The Insider: Youthful Designer Makes use of His Brooklyn Heights Condominium as a Laboratory for Tips
Christine Blau
4 min read
Obtained a challenge to propose for The Insider? Speak to Cara at caramia447 [at] gmail [dot] com
Not long just after Peter Dolkas, an interior designer initially from the Bay Region, came to New York with “not much of anything at all apart from dishes,” he place down area roots in a five-tale 1890s apartment developing in close proximity to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, converted to condos in the late 20th century. Even though he has since moved on to one more Brooklyn community, he thinks of this earlier venue as “a bit of a laboratory.”
Dolkas companions with Michelle Ficker in the Dumbo-based Studio Dorion, a boutique design and style company currently doing work on a Park Slope brownstone, a NoHo loft and assignments exterior the city. Their small, innovative bed room at the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse last September deployed humble supplies like pegboard and chino cotton cloth in tasteful vogue.
Dolkas and Ficker fulfilled whilst performing for renowned inside designer Billy Cotton. Not wanting to go the usual route of naming their enterprise eponymously, they lit upon the old-fashioned title Dorion. “It’s a title which is dying out, and and we preferred the strategy of a fictional character operating the demonstrate,” Dolkas said.
Discover The Insider
Locate your Brooklyn layout inspiration
He was drawn to the Previous World character of the one-bedroom condominium, which bundled a bay window with stained glass transoms overlooking the street. Its biggest challenge: a dated 1980s kitchen reverse the hearth wall, separated from the living area by a dense wall of cabinetry.
That wall came down and the fridge was relocated to an inside wall and integrated into a lender of new personalized cupboards as portion of an all-new kitchen area. The former fire was “nothing unique, ” Dolkas stated, so he had no qualms about changing it with a minimalist mantel of painted sheetrock. “It’s pleasant to have one streamlined contemporary element” in a area whole of antique furnishings, he mentioned.
Dolkas gained a master’s degree in fantastic and attractive arts at Sotheby’s in London and tends to obtain a ton at auction, like Doyle on the Upper East Side and Showplace on West 25th Street. Most pieces in the condominium are antique or classic, accrued slowly more than time. Like most designers, Dolkas said, he views his property as a “revolving doorway of furnishings.”
Dolkas papered the entry in period of time-proper Willow Bough wallpaper, a William Morris structure.
The jute rug in the dwelling space, from Rugs Usa, would make a easy, neutral underlayment for the eclectic antiques Dolkas picked up below and there.
The oversize paper globe lantern supplies a focal level in the eating spot.
Dolkas propped a are living edge coffee desk prime (which is not a surfboard) in the corner. The Georgian ebook cabinet came from Doyle.
Dolkas identified the couch at Showplace Antiques in Manhattan and experienced it covered in a cotton velvet. The mirror is an auction come across far too he painted the frame matte black.
He chose Farrow & Ball’s Slipper Satin for the partitions, with Lime White trim.
A vertical column of classic Dunster agateware plates hangs along with the mirror.
The unlacquered hurricane candle sconce was designed by Dolkas and is available to get right from his web site.
The table was still left in excess of from a task at Billy Cotton, the marbled desk lamp a Housing Operates find.
A corner specialized niche with a developed-in bookshelf sits reverse the eating desk. Dolkas observed the table lamp at a Los Angeles vintage shop.
Farrow & Ball’s Treron, a deep inexperienced, envelops the bedroom in moody ambiance.
The pencil put up mattress was manufactured by from Fantastic Windsor Chairs in Lancaster County, PA Dolkas identified it on eBay.
Other bed room items were acquired piecemeal, which includes a heavyweight Belgian linen mattress cover from John Derian, the $5 overhead lantern from Jamali Yard in Manhattan’s flower district, the antique chest from auction and region rugs from Paula Rubinstein.
Dolkas painted the new tailor made cabinetry Farrow & Ball’s Lime White and provided metallic drawer pulls from Rejuvenation. The countertop is sealed wood, the island topped with a slab of Carrara marble still left around from a undertaking.
The backsplash tiles are undecorated blanks from Regts Delft Tiles, a Dutch company.
New cabinetry conceals the fridge and freezer. Throughout the condominium, Dolkas replaced the light-weight switches with new types from Household of Antique Components.
In the lavatory, Dolkas retiled the walls with cheap subway tiles from Nemo, and additional a striped duster skirt, held on with magnets, to the initial sink. The framed medicine cabinet was sourced from Restoration Components.
[Photos by Peter Dolkas]
Related Stories
The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth glance at a notable renovation and/or interior style undertaking by design and style journalist Cara Greenberg. Uncover it right here each individual Thursday early morning.
Email [email protected] with more reviews, issues or suggestions. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Fb.
