When interior designer Delia Kenza took over her aunt’s home, she had to make it comfortable and keep its character, but bring in a little of her own
New York interior designer Delia Kenza didn’t go through any bidding wars, or an arduous search for the perfect family home to acquire her 1880s Brooklyn brownstone; the Clinton Hill property has been in her family for generations. Delia and her family moved into the home after her aunt, who had lived in the brownstone for decades, no longer wanted to live in the city full time. “Since I was a little girl I’ve known the house; I’ve grown up seeing the original details, high ceilings, shutters and plasterwork,” Delia says. She had a clear idea of how she wanted to modernise her new home, which she shares with her husband Júlio Leitão and their two daughters, but the very details that lend the property its character and charm would prove problematic when making the home comfortable. It was up to Delia to find solutions that wouldn’t interfere too much with the fabric of the building.
A trip to France had made a lasting impression on the interior designer and would have a marked influence on the aesthetics of the family home. “I had visited the Louvre while in Paris and was inspired by the timber floors, white walls and brass handrails,” she says. “The rooms were full of very old paintings, yet the space was modern and I appreciated the way they managed to bridge the old and the new together.” Delia borrowed the black-and-white palette with brass accents for her interior scheme. “With this arrangement, whatever artwork we’d hang would pop on the walls.” Alongside the art, other stylish additions include an Afteroom bench by Menu and the IC pendant light by Flos.
