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Miro Terrell has a souvenir from every trip she has ever taken, sometimes even two. “I like to collect beautiful, quirky, and sweet-smelling things that remind me of experiences and people I like,” says the Brooklyn-based talent agent, who frequently travels for work and leisure. Her homes have always had room for her treasures, so when it came time to move to a new apartment, a place that aligned with her aesthetic sensibilities was top priority. “We knew this was a special place when we first saw it—it’s rare to find a rental that preserves a building’s history so nicely and has modern amenities where you need them,” she explains of her current pad—the parlor floor of a circa-1905 brownstone—where she lives with longtime friend turned roommate, entertainment professional Devra Friedman.
Particularly noteworthy was that the two-bedroom apartment, measuring 900 square feet, was mid remodel, and the owners were willing to make decisions in keeping with the pair’s preferences—well, theirs and those of Miro’s mother, interior designer Jackie Terrell, who stepped in to help define layouts, provide storage solutions, curate tchotchkes, and generally spruce up the place. A brief, of course, wasn’t necessary. “Nobody knows me better, and she’s so enlightened as a visual person, she intuitively gets my taste,” Miro avers.
Per the trio’s specifications, all the ornate doors, trims, moldings, walls, and ceilings were whited out, eliminating any trace of the color brown, not counting the original parquet floors. “The effect is like a wedding cake,” Jackie muses. When it came to deciding what went where, mother and daughter arrived at an unspoken understanding. “My mom and I are both bossy people, but we always figure out a collaboration. She knows exactly where things should go,” laughs Miro. “In my former apartment, she took a collection of pencils from my favorite hotel in Austin and displayed them on the hallway wall as if they were art. It made everyone who visited smile.” This time around, Jackie had the idea of turning her daughter’s Boby trolley into a bar displaying booze and various figurines Miro and Devra had collected over the years. Devra’s movie poster collection was equally attention-worthy, taking the spotlight on several of the walls.
Miro is no stranger to matchbox living (one of her past living rooms was actually a kitchen with a bathtub in it). Still, there was no denying that this apartment had its quirks. There wasn’t enough space for both a living and a dining area, and built-in storage was absent in the bedrooms. Another brewing issue was that there were doors everywhere—most unusable, leading to other apartments within the brownstone. In a bid to optimize space, Jackie dropped the idea of a living room, instead conjuring up seating by way of a dining table, chairs, and a shawl-covered bench endearingly dubbed “the sofa.” In Miro’s bedroom—formerly a sitting room with a fireplace mantel—she stacked storage boxes under the bed, using grass skirts to hide them in plain sight. As for the doors, she cast them as backdrops for the beds, benches, and other furniture.
Just off the kitchen is a tiny terrace that overlooks the neighbors’s backyards and the garden below. “It’s quintessential Brooklyn and it makes me very happy to hear the birds and the muffled conversations of neighbors,” says Miro. In her mind, the space isn’t quite done—nor will it ever be. “It’s ever evolving, so each time my mom visits I nag her to place a new tchotchke or textile I’ve brought home. Her superpower is making any circumstance as pleasant and inviting as possible.” Evidently in this home, it’s a superpower channeled time and time again.
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