My Houzz: Serene Simplicity in Brooklyn

Sean Tice and Kristy Hadeka, cofounders of the Brooklyn Slate Company, have a knack for seeing design potential. Their 800-square-foot apartment in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn had multicolored walls and an overgrown yard, but the couple knew they could update it to fit their own style: clean, with a rustic edge.

Tice, a graphic designer, and Hadeka, a Parsons graduate student, source by hand each of the slate pieces their company sells from Hadeka’s family quarry in upstate New York and run their business from a nearby warehouse. They applied this same thoughtfulness and attention to detail to transforming their rental, including painting brown and blue walls with a fresh coat of white and pruning their yard to create a lush urban garden.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Sean Tice, Kristy Hadeka and their dog, Garp
Location: Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
Size: 800 square feet (74 square meters); 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom

“The greatest challenge was finding furniture that we liked and thought would be a good fit for the space,” says Tice. Fin Moore, a friend of the couple, built these custom shelves using 6-inch pine with a walnut stain. “A lot of what we found was either too bulky or out of the budget, so we decided to design some of the furniture ourselves,” says Tice.

Tice’s mother, Alexandra Tice, painted the colorful artwork on a canvas made up of shopping bags. Hadeka added a few antlers to the existing chandelier as a simple and easy way to update it.

Wall and ceiling paint: Flat White, Valspar


The dining room tabletop is crafted from birch plywood that has been lightly stained to protect the surface from scratches and wear. The couple added hairpin legs from Etsy. Large windows in the dining room light the space and give views to the backyard. “I enjoy sitting in dining room, looking out onto backyard or the kitchen,” says Hadeka. “Cooking and gardening are two of my favorite things to do.”

The square planter in the center is from the new line of geometric planters that the couple designed for the expanded gardening offerings produced at their shop.


The dining room shelves display books and small curiosities, like a driftwood turned bookend found at Martha’s Vineyard and tintypes taken of Hadeka and her sister in California.


In the kitchen the couple added open shelves for more storage. The shelves hold everyday dishes and serving pieces as well as heirlooms, like an orange Dutch oven that belonged to Hadeka’s great-grandmother.

Two-toned bowl: Farmhouse Pottery


The apartment’s compact bathroom originally featured periwinkle walls with black painted doors. They lightened up the space with paint, then Hadeka swapped out the incandescent bulbs in the existing wall sconce with the largest bulbs she could find. The couple fastened pull-down blinds on the interior of the French door for privacy.


Since there were no windows in the room connecting the bedroom and dining area, the couple decided to make it the living room. Garb, the couple’s dog, has his own sleeping space under the custom-made media cabinet.


The floating media cabinet is one of Tice’s favorite pieces in the home. The shelf displays a vintage receiver and record player while doubling as a storage unit that hides media accessories.

Dagmar Chair: Urban Outfitters


A photo by Squire Fox, a commissioned portrait by one of Hadeka’s sketching professors, and photos of friends are displayed in a gallery wall above a convertible couch.

Night and Day Convertible Sofa: Urban Outfitters; pillows: Pottery Barn


The bedroom was originally painted brown and had wooden shades covering the windows. The couple uncovered the windows and painted the walls and ceiling white, allowing more natural light to enter and reflect throughout the room.

Vase: West Elm; wall and ceiling paint: Flat White,Valspar


In the last three apartments the couple lived in, they put their mattress on the floor for a cleaner, more modern feel. They continued with that look in this apartment.

“Sean and I have always, in any space we’ve lived in, sort of redone it and made it our own,” says Hadeka. “So we sort of thought of this [apartment] as a project.”


Minimal patterns and a bright white palette are found in their relaxing bedroom. The mounted deer head is from Hadeka’s father.

Lamps: Charlotte, Simon Pearce; dresser: Malm, Ikea


The garden needed more cutting back than adding to, but the result is a lush space that’s a welcome retreat from city life.


“My idea of gardening is birds, butterflies, bugs, sun, silence and my Birkenstocks covered in mud,” says Hadeka, seen here.

What’s next? At home the couple plans to expand the garden and finish the slate patio. In the studio they’re working on a new line of slate items, expected to be available in fall 2014.

See more photos of this home

My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.

Browse more homes by style:
Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Eclectic Homes | Modern Homes | Contemporary Homes | Midcentury Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Barn Homes | Townhouses | Apartments | Lofts | Vacation Homes

URL: My Houzz: Serene Simplicity in Brooklyn http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-24312.html