For Serial Movers Athena and Victor Calderone, the Eighth Time's The

no sleep till brooklyn For serial movers Athena and Victor Calderone, the eighth time’s the charm— a classical townhouse in Cobble Hill has become the stylish couple’s forever home TEXT BY JANE KELTNER DE VALLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY GIEVES ANDERSON STYLED BY COLIN KING SUNLIGHT STREAMS INTO THE KITCHEN AT ATHENA AND VICTOR CALDERONE’S TOWNHOUSE. ROLLED SEAT STOOLS BY THOMAS HAYES STUDIO. ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN IN COLLABORATION WITH ELIZABETH ROBERTS. FOR DETAILS SEE RESOURCES. ARCHDIGEST.COM 129 s the saying goes, it’s the journey, not the destination. But for Athena Calderone, the domestic goddess behind lifestyle site EyeSwoon, and husband Victor, music producer and techno DJ, their journey brought them to a superb destination: a 25-foot-wide Greek Revival townhouse in historic Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. ARewind to 1996 and The Limelight, New York’s legendary nightclub, housed in a Gothic-style deconsecrated church, where Victor first laid eyes on Athena, then a young bartender. A basement apartment in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, set the stage for the next phase of courtship, quarters so cozy they shared a twin Murphy bed. “That’s love,” Athena jokes. By 1998 the two were engaged and exploring Dumbo, then an undeveloped neighborhood with not so much as a grocery store. “People thought we were crazy,” she says. Victor chimes in with a chuckle: “Our families were like, ‘You can go to Staten Island and get a house with property!’ ” They borrowed the money to purchase a loft, and so began the cycle of renovating and selling their homes—though, Athena insists, “we weren’t flippers. The reason we became serial movers is because our needs kept changing.” When their son, Jivan, now 15, was born, they wanted another room, and so on. “Each time we amplified our space, it also amplified my interest in design,” Athena says, admitting that one early apartment was so stark that when Madonna, who was collabo- ABOVE VINTAGE SEATING (FROM LEFT) BY THEO RUTH, JEAN PROUVÉ AND JULES LELEU (STOOL), AND MARIO BELLINI rating with Victor at the time, visited, she asked, “Where is FOR B&B ITALIA SURROUND THE LIVING ROOM’S APPARATUS COCKTAIL TABLE. VINTAGE SIDE TABLE, SCONCES, AND FLOOR all your furniture?” With each new home, however, the spaces AND BUMBLE REMY MOORE USING BUMBLE HAIR BY USING CHANEL MANAGEMENT MURPHY FOR ATELIER WILLIAM MAKEUP BY LAMP. OPPOSITE ATHENA, IN A KHAITE TOP AND ULLA JOHNSON SKIRT, AT THE MARBLE-TOPPED KITCHEN ISLAND. 130 ARCHDIGEST.COM became more nuanced and layered. Eventually Athena enrolled at Parsons to study interior design, and in 2012 she “I’m a design chameleon — launched a blog, EyeSwoon. “Cooking, decorating, and entertaining gave me a way to bring people together in my always open, always home,” she says. That blog is now a multipronged brand boasting the James Beard Award–winning Cook Beautiful absorbing,” says Athena. (Abrams), with a design tome on the horizon for 2020. The Cobble Hill place is the eighth home the couple have done together. “I’d reached a point in my confidence level where I didn’t want a developer choosing my bathroom fixtures and base moldings,” Athena says. “I was like, ‘Come on, Vic, let’s do a townhouse.’ ” Victor, accustomed to the openness of loft living, thought townhouses were “dark and narrow.” He told his wife, “If we do it, it needs to be a wide one,” which, he adds, “made it really tough within our budget.” The house they found had been broken up into separate units, and only three of the four tenants would grant access. “The parlor floor, which is the floor you want to see the most, was like, ‘Sorry, not a good day,’ ” he recalls. While the brokers tried to negotiate entry, he texted Athena. “I was like, ‘Babe, this is it. I’m blown away. We have to figure out a way to make it work.’ I’m texting and walking,” he continues, “and the next thing I know, I slam my head into this shelf with a nail sticking out and split my head open. The brokers start screaming. My broker was like, ‘Call an ambulance!’ The other broker was like, ‘You’re bleeding on the floor!’ ” An ambulance arrived, and he was told he needed stitches. “Vic’s like, ‘I just want to see the parlor floor!’ ” says Athena, laughing. “We were real committed. ABOVE VICTOR, ATHENA, AND SON JIVAN LOUNGE IN THE FAMILY ROOM, WHERE ART BY ETHAN COOK (LEFT) AND ALEX PERWEILER IS DISPLAYED ON THE PLASTER WALLS. CUSTOM SOFA BY STUDIO GIANCARLO VALLE. ATHENA WEARS A ROSETTA GETTY DRESS. OPPOSITE AN RH SOFA AND VINTAGE FRENCH CHAIRS ON THE TERRACE. ARCHDIGEST.COM 133 A 1960 POUL HENNINGSEN PENDANT HANGS OVER THE 1950s DINING TABLE AND NIELS OTTO MØLLER CHAIRS. JACQUES ADNET SIDEBOARD; ETHAN COOK ARTWORK. OPPOSITE, FROM FAR LEFT VINTAGE TREASURES LINE UP BY THE STAIRS; STOOL BY GREEN RIVER PROJECT LLC. THE MASTER BATH FEATURES HAND-TROWELED, CUSTOM- FLUTED VENETIAN PLASTER WALLS AND CEILING BY KAMP STUDIOS. The renovation “nearly broke us— financially and emotionally,”Athena says. I mean, a 25-footer? We weren’t letting it go.” Adds Victor: incredibly prolific French designers,” says Athena, noting the “I walk back in with my head bandaged, and turn to the broker Jacques Adnet sideboard in the dining area. “This was way and say, ‘I bled for this home. You need to make this happen.’ ” beyond my budget. I lowballed the dealer almost a quarter of Three years and a full gut renovation later, here they are. what it was worth. Didn’t even tell Victor. Then he was like, “This is our forever home,” they both insist. “It was a hell of ‘Some crazy charge just came up on the Amex. I think some- a project,” says Athena. “It nearly broke us—financially and one stole my card.’ I said, ‘You don’t even know the deal I got.’ ” emotionally.” Because the townhouse had been converted into Next she showed him a photo of it. “He was like, ‘It looks like apartments, much of the history was wiped clean. “We salvaged something in my grandmother’s house.’ I said, ‘Just trust me.’ ” what we could,” she says, pointing out the original mantels Some may shudder at what she did next, having it stripped and and an ornate medallion in the living room from which a bleached. But voilà! It worked. handmade chandelier now hangs. They weren’t total purists, Upstairs, they devoted an entire floor to the master suite though. Speakers are set into the ceilings, and partitions with double doors that lead from the bedroom to Athena’s between the living and dining rooms were demolished for walk-through closet to a bath lined with pink-veined white a more open entertaining space. marble. “I legit asked Victor, ‘Are you man enough to shower The kitchen—Calacatta Paonazzo marble counters on in a pink bathroom?’ ” His response: “Hell, yeah.” Victor’s chalky gray cabinetry with Parisian-style open shelving—is recording studio sits opposite the landing, while the top floor literally “the star of the show,” Athena says. “For shooting is where Jivan’s room, a library/family room, Athena’s office, purposes, you need side light, so that’s why we ended up with and a guest room are situated. a square island instead of a rectangle. It sounds crazy,” she So how does Jivan feel about what’s been a lifelong game concedes, “but I needed to make certain things work for my of musical chairs with respect to his homes? “A lot of people brand.” They also added a wall of bifold glass doors onto the are like, ‘Isn’t it unsettling for your child to always be in a new terrace just beyond, creating a spectacular indoor/outdoor space?’ ” Athena says. “But I feel like we are home. We make experience seldom seen in New York City homes. home wherever we are, and Jivan’s always been a part of the In terms of furniture, they started almost completely fresh, process. He’s designed every one of his rooms.” Perhaps the most curating a sophisticated mix of new (Apparatus coffee table telling indication of how the experience has rubbed off on and horsehair sconces) and vintage (a 1970s Mario Bellini sofa, him was this past summer, when he expressed interest in an 1950s French chairs). “I was obsessive about Royère and these internship. “He said, ‘Mom, I want to study architecture.’ ” 134 ARCHDIGEST.COM ARCHDIGEST.COM 135.

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