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People don’t buy historic homes because they love dealing with old pipes, lead paint, and dated appliances—they seek them out because of the irreplaceable appeal that oozes from the details, like crown molding, patinated hardwood, and a closed floor plan. These aged accents tend to make the potential issues you might inherit worth it, so why would anyone want an old house that’s been completely gutted of all its character? For Joyce Downing Pickens’s clients, it was the opportunity to bring the charm back into the space.
In a historic part of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village stands a three-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse, with two powder rooms to boot, built in 1899. When Pickens’s clients bought the home, it had been completely renovated and filled with basic furnishings—and while the young couple wanted to infuse some modernity into their home, living in a space devoid of everything that had once made it special was not the goal. The plan was simple: “We re-gutted it and re-infused the charm,” Pickens, the owner of JDP Interiors and a member of our 2024 Next Wave class, tells House Beautiful. Easy, right?
Well, no project comes without its share of challenges, as Pickens points out, and one slightly unconventional aspect of this renovation was that a majority of it was done via Zoom. Sure, the Covid era prepared us for all types of video-call meetings, but Pickens and her team are based on the other side of the country, all the way in Los Angeles. “A lot of my site walkthroughs and construction meetings were done via Zoom, and all the furniture was purchased, custom made, or stored in L.A. so we could manage and see every item that came in and tweak every small detail on a day-to-day basis,” she explains.
Because of the remote aspect, Pickens’s team really had to ensure that every measurement of the home was 100 percent accurate, so when the furniture made its cross-country trip from L.A. to Manhattan, everything could fit through the small front door. Pickens adds, “I am very proud to say myself and my team didn’t get a single measurement off!”
However, the real hiccups came with the removal and workaround of random rooms and walls the previous owners had added onto the 3,360-square-foot property. They had cut up the floor plan in choppy, incongruous ways, Pickens says, and while her clients wanted to improve the flow of each room, maintaining a feeling of separation and intimacy was equally as important. One of the more obstructing pass-through rooms had been created as a way to install the HVAC, making it a more challenging solve since they would have to find a new way to disguise it. “It completely broke up what would otherwise be a very grand, inviting floor,” she explains. Her team removed certain barriers to make each floor feel more expansive and solved the HVAC problem by building a vintage wardrobe into the wall and enclosing it there.
Besides overall construction costs, Pickens allotted a healthy furniture budget because, as she puts it, “that’s the stuff you actually see at the end!” Inspiration for the furnishings and details came from the few original features that were left in the townhouse. “The original marble fireplaces were all that was left, which really informed the design direction,” she adds. A moody yet neutral color palette prevails, and warm, luxe textures bring the drama and elegance.
She delivered the charm that was needed to honor the age and location of the home with period-appropriate architectural features. Panel, base, and crown moldings are detailed but not over the top, and interest was added by painting “the applied molding the same finish as the walls, while we did a satin on the crown and base,” she adds, creating a visual effect of paneling. “It’s so important to take into consideration the time period and architecture of your home as step one,” Pickens says. “Otherwise everything will feel mismatched.”
Living Room
“This room, with its grand ceiling heights and original fireplace, was designed as a place to entertain but also relax in comfort,” Pickens says. “The homeowners and I wanted to make sure this was the more elevated formal room with the den just downstairs but also make sure it didn’t feel untouchable. The large velvet down sofas have that sinkable quality that ensures that comfort level.”
Coffee table: custom, JDP Interiors. Wicker accent chair: Frederick Weinberg. Wood accent chair: vintage. Mirror: custom, JDP Interiors. Rug: Rush House.
Den
“This is such a cozy room. The ceilings are lower, which provides such an intimate feeling in a house with higher ceilings on above floors—it’s nice to have that change,” Pickens says. “However, this presented challenges playing with scale. Each floor had to really be considered and watched carefully.”
Sofa: custom, JDP Interiors. Rug: Lulu and Georgia. Coffee table: vintage. Side table: antique, from Big Daddy’s Antiques.
Rich fabrics like bouclé and velvet are found throughout the house.
Floor lamp and side table: vintage. Armchair: custom, in Designs of the Times fabric.
Kitchen
“This kitchen is one of my favorites I have designed; the wood cabinetry really takes center stage while everything else remains pared back. Simple austerity but with a lot of warmth,” Pickens adds.
Island: custom, designed by JDP Interiors and fabricated by Petersen Antiques. Range: Lacanche. Pendant: JDP Interiors.
“The clients and I fell in love with these dining chairs and built the rest of the room around them,” Pickens says. She explains that a powder room used to be in the center of this space, chopping up the floor plan. “We moved the powder room to a closet and opened the floor completely up to itself. This allowed us to add a dining area in between the den and the kitchen and allow for an extra everyday entertainment space.” She sourced the reclaimed wood flooring (from old barns in the Hudson Valley) from The Hudson Company.
Shades: custom, in Rose Unaicke fabric. Dining table: custom, JDP Interiors. Dining chairs: vintage, Guillerme et Chambron. Light fixture: Pinch. Mirror: vintage. Bowl: Colin King via The Expert. Candlestick holder: Skultuna.
Dining Room
“A house with this history has to have a formal dining room!” Pickens exclaims. “This room was previously broken up into two parts with dropped ceilings for the HVAC—the wow factor was just not there, but I could see it poking through just waiting to be brought back.” The designer explains that it was challenging to maintain the original ceiling height while including the modern convenience of the HVAC. But with the help of their contractors, KJ Remodeling, they decided to hide it away in a vintage wardrobe.
“My motto is, ‘Everything is possible’—you just have to change your perspective and get creative sometimes,” she adds.
Dining table: custom, Peterson Antiques. Dining chairs: Rose Uniacke. Chandelier: Reduxr Australia, with ostrich egg shades. Ceramics: Courtney Duncan from Nickey Kehoe. Art: Oda and King.
Powder Room
“The wallpaper in this bathroom is so beautiful in person, and the sconces are my best, yet most difficult, find,” Pickens says. “I saw these sconces online from a vendor in Lake Como but couldn’t get them to get back to me. They were lost in the ether, but I happened to be there for a wedding that year, so I stopped by the store and tracked them down! Oh, the lengths we designers will go!”
Sink: Olive Ateliers. Wallpaper: Elizabeth Dow. Faucet: Water Monopoly. Sconces and mirror: vintage.
Primary Bedroom
“This room was a lot of fun to work on but also tricky, as this bed had to make it up three flights of tight stairs. We had to make it in parts then install it onto the wall,” Pickens says.
Bed frame and side table: custom, JDP Interiors. Bedcover: custom, in de Le Cuona fabric. Rug: Marc Phillips. Drapes: custom, in Rose Uniacke fabric. Swivel chairs: custom, in Decortex velvet with Schumacher fringe. Art: vintage.
“Our inspiration was a bit Tuscan slash rustic Italian but with a contemporary understated flai,” she adds. “It was really just a play on textures as no one element was meant to be the focus. A serene escape for a young couple.”
Floor lamp: vintage Ponce Berga. Daybed: custom, in Rosemary Hallgarten fabric.
Dressing Room
“This is my favorite shot—I just love the subtle color play of salmon and burnt orange,” Pickens says. “It feels feminine but not overly so, luxe but relaxed, contemporary but at the same time old world.”
Daybed upholstery: De La Cuona. Rug: custom, Marc Phillips. Table, chair, mirrors, and lamps: vintage. Vanity: custom.
Second Bedroom
“I love how this is such a serene room for guests where the light play is the focus,” Pickens explains. “Once again, our goal was a mix of contemporary and rusticity. It looks out to the garden and the light dances through the trees onto the walls.”
Bed frame: custom. Bedcover: custom, in Designs of the Time fabric. Side table, lamp, and mirrors: vintage. Door hardware: Omnia.
Third Bedroom
“This wallpaper was the first thing we chose for this guest room, and we hope to see it become a nursery one day!” Pickens says. “I love this moody tone with a bit of whimsy.”
Bed frame: custom. Bedcover: custom, in Etamine fabric. Wallpaper: Rose Tarlow. Art: Hannah Noble. Side table: Jake Arnold for Crate and Barrel.
Primary Bathroom
“I love the rustic, reclaimed stone in this bathroom. We handpicked each piece from our vendor in L.A. and sent it to NYC,” Pickens says. “We really wanted the grout/mortar to ‘creep’ for a more contemporary twist on an English cottage vibe. I don’t love tight grouting, and we really played with this to get it right.”
Vanity sconces: Rose Uniacke. Rattan sconce: Soane Britain. Vanity and mirror: custom.
Q&A
House Beautiful: What was the reason/inspiration for the new design? What are a few ways you achieved your vision?
Joyce Downing Pickens: The before pictures of this space really show how far it came from a white box with all the character stripped from it to something that feels like it still has history that honors its location.
The original marble fireplaces were all that was left from this historic location, which really informed the design direction while keeping it young and fresh.
HB: How did you save money/DIY/get crafty?
JDP: We really wanted most of the floors to have some paneling detail to try and bring some architectural interest back into the space. But instead of full-blown raised panels/millwork, we did an applied molding to the walls to save time and money. We painted the applied molding the same finish as the walls and did satin on the crown and base. This created a nice visual effect of paneling.
Landscaping by Brooks Landscape.
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