Plywood Wainscoting Brought Character and Warmth to Cookie-Cutter Walls In This Spacious Brooklyn Home

Somerset House, the collectible design gallery in Queens, ought to come with a warning: If you’re here for furniture, be prepared to leave with an entire new house.That was the case for new homeowners in Brooklyn, New York, who scheduled an appointment simply to browse. They didn’t know Alan Eckstein, who cofounded Somerset House alongside his wife, Haley Loewenthal, had expanded from sourcing and staging to fully designing homes. And while Eckstein had only a few completed projects at the time, there was something about him—almost like an instant friend; he brought a “wonderful nerd” quality to the whole process that just felt right for the couple.The couple works in music and fashion, which was familiar territory for Eckstein (he’d pursued a degree in music before pivoting to fashion, where he first made his name). The parallels made for an easy friendship, and they all even spent Father’s Day together, just to hang a few pieces around the house. “He and his wife and son came over, and we had brunch,” says the wife. “And I think that really speaks to who Alan is, and our relationship—that’s how we all chose to spend Father’s Day.” Pendant Light by Josef Hoffmann for Wiener WerkstätteMcGee & Co. Burl Wood Box“Maybe it was a risk in some ways, but we just felt really good about taking that leap with him and building something together,” says the husband.The couple had purchased their extra-wide, 3,600-square-foot house after realizing their initial dream, a historic brownstone, felt a little too compressed. The property’s high ceilings, open spaces, and views of the garden were the right fit for their particular life with growing children, but the gut-renovated interiors lacked any true character.You would think, with Somerset House being Somerset House, the project would start with furniture. And while the finished home is indeed roughly 80 percent vintage (about half of it came from Somerset House’s own inventory), Eckstein knew the home’s blank, cookie-cutter palette needed the biggest intervention. “I did not want bare. I did not want cold. I did not want a minimalist playground,” he says. “I wanted life, I wanted warmth everywhere.”“We have different worlds coming together,” says Eckstein of the dining area’s furniture, sourced from a breadth of eras. Poul Henningsen’s PH3 pendants, in copper, hang above an 1950s Ico Parisi dining table paired with Dutch oak dining chairs upholstered in mohair. Somerset House designed a heavy arched frame for a floral oil painting, which draws the eye almost like a window—as does a mirrored Paolo Buffa cabinet that reflects the other side of the open room, connecting and broadening the space. Celadon Moon Jar by Han Gi WoonDuck Tray by Nicolaj Nøddesbo & Tommy Hyldahl for 101 CopenhagenEckstein found the answer in what he calls an obscure reference to unadorned maple plywood wainscoting in Jean-Michel Frank’s 1920s interiors for Marie-Laure and Charles de Noailles’s town house in Paris. The couple had concerns; as they looked through old photos and proposed renderings, they saw a lot of wood—and a lot of plywood to be exact. But they had faith in Eckstein, who persuaded them to run oak plywood as wainscoting throughout the home as well as cladding across the staircase.It wasn’t without fuss. Plywood is a common and simple material, but every piece stains differently, and initial attempts led to complexions that were too red, too yellow, and too golden (“I lost sleep over that process,” the wife says). Designed with Studio BAD and finished with rounded bullnose trim, the wainscoting took about six months to get right. It is the defining character of the house.“I couldn't even imagine this home without the wood,” says the wife.Somerset House added a handmade Cemento Collection zellige tile backsplash to the existing kitchen. Painting the cabinetry in Farrow & Ball’s Minster Green creates a bold color moment for the home (“I don't find that I get bored of it at all,” says Eckstein of the popular kitchen color). In Common With’s Saga Duo Pendant hangs above the island, and Somerset House customized vintage Danish teak counter stools with new iron feet. That warmth extends to the living room, anchored by a bespoke credenza with vinyl pockets and runs across the wall. There are plenty of valuable designs in the space—like a pair of oak Guillerme et Chambron French armchairs. But it was important to the family, and also Eckstein, that nothing felt too precious.“Everything here could take life, could take abuse for the most part,” says Eckstein. “I wanted to use every inch of the space as one big conversation, one big hangout.” The open space connects with a dining area, where traces of Somerset House’s DNA are on display. Above a midcentury dining table hang a pair of 1930s “PH3” pendants by Poul Henningsen. This particular copper set came from a home where they had hung for about 90 years.“Probably the hardest thing in the entire project was that column,” says Eckstein of the supporting feature alongside the staircase, which started as a stubborn piece of black steel. It took about five different attempts to bend plywood—which is prone to cracking—around the column so it would match the surrounding cladding. A rectangular red marble plinth from the 1970s breaks up the beige tones and displays a 2nd-century Roman bust of Harmodios. Saga Duo Linear Suspension Light by In Common WithVintage Swan Figural AshtrayEckstein let color take the wheel in other spaces throughout the home. A proper dressing room was something of a dream for the couple. “We’d always had closets that were tiny or nonexistent. My last closet was in my son’s bedroom,” the husband says. Their particular fantasy was for a fully monochromatic room, something understated that might look at home in a Prada store.At first, the wife wanted it to be pink (swiftly rejected by the husband), and green briefly took the lead. But a change of heart led them to the serene possibilities of blue. “You don’t want it to become a cartoon of a room,” says the wife, who remembers looking through so many shades (over a dozen) that all started to look the same. They landed on Benjamin Moore’s Bluebelle, paired with a lustrous carpet and a 1930s Murano glass ceiling light. “It’s a very happy space for us,” she says.“This is her favorite room in the house, without a doubt,” says Eckstein of the dressing room, which the wife wanted to feel like a tonal fantasy. All in punchy blue, a wall-to-wall Patterson Flynn ‘Miro’ carpet adds a soft finish to the enamel cabinetry painted in Benjamin Moore’s Bluebelle. Somerset House designed a peanut-shaped ottoman, upholstered in Rogers & Goffigon linen; an Andrew Szoeke inlaid burl-wood chair is reupholstered in Dedar satin, and overhead hangs a 1930s Murano glass fixture by Napoleone Martinuzzi. Other spaces, like a guest room that doubles as an office, needed doses of color to earn their keep. Recognizing the luxury of having a guest room in New York, the couple was also hesitant to devote an entire room to “an empty bed waiting for someone to stay over, because that’s such a waste,” says the husband. Instead, it became what he calls a “hilarious red room,” a little over-the-top while staying cozy—like Hugh Hefner’s smoking jacket.Guests, the couple says, tend to remark on how elevated it looks without a trace of pretension, and that it doesn’t feel like they’re in New York at all. The couple was delighted that, even in the dead of winter, the home was still full of life and warmth. “It’s gorgeous, every detail is considered, and it’s immaculate,” says the wife of Eckstein’s aesthetic. “But it’s not untouchable.”In the primary bedroom, creamy beige walls are painted in custom limewash by Lucas Willing Studios, contrasted by a dark vintage kilim from Rug & Kilim. For a dose of color, a 1950s Italian games table sits by the window (creating space for work), topped with green leather, and is paired with a Deco barrel chair in jacquard leopard print for a pop of pattern. The most substantial piece is one of the smallest: a black Georges Jouve mirror that hangs between the windows. The custom bed is upholstered in Dedar mohair.