See How Designer Nate Berkus Renovated His Home in New York City

Table of Content

• Plus, they get candid about love, family, and working together.
• The married designers repurchased the Greenwich Village home in 2021, and now share it with their two children
• They included elements from their former homes
• Step Inside Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s Freshly Renovated Fifth Avenue Family Home
• Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent Repurchased Their Old New York City Apartment
• HGTV Renewed ‘The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project’ for Season 2 in April 2022

“I could live in a studio apartment, and as long as I was surrounded by things that matter to me, I would feel like I was at home.” But for Brent, this apartment “was always the one that got away”. And even though Berkus was content with where they landed, ultimately, there was something undeniable about the pull of their first home together. When they moved back East and into a 3,400-square-foot living space, they realized they were going to have to do a serious purge of their belongings — a process Berkus said was at times, "painful." Since Nate Berkus established his multi-disciplinary, award-winning interior design firm at the age of 24, his approachable and elevated aesthetic has transformed countless homes around the world. Together with Partner Lauren Buxbaum Gordon, the firm works on high-end residential and commercial projects worldwide. Rooted in the philosophy that your home should tell your story, Nate and Lauren utilize their years of collective experience and distinctive points of view to create interiors that are timeless and deeply personal.

Since his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002, Nate Berkus has become one of the world’s most recognizable interior designers. Grounded in authenticity, approachability, and storytelling, his design philosophy has cultivated a worldwide following and established his reputation as a trusted authority on all things home. When the couple walked into the 3,400-square-foot townhouse, it recently underwent a complete gut renovation, including the bathrooms, wiring, and plumbing.

Plus, they get candid about love, family, and working together.

If fans want to mimic the designers' look, chicken wire cabinet doors are an inexpensive and trendy update. According to SFGate, all people have to do is cut out their cabinet door leaving the frame exposed, and attach a strong galvanized wire. Galvanized wire is found in different shapes, finishes, and durability, so people can customize it as they see fit. Calacatta is known for its white background and unusually thick veining, often used to add a bold design element to a kitchen or bathroom. This type of marble is so rare it's only available from one quarry in the entire world, located in Carrara, Italy . As you can imagine, its limited supply makes it quite expensive, but the price tag is worth it to some people.

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.

The married designers repurchased the Greenwich Village home in 2021, and now share it with their two children

Oskar's nursery is filled with pieces he inherited from his older sister Poppy and existing pieces the couple altered to fit the needs of a toddler. Additionally, Poppy's bedroom set came with her from their Los Angeles home and was just reupholstered to match her current decor. They also recreated elements they loved in their Los Angeles mansion in their New York townhouse, like a marble fireplace, brass hardware and fixtures, and a marble kitchen countertop and backsplash. PEOPLE got an exclusive sneak peek at the episode, above, which shows the married interior designers saying an emotional goodbye to the West Village townhouse they've been living in since they moved back to NYC from L.A.

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 included elements from their former homes

Also in the parlor is a 1940's armchair and shearling-covered sofa surrounding a 1960s cocktail table by Diego Giacometti and a painting by James HD Brown . If fans want to replicate the look in their own space, they can utilize a jute rug, which brings warm tones into the industrial glass finish of Burkus and Brent's home. The designers also hang mirrors of various shapes and styles at different heights, which not only reflect light and make the space feel cozy, but also add an artistic element. When plotting their return to NYC, the AD100 talents tried contacting the original Fifth Avenue buyers to see if they might possibly be interested in selling. Berkus, who describes himself as someone who philosophically “doesn’t hold on to real estate”, was at peace.

Poppy’s room is swathed in Kravet’s mythical land wall-covering, and features Apparatus cloud pendants, a Louis XVI–style bed and nightstand, a vintage folding screen in a rose tarlow melrose house linen, and a carpet by Athena Calderone for Beni Rugs. “It represented a building block for us, a very important one in all the ways of being seen and being heard and being known.” As the first project they designed together, this home “really was like a crash course in understanding the vision of the person that you love”. Poppy's room takes on a more colorful approach, with its pink "mythical" wallpaper and rose-hued headboard. In August 2019, the family moved from Los Angeles to New York City, where they have a West Village townhouse as their primary residence. Berkus and Brent, 35 — who tied the knot in 2014 and share two children, daughter Poppy, 5, and son Oskar, 2 — opened the doors to their home, where they've been self-isolating since March amid the pandemic, in the magazine's October issue. They turned the townhouse, which had been gutted right before they bought it and left feeling sterile, into a cozy, modern oasis full of family artifacts, working together to 'give it some soul again," Brent said.

See How Designer Nate Berkus Renovated His Home in New York City

Brent tells me it was seeing this tree that compelled them to sign on the dotted line to make this house their own. "I could just envision our daughter climbing it, and I was sold," he says. This is where we take our first shot of the day, and it left the whole crew glassy-eyed and emotional. Quick changes are second nature to interior decorator Nate Berkus.

“I mean, it looks like an old Parisian apartment, with all the plaster and the French doors.” And with the sun-drenched kitchen’s arced, greenhouse-like windows, the marble fireplaces, and the incredible location, it’s an apartment anyone would covet. 1930s Swedish alabaster pendant light; Jacques Adnet dining chairs; French gateleg bleached-oak table; custom cabinetry. However, if people want to avoid the rustic look, they can build open shelving themselves pretty inexpensively. According to HGTV, all they need to do is create a standard shelf unit and round the edges of the unit.

Step Inside Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s Freshly Renovated Fifth Avenue Family Home

Besides, he reasoned, even the duplex’s flaws had a certain amount of character. Says Berkus, “I like things that look like they have a story to tell,” a philosophy he explores in a new collection of furnishings for Target and in The Things That Matter, a style monograph being published this fall by Spiegel & Grau. If fans want to incorporate similar ideas into their own design, Polished Habitatsays it doesn't have to be as intimidating as it looks. While Brent and Berkus have their home centered around their kitchen, not many people have the luxury of building their space from the ground up. However, many tricks can still be used to make a space feel seamless, no matter the focal point.

As they settle into black leather club chairs, I'm in awe of how familiar and comfortable they are in front of the camera. I shouldn't be surprised because they've been on much bigger sets compared to this one. Their ease and relaxed nature around so many strangers, especially when answering this stranger's existential questions about life, love, and hopes for their children's future, really set this couple apart.

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.