Beastly Beauty

Who would have thought that a Beastie Boy would be living in such artful splendor? Not us, certainly. Michael Diamond, aka Mike D of the band Beastie Boys, has the interior design world at his feet now, thanks to these recently published photos of his imaginatively renovated 19th Century townhouse in Brooklyn. The renovation that sought “to retain original detail, clean it up and leave it as is,” took about 6 months, and what astonishes about the house is how it manages to look both comfortable and lived-in, family-friendly and joyful, despite a jaw-dropping array of furnishings and objects by A-list design luminaries.

Any home which boasts a dazzling crystal Tord Boontje chandelier and more than one Patricia Urquiola chair; bespoke shelving constructed just for heirloom china, and a cabinet by Belgium’s Studio Job; and a specially commissioned lighting fixture by the crochet artist Olek, would be forgiven for resembling an oh-so-hip Brooklyn art gallery. Instead, the judicious combination of furnishings, lively mixture of styles, color and texture, and refined eye for both comfort and panache speak to the owners’ mindfulness of the real lives lived within the house’s walls. Nothing beastly about that.