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Concrete and travertine slabs were installed on the exterior, alongside an ipe deck with mahogany railings.

New sliding doors from Marvin enable the family to seamlessly move between the indoors and the refurbished patio.

Glass folding doors from Panoramic Doors reach nine-and-a-half feet high to open the kitchen to the courtyard. “It's such a unique feature, especially in Brooklyn,” says Slocum. “You rarely ever see that type of thing.”

The architects specified an aluminum roof that “ghosts” the structure—it’s a material that recalls the typical use of corrugated metal on agricultural buildings, yet it subtly contrasts with the historic form. “It’s not quite what you’d use on a normal barn,” says Powell.

Portrait of David Barsoum and Niky Sampedro in their store Carefully Picked in Chicago, Illinois IL, with light wood floor and white podiums holding curving blue and red chairs, a light wood chair with green cushion, and a set of nesting coffee tables.

Making the decision to buy a home is never easy; it’s hard to know what life will look like five or ten years down the line. But on the bright side, buying a home is exciting. The responsibility can be invigorating.

Lee helped the couple source lighting, like the Nuura Anoli pendants above the kitchen island. “We're constantly having meals at home,” says Serena. “We get a CSA and I like to cook, so it's nice to have a lot of space in the kitchen, and have it be really functional for cooking and entertaining.”

The couple purchased the living room’s H.W. Klein chairs with the house. Another existing piece was the mezzanine’s daybed, designed by Peter Hvidt and Orlando Mølgaard Nielsen. An original floating staircase leads to the mezzanine and then up to the second floor. The open, straight-forward spaces speak to one of Christian’s guiding principles: “Simplicity is the key,” he says.

A view of the opened windows into the study room and the future child's bedroom.

The builders created new, more expansive decks for the cabin and employed larger windows from Marvin.

Deciding to buy a home comes with its own unique set of pressures. Oftentimes, it’s seen as a seal of adulthood, an acceptance of permanence, and perhaps most importantly, it also means that you’re about to spend a large sum of money; it makes sense that no one wants to go about it in a casual way.