In New York City, the boundary between public and private space often gets blurred—think of subway commuters packed cheek by jowl or parks moonlighting as backyards for barbecues. In Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, architectural and interior designer Rebecca Cohen-Scharfman renovated a two-unit, four-floor townhouse with this ambiguity in mind, creating a home where the interiors seem to flow outside.

In the dining area, an AGO Cirkus chandelier hangs over a Laurel table from Burke Decor. The black Salt chairs are from Design Within Reach, and the Stature end chair is from CB2." layout="" credit="Photo by Brian W. Ferry" photoUserId=""/>

Rebecca and her husband, Alex Scharfman, a filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter, have lived together in Greenpoint for four years, renting a one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment two blocks away just prior to taking over their new place.

“We love this area,” Alex says, so much so that the couple wanted to make sure their building still blended in with its neighbors after the renovation. Though they changed the exterior color from red to dark gray and ditched the old shingles, they stuck with the horizontal siding and general proportions common in the area. “From the front,” Alex says, “the building looks a lot like the box frame houses that you see on the block.”

Before: Rear Facade

After: Rear Facade

The familiar facade belies the unique spaces within. Rebecca and Alex’s main entrance is on the basement level at the base of the house’s stoop. (The door at the top of the stoop leads to a vestibule shared with the rental unit on the top two floors.) A small entry alcove in their apartment leads to a cozy, sunken living room with a wall of built-in shelving. Double pocket doors lead into the kitchen/dining space, grounded by an eye-catching terrazzo-clad island.

Before: Entrance Hallway

After: Entrance Hallway

A wall of sliding glass doors beyond the dining table opens onto a concrete patio with a grill for barbecuing and bleacher-like stairs that lead up to a grassy landing with seating, a cherry tree, and an additional structure housing Alex’s office.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

The sequence feels like an almost seamless flow from inside to outside to inside again, a fluidity informed by Rebecca’s yoga and feng shui practices. “Feng shui involves combining energy and how energy affects you in a space—how it takes you through a space, how it grounds you into a space,” she says.

In the yard, the couple replaced a concrete walkway with sod and wooden steps and worked with a botanical designer to achieve “a feeling of overgrownness,” Alex says, a nod to their casual take on sophistication: manicured but still human.

The couple’s bedroom overlooks the outdoor space from the elevated ground level, which also houses a spare bedroom and a work space for Rebecca. They extended the bottom two floors back 10 feet, which created a terrace for the both units herself, a few consultants helped along the way, including a feng shui specialist, “so everything in the home,” she says, “supports our personalities and our energy.”

Project Credits:

Architecture: Rebecca Cohen-Scharfman

Engineering: Moore Associates

Construction: Stamford Construction CT

—

Head back to the May/June 2022 issue homepage