hen Ted Allen first stumbled upon
this Brooklyn brownstone, the carpet
was bright red, the walls were PeptoBismol pink and the facade was crumbling—and
he thought it was perfect. The Chopped host and
his husband, interior designer Barry Rice, knew
that they had found something special in the 1879
four-story building, a former boarding house. “We
were doing a bad job of hiding our excitement,” Ted
says. For the next few years the couple overhauled
the house from bottom to top. They spent a year and
a half renovating the lower floors, took a break for a
year, then tackled the top floors. Their goal was to
preserve the best of the original features—like ornate
molding and a stained-glass skylight. Once that was
done, Barry filled the rooms with modern furniture
and art, carefully choosing statement pieces for every
part of the house. “To put crazy designer furniture
from the ’60s and ’70s in a Victorian house is really
fun,” Ted says. “This place has got plenty of quirk.”Dining room
Ted and Barry wanted
this space to feel
moody, so they chose
a dark blue and gold
floral wallpaper.
The table, inspired
by stalagmites,
is beloved by Rufus,
one of the couple’s
Maine Coon cats.OCTOBER 2020 ●FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE 27