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o Keita Turner, interior design is about much more than
merely boosting function or adding decorative pizzazz.
In all her projects, including the fresh and lively Ditmas
T
Park house she orchestrated for a couple just launching a family,
she aims for nothing less than to “uplift the spirit.” “People
don’t often realize what an important role their surroundings
play in their emotional satisfaction, for better or worse,” says
Turner, a refugee from the fashion industry who switched over
to interior design in 2000 and has built an impressive roster
of commercial and residential clients in the tri-state area and
beyond. “Good interior design can enhance your life.”
When Turner, a longtime Harlem resident, first pulled up in
front of the 3,200-square-foot, six-bedroom standalone, which
historic maps and newspapers date to sometime between 1906
and 1913, she was stunned. “My mouth dropped. I had no idea
homes like this existed in New York City.”
Turner had worked with the new homeowners, Brooke and
Matthew Navarro, on their prior dwelling, a condo in Red
Hook. It didn’t take long for the couple, former investment
bankers turned entrepreneurs (they founded Without a Trace,
a company making allergen-free snacks), to decide they needed
Turner’s help once again in creating what the designer calls a
“casual, approachable home in sync with their busy lives,” soon
to include two young children. “They wanted a house that was
nourishing, cozy and grounded -- not a showplace, but sophisticated
-- all at the same time.”
“We had just closed on the house, and my husband and I were
sitting on the living room floor going down a rabbit hole of
lighting fixtures,” says Brooke of a late winter’s day in 2017.
After “spending hours” fruitlessly scrolling, she called Turner
to steer the entire process. “We have a sense of what we like –
not cookie cutter, not off the wall – and Keita is really good at
interpreting that and making it look beautiful.”
Turner was entirely simpatico with her clients’ stated goal of
“keeping the house’s old charm.” “We wanted to honor and play
up the original details – the stained glass windows, the original
grand stair, the old tile in the vestibule,” Brooke says. “We even
kept the old radiators.” But first came four months of mechanical
upgrades by a general contractor, including the installation
of central air, with Turner helping figure out where to place
vents and hide ductwork. No walls were moved, and the house’s
kitchen and four-and-a-half baths had been nicely renovated by
a previous owner and required only hardware tweaks.