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The family of four was splitting their time between the Montauk beach house and the West Village townhouse throughout the pandemic. Jacques Adnet dining chairs surround the french gateleg bleached oak table; above is a 1930s Swedish alabaster pendant light. There’s the old saying, taken from the 1940 Thomas Wolfe novel of the same title, that “you can’t go home again”. But diving into the latest chapter of Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s search for where to put down roots, one is inspired to learn that while returning home may be incredibly difficult to pull off, it’s not impossible. And for the family, their reunion with their Fifth Avenue apartment has been made sweeter by the realization that this particular address, more than any of the others, is an essential and ongoing part of their love story. In the primary bedroom, forest-motif wallpaper pairs with a dark leather 1960s sofa.
You can also take down the doors from your existing cabinets for an even easier DIY, leaving builder-grade frames. From there, you can customize the backing with wallpaper, paint, or jute fabric. During their home tour, the couple revealed that they had to downsize their Los Angeles home before moving into their New York townhouse but ensured they took important pieces and decor with them. These important and nostalgic pieces now decorate the entire house.
Lyon Dresser by Nate + Jeremiah for Living Spaces
With so many lighting options, it can be intimidating for people to pick the best one for their spaces. According to MyMove, people's biggest mistake is assuming overhead lighting is their only option to put a room together. While interior designers will tell you that lighting is best when done in layers. It's essential to have an ambient or general light, an accent light, and task lighting, which is used when completing a particular task, such as a desk lamp. This will create different light levels, creating a cozier aesthetic.
During their home tour, Brent explained to Architectural Digestthat their job as designers was "to give it some soul again." This resulted in Brent immediately designing an eye-catching two-story wall-to-wall bookshelf cast in white oak. The couple also likes to decorate with paintings and sculptures from their friends and their travels throughout the years, many of which are found on their bookshelves, bedrooms, or living room space. Berkus told his fans on Instagramthat all of the pieces in Poppy's room were given as gifts from close family friends when she was born.
Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Buy Back Former NYC Penthouse They Sold in 2015: 'It Was Always Home'
And while the public rooms are bathed in creamy neutrals that allow the architectural details and furniture to star, the bedrooms each feature bold wallpapers that cocoon their inhabitants. Whereas some people might seize upon a new home as a reason to start shopping, Berkus instead furnished with items he had collected over time. The majority came from his Chicago home, an expansive apartment done in the 1940s by architect Samuel Marx. An enormous striped dhurrie by Madeline Weinrib, for instance, is now rolled out across the first-floor family room, where the designer hosts casual meals of takeout. Photographer Raphael Mazzucco’s Montauk estate has sold to married celebrity interior designers Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent.
As fate would have it, the new owners of their beloved Fifth Avenue apartment were ready to sell the place two years after the Brent-Berkus family moved back to the East Coast. Returning to the city with their children, Poppy, 7, and Oskar, 4, the pair moved into a townhouse in the West Village, but Brent tells AD that their Greenwich Village place was always "the one that got away." The pair gave PEOPLE an exclusive tour inside the completed casita in November, explaining, "We wanted to create a space where we could have, hopefully, friends and family eventually, and we did it in a very interesting way."
They have an open floor layout centering around their kitchen
"Work is intense. We have the luxury of our office in the coach house here in L.A., so I get to see the kids when they come home, but I'm still trying to figure out the balance of it all." Poppy is also very specific about their own house and knows if something has been moved or rearranged. "There was one little fish bench that we had in the TV room, and we kept moving it out," says Berkus. "But I would come back into the room later, and it would be back, and I would say 'Why is that bench here?' She kept bringing it back in and would tell me, 'It goes right here.' She's just aware."
Berkus and Brent are known in the design community for their love of vintage and curated pieces. Throughout all their homes, the designers have brought a multi-century vibe and showcased their collection of vintage knick-knacks. Their New York penthouse features many different elements from different style points of history. The furniture throughout their home is largely curated with pieces from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The couple is known for transforming homes of well-deserving families on TLC and their own gorgeous homes in L.A.
Domino claims Brent swears by braided straw pendants he found on Etsy, saying he uses them in their home, both indoors and outdoor. While mirrors bounce light and add an artistic flair, they're also a great way to warm up an industrial or cold space. The couple used mirrors all over their house as eye-catching design points, such as this art deco mirror that sits over the fireplace in their bedroom sitting room.
When I raise the topic of color and elude to Berkus favoring color over Brent, he was quick to dispel my assumption. "No, I've actually always been drawn to a lack of color," he affirms. Despite their celebrity clientele and status, the most surprising thing about Berkus and Brent is their straightforward and candid responses to my line of questioning. They sit in their vulnerability with a level of comfort I'm not used to seeing in anyone, let alone people of their stature. They don't hesitate to answer my personal questions about their family, parenting style, and relationship with honesty, integrity, and frankness. For Berkus, alone time means a half-hour of self-care, such as a manicure or foot massage, which reenergizes him.
Brent and Berkus proved you can go home again when they moved back into their old apartment, as they explained to Architectural Digest. According to the publication, they lived in the Greenwich Village home from 2013 through 2016. One of the first things the pair installed in the new home was a massive, double-height bookshelf in the living room. The shelves hold the family's most prized tomes, photo frames and pieces of pottery. Outside of the show, they operate their own design firms and have offices in L.A. They also juggle multiple licensing deals and a furniture collection.
As the longtime home-makeover maven on The Oprah Winfrey Show and later host of his own television program, he has mastered the art of creating elegant, welcoming rooms in seemingly no time at all. The one last hurdle—for Berkus, at least—was that the majority of the family’s furniture, some of which had traveled with him for decades, ended up being part of the sale of the town house. He can’t help but confess that for him, the process of saying goodbye to pieces he’d owned for years was painful. When they couldn’t find an adjacent apartment to connect, Berkus was admittedly ready to give up, but Brent figured if they couldn’t grow laterally, they could expand downward. He slipped a note under the door of their downstairs neighbor, who was willing to sell only on the condition that the couple find them another apartment in the building to buy—which Brent promptly did, searching floor by floor until all the puzzle pieces fell into place. Obviously, its aesthetic beauty is hard to miss. “It’s like a wedding cake,” says Berkus.
The October issue of Architectural Digest recounts Nate and Jeremiah’s story of coming back to the Greenwich Village penthouse where it all began nearly a decade before. In December 2004, Berkus and his then-partner, photographer Fernando Bengoechea, were vacationing at a beach resort in Sri Lanka when the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit. Berkus appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on January 17, 2005, to talk about the ordeal and the loss of his partner. He appeared as himself on the October 12, 2011 and October 13, 2011 episodes of Days of Our Lives, a United States daytime television soap opera, designing the offices of MadWorld Cosmetics for Madison James. His talk show, The Nate Berkus Show, debuted in broadcast syndication September 13, 2010, featuring make-overs, culture, design, and personal advice. It was co-produced by Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television, and was cancelled in 2012 after two seasons.
"Every morning when I come upstairs into the kitchen, with the light coming through, I'm just so grateful," Brent tells AD. Berkus describes the home as "a wedding cake" that also resembles "an old Parisian apartment, with all the plaster and the French doors," he says. Natalia Senanayake is an Editorial Assistant, Lifestyle at PEOPLE. She covers all things travel and home, from celebrities' luxury mansions to breaking travel news. Before joining PEOPLE, she freelanced for Reclamation Magazine and taught English at a high school in Barcelona, Spain. Natalia studied Journalism and Media at Rutgers University and enjoys documenting her travels on Instagram in her free time.
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