pre-war apartments, Victorians, carriage houses, lofts, and other Brooklyn abodes to see the colorful, creative, clever, cost-conscious ways people really live in New York City’s hippest borough.

Steal their ideas, and enjoy.

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1850s house, 1950s furniture. Who would guess the combination could be so natural?

Brownstone Voyeur’s first foray finds us in Cobble Hill, at the home of interior designer Julia Mack and her husband John, an architect. They live on three floors with their son Jeremy, 14, daughter Alison, 11, and French bulldog, Trixie.

The Macks bought the ‘neglected dump’ in 2002 and spent a year upgrading the mechanicals. The 20′x40′ building had been used as rental apartments; the first order of business was pulling out four nasty kitchens and four baths.

Happily, the house’s original moldings, panel doors, wide-plank floors, and turned stair balusters were intact, along with a spectacular carved marble mantel in the front parlor.

Now, clean white walls form the backdrop for mid-20th century furniture classics. Some were handed down by Julia’s parents and grandparents; others are re-issues, many from Herman Miller for the Home.

Lots of items come from budget-friendly stores like Bo Concept (the living room credenza), Room & Board, and Modernica (the spacey ‘Ellipse’ chair).

Love that shag rug! The quirky metal wall art, below, is made out of bedsprings.

The vintage mahogany dining table and teak console, above, are perfectly sympatico with an  ultra-contemporary glass light fixture from Artemide. The paintings are by Cobble Hill neighbor Noel Yauch, represented by Atlantic Gallery. (Catch a glimpse of Julia in the mirror.)

The kitchen, designed by the homeowners, is super-sleek. Floor-to-ceiling cabinets of book-matched walnut veneer provide a ton of storage.

A curtain of nylon string on a hidden track divides the master bedroom from a dressing room carved out of the central core of the 2nd floor.

The undulating plywood screen in the master bedroom is an Eames icon, the ’40s boudoir chair a family relic.

The family/TV room is on the 2nd floor at the front of the house.

That’s Jeremy, below, in Julia’s home office, which is painted an energizing red.

The homeowners found the 1920s soaking tub in place when they bought the house. The double sinks are in the kids’ bathroom on the top floor.

Thanks for visiting. How does it feel to be a brownstone voyeur?