René and Heather Paula have long encouraged friends to drop by their house on a whim. “It’s very much like Seinfeld, in that random friends will show up unannounced,” says René. “We’ve always said, ‘Just come over whenever,’ and people know we’re here.”

Their home, a completely refashioned 1894 carriage house in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, is more than ready for impromptu visits—but that wasn’t always the case. When the Paulas—he’s a lawyer and she works in marketing—purchased it in 2020, it had lived many past lives. It started as a stable built by a local grocer for $1,500, before transitioning into a garage in the 1920s, and decades later, a junk shop.

The Paulas had long been looking for a property with outdoor space and a parking spot, and after going into contract on another location and losing out on it, they moved quickly on this one. “It was very scary,” says René. “Our brokers said, ‘Look, this property is a complete teardown, but if you're bold enough, you could build something amazing here.’”

Before: Exterior

After: Exterior

“We signed a contract and then we were like, ‘My God, what have we done?’” says René with a laugh. The couple had to rezone the property from commercial to residential, while keeping the parking allowance intact. While they were ultimately successful, early conversations with architects and engineers were less heartening: The existing structure, aside from the brick party walls shared with neighbors on either side, would need to be entirely rebuilt.

One night, while researching the scope of the project, René found a renovation diary on Brownstoner.com, written by the Brownstone Boys, aka Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum. The pair met in 2017, fell in love over a shared enthusiasm for old homes, bought their first brownstone (a 130-year-old fixer upper in Bed Stuy), and chronicled its renovation on their own blog and other outlets.

“I went down the rabbit hole, realizing that they had, you know, dozens if not hundreds of posts around how they did their whole project renovation,” says René. “I basically read every single post and then reached out, saying, ‘I have this crazy project. Can I take you out for coffee?’” Bordelon and Slocum agreed.

Before: Interior

The Brownstone Boys’ personal DIY renovation got them hooked on historic restoration, and they have since left their corporate jobs to go full time, with projects featured in a wide range of publications and an episode on “In with the Old” on the Magnolia Network. The joke in their office is that fellow historic home owners, much like René, will email them with the subject line: “Please help!”

At the time, the carriage house was the couple’s biggest project yet, and of course, it wasn’t a brownstone. The project would involve a complete overhaul—including shifting the foundation to the center of the property, inserting a steel framework, adding a full second story and a partial third story, and fitting out the capacious interior with rooms, fixtures, and finishes.

“The city had one of the strictest design codes that had to be met with the structural work, using very specific steel,” says Bordelon. “But we really incorporated all of that into the overall aesthetic look and feel of the house.”

Before: Garage

After: Staircase

After: Dining Room

Slocum and Bordelon have lots of experience working with narrow, deep buildings, although this project presented particular challenges. “The brownstones that we work in are usually like 20 feet by 40 feet,” says Slocum. “But this was double. So, you can think about how difficult it is to get light into the middle of that building if it's so deep.”

While researching historic maps and city records, they discovered a bit of design inspiration. “The way that they drew the map, there was a little cutout where a courtyard was,” says Slocum. “So when we redesigned it, we retained that feature.”

The courtyard is now the home’s focal point, wrapped on three sides by operable glass walls. The living spaces on the main floor look into it, as do two bedrooms and a hallway upstairs.

Before: Courtyard

After: Courtyard

After: Kitchen

In the new plan, René and Heather wanted three dedicated bedrooms for themselves and their two children, as well as two additional flex spaces for visiting family and friends. The first flex space is a ground-floor office/TV room off the courtyard—perfect for René when he works from home, or for guests to watch the game or parade on Thanksgiving Day while still being close to the kitchen. An adjacent bathroom allows the space to serve as a comfortable en suite for overnight guests.

After: Main Floor Bathroom

After: Second Floor Hallway

The third-floor addition houses an independent suite, complete with a kitchenette, bathroom, and desk that converts to a bed. The space is flanked on two sides by terraces, and the Paulas have affectionately called it the “tree house” since they moved into the home in 2023.

Before: Roof

After: Roof

The “tree house” welcomes extended family members for longer visits, and it recently accommodated an overflow of guests from a Halloween party the Paulas hosted for their kids and thirty teenagers. It’s also an easy spot to retreat to when a friend stops by unannounced. “People can just show up and we'll go up there to the tree house and have a drink,” says René.

Despite the all-new build, the Brownstone Boys managed to weave in touches of historic detail, like the century-old neighborhood map that hangs in the foyer, and an exposed brick wall in the second-floor hallway. “We made the outside facade of the house look very traditionally like a carriage house, but we didn't really do that on the inside,” says Slocum. “Although, there is one wall that’s exposed brick, so you can see the different layers and lives that the house has had.”

More Before & After stories:

Their Job Is Discovering Hidden Gems. Their Brooklyn Home Is One of Them

A Vibrant Revamp Gives a Cramped Brooklyn Brownstone Room to Breathe

Their Brooklyn Limestone Was Trapped in the ’90s, so They Set It Free

Project Credits:

Architecture: Ananth Sampathqumar, NDNY Architecture and Design

Builder: Wild Stone

Structural Engineer: LERA

Interior Design: Brownstone Boys / brownstoneboys

Landscape Design: Brownstone Boys

Lighting Design: Brownstone Boys

Photographer: Nick Glimenakis