Garden-Level Getaway for Casual Family Living

Garden floors of NYC townhouses serve a wide variety of uses. We love to craft versatile spaces that meet the needs of our clients' daily life and can also provide cozy spaces for entertaining and hosting guests, and this Greek Revival Rowhouse is a perfect example of that.

When we started working on this house, the garden floor felt cramped and dark. Its configuration was a sequence of rooms accessed via a front-to-rear hallway, which effectively narrowed each of the spaces much more than necessary.

The existing kitchenette had been packed into the rear half-width extension, separating it from the rest of the space. By relocating the kitchenette and opening up the structural bearing wall that used to delineate the hallway, we were able to reorganize the floor into a more cohesive space. This shifted the living areas back, encouraging use of the entire garden floor.

The stair hallway connecting the garden and parlor floor was narrow and completely closed off from the rest of the garden floor.

Opening up the rear of the hallway gave us the space to create a guest suite and mudroom at the front of the house with a large, light-filled entertainment space at the rear, which takes advantage of the full width of the property. Natural light pours from the rear of the space to the front of the house, where the view of the rear yard can be seen as soon as you walk into the front door. Bright millwork in the mudroom invites you into the space, and stone tile creates a clear separation between the entry zone and the rest of the floor.

We placed a powder room in the center of the garden level, at the base of the staircase. This provides easy access from the parlor floor, which does not have a powder room, the entertainment zone at the rear of the floor, and the mudroom.

When selecting finishes for the powder room, we strove to find a balance between the formality of the parlor floor and casual nature of the garden level.

Functional and full of storage, the bathroom vanity sits along the long wall of the powder room, anchored by a walnut console and a custom stone sink. The countertop and backsplash tie the rich millwork paint color to the bold stone, unifying the storage area. Soft wallpaper and a playful composition of decorative light fixtures round out the room.

In the living areas at the rear, elevated but casual furnishings in warm neutrals and earth tones create an upscale but comfortable space. The result is a living space with clear programmatic delineation from dining to kitchenette to TV area, without feeling disjointed. Intelligent, fun design was the key to unlocking the garden level of this townhouse.