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BROWNSTONE VOYEUR is a joint project of casaCARA and Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, taking you behind Brooklyn’s intriguing facades to see what’s inside. Look for it every Thursday on both sites.
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REBECCA COLE, a well-known, Manhattan-based garden designer and sometime interior designer, decorated the hell out of this 3-bedroom pre-war apartment on Eastern Parkway, with the blessings of her adventurous clients.
A couple in their 50s with grown kids, this is their empty nest. They moved from Connecticut and settled in Brooklyn to enjoy city life, calling on Rebecca to create a place that would be so much fun to live in they wouldn’t regret leaving their former home.
Among the standout features:
- Brave, bold color in unusual combos like pink, brown, and chartreuse
- Hand-stenciling on walls instead of wallpaper
- The use of garden furniture indoors
- Thrift shop pieces re-upholstered in serious fabrics
- Playful light fixtures and accessories
Rebecca reconfigured the space somewhat, removing a wall between the kitchen and living room (you can see the new steel I-beam) and laid new wood floors. The kitchen is all-new; the piece de resistance is a fuchsia-colored Aga stove. 
She brought the garden indoors with abundant use of leaf and flower images on fabrics, wall art, and ceramic tile. The ceramic tile backsplash, printed with floral images, and the desktop in the chartreuse study, bottom, are from Rebecca’s line for Imagine Tile.
casaCARA 
I wish I had thought about living on Eastern Parkway about 8 or so years ago when I was working at the Museum. Some of those apts are incredible – space, sunlight, proximity to cultural venues.
Where did you get that coffee table? It looks great.
I really love the dining room table and chairs. The chairs are so creative, not your usual dining room chairs and the table is beautiful left unfinished like that. Great blog!