Before and After: A Terraced Garden Behind This Brooklyn Townhome Lets Its Basement Come Up for Air

In New York City, the boundary between public and private space often gets blurred—think of subway commuters packed cheek by jowl or parks moonlighting as backyards for barbecues. In Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, architectural and interior designer Rebecca Cohen-Scharfman renovated a two-unit, four-floor townhouse with this ambiguity in mind, creating a home where the interiors seem to flow outside.

Rebecca and her husband, Alex Scharfman, a filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter, have lived together in Greenpoint for four years, renting a one-and-a-half-bedroom apartment two blocks away just prior to taking over their new place. 

"We love this area," Alex says, so much so that the couple wanted to make sure their building still blended in with its neighbors after the renovation. Though they changed the exterior color from red to dark gray and ditched the old shingles, they stuck with the horizontal siding and general proportions common in the area. "From the front," Alex says, "the building looks a lot like the box frame houses that you see on the block."

Before: Rear Facade

After: Rear Facade