Home Sweet Home

{melanie acevedo}

When I first saw these photos of J. Crew President and Creative Director Jenna Lyons' Park Slope townhouse on Casa Sugar, you better believe I went straight for the 'right-click/save image'. I fell in love with everything from the gorgeous fireplaces to the chevron bathroom floors, and really? That closet. The 7 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 4,400 square foot home sold for $4 million just last month. Dang, should've put a bid on it back in November when it was a measly $3.75 million.

the Little Big Cottage

{ken wyner for baltimore style}

It isn't always easy combining traditional and contemporary styles and still having a cohesive end result, especially when it comes to interior designs. Oh, but when it works, it works. This amazing cottage, owned by Dan Proctor, principal/owner of Kirk Designs, and his life partner, Jeffrey Hess is the perfect balance of what they envisioned as a "little bit of Paris in Homeland."

I love everything in this home; the zebra-print rug paired with French-silk Louis XVI chairs, that awesome Jackie O blue foyer with black and white checkered floors, the Art Deco red velvet chair and abstract paintings. Ugh, gorgeous, isn't it? The dining room, designed by Hess is like "a very dark Chanel suit with white cuffs" and draperies that seemed "like a divine hostess gown, perhaps like something Gloria Vanderbilt might wear at the Biltmore," as Proctor described. And how inviting is that master bedroom? The color palette is crisp and clean, and that bed looks like it's just begging for a nap.

My absolute favorite part of the whole house is the painting in the mirrored alcove at the top of the stairs. Entitled 'A Rather 20s Woman Dancing' by an unknown Welsh artist, it was the first piece of art that Proctor and Hess ever bought together some 13 years ago in New Orleans. "We didn't have two nickels to rub together," says Hess. Proctor added, "We couldn't afford it, so when I got home, I called the gallery and asked them if I could buy it in payments." Years later, the painting now sits atop their favorite piece of furniture in the beautiful house they have made together. Home sweet home, indeed.