Pip, pip, cheerio, ginger beer, Downton Abbey, and all that lot. Interior design maven Andrea Brooke is offering a January sale at her swoon-worthy Grace & Favor home furnishings shop, located in a converted carriage house on North 1st Street in Williamsburg.
From the elegance of the Edwardian parlor to the scruffy chic of a well-worn Union Jack, Gloucestershire-born Brooke’s collection of furniture, lighting, wallpaper, art, garden, and accoutrements serve to capture the spirit of antique English manor houses, as well as the homey comfort of countryside cottages.
The shop’s name, Grace & Favor, is taken from a British term describing a residential property owned by The Crown and leased rent-free to particular people, in gratitude for services rendered. Brooke avers that we should all live in homes filled with “Grace & Favor.”
In the designer’s own words, “When I started working in New York several years ago, people would share their British experiences and love of the UK with me. They were always full of such enthusiasm for London, The Cotswolds (my childhood home) Scotland, Ireland, and the English way of life. This is something I encountered among nearly everyone I met in the USA and was the catalyst for the store.”
“British Design is hard to pin down, sometimes classical, traditional and by turns very modern. Often it’s everything together!”
According to Zagat, what makes Grace & Favor a buzz-worthy design spot is Brooke’s ability to seamlessly blend the rich heritage of classic British design with the most forward-thinking style concepts coming out of the UK. “Old or new, what’s in the store is British to the core,” says Brooke, “but it’s all been curated for its design merit, so it all looks beautiful in an American home—or in any home, really.”
January sale 20% off Furniture, Art & Lighting, 10% off Wallpaper & Vintage items, up to 50% off pillows & some great individual bargains!
As for the space itself, “There are great stories behind the property,” says Brooke. “It was originally built as a carriage house – then later used to store barrels of liquor during prohibition. I left the paint peeling off the brickwork and the oddly positioned windows to keep the environment interesting, to let it tell its own tale.” Of her prime location (in Brooklyn’s hottest shopping area) she muses, “Discovering unusual stores is definitely part of the Williamsburg experience, going ’round a corner and finding something wonderful and unexpected; that is why I chose this particular area for Grace & Favor. I’m truly excited to be bringing the best of British design to my neighborhood.”
Grace & Favor
168 North 1st Street, between Bedford and Driggs Avenues, Williamsburg
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