Claire Mazur’s Daily Coffee Ritual Inspired the Design of Her Living Room

Kristen Flanagan
Claire Mazur at home in Brooklyn.
Claire Mazur at home in Brooklyn.

In 2017, when Claire Mazur and Chris Roan moved into a historic brownstone on a tree-lined street in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood (talk about #lifegoals), the couple wasn’t planning any major projects. “I wasn’t in a place in my life where I had the space to take on anything really big,” says Claire, cofounder of Of a Kind and coauthor of Work Wife.

Despite the brownstone’s three floors (three!), the narrow layout of the first floor posed some challenges. Claire and Chris wanted a spot to hang out and entertain, but every furniture arrangement they tried interrupted the flow from the living room through the dining area to the kitchen. And then there was the “coffee bed” conundrum...

A neutral palette of creams, leather, and wood tones gives the tight space an open and airy feel. The “coffee bed” fits snugly under the window.
A neutral palette of creams, leather, and wood tones gives the tight space an open and airy feel. The “coffee bed” fits snugly under the window.

“Every morning, I wake up, make myself a cup of coffee, and lie on the couch with my head on the armrest for a half hour—reading the internet and drinking my coffee,” says Claire. “I need my feet up. I need to be horizontal in order to have this coffee ritual that is an instrumental part of my morning routine.” No couch fit the space, and no daybed or settee was comfy enough. The solution, it turned out was one of those pesky projects that the homeowners were avoiding in the first place.

Luckily, Claire’s friend Whitney Parris-Lamb of design firm Jesse Parris-Lamb knew exactly what to do: install a built-in sofa along the front window. “We weren’t planning on working with a designer,” Claire admits. “When you move into a home you have all the stuff you want to do and that you’re budgeting for, but finally we just said we need to do this the right way because we’re not enjoying our home right now. The built-in couch that we affectionately refer to as the “coffee bed” is now my favorite thing on the first floor.” It was designed by the Jesse Parris-Lamb team and built by Ben Erickson of Erickson Aesthetics.

The Estudio Persona Nido Chairs were a splurge. “I really had to convince Chris,” Claire confesses. But their timeless shape and sculptural silhouette made them ideal for the transitional space, where they will be on view at all angles. The cork side tables are from Vitra.
A nook in the kitchen allows Claire to display her favorite ceramics, including pieces from Global Table, Chloe May Brown for Of a Kind, Tortoise General Store, and Risa Nishimori. “The turquoise dish set belonged to my late grandmother,” she says.
A nook in the kitchen allows Claire to display her favorite ceramics, including pieces from Global Table, Chloe May Brown for Of a Kind, Tortoise General Store, and Risa Nishimori. “The turquoise dish set belonged to my late grandmother,” she says.

Curated by Claire

The Of a Kind cofounder shares a few of her favorite places to shop and find inspiration.

Insta feeds to follow: @jesseparrislamb @kaiaventdeleon@basic_projects @jessie_loeffler_randall @lfjewels @brentabuck @tactilematter @dusendusen @alanajonesmann @mimiochun @spenny_g and @bymimijung

Dream buys: I fantasize about owning one of Mimi Jung’s woven pieces to hang in our living room. They are stunning and unique and so ridiculously impressive.

Last thing you had delivered: A bunch of baby bibs from Scandiborn. Our son just started eating solids, and I had, like, four really cute baby spoons that I bought while pregnant, but was woefully unprepared otherwise.

Favorite Sunday activity at home: This is cheesy and a little embarrassing, but I still have new-mom hormones coursing through my veins so I’ll share: My husband and I got engaged on a Sunday. So now every Sunday he asks me to marry him again. Sometimes I have to remind him to do it by handing him my engagement ring. Sometimes we are both half asleep by the time we remember. And sometimes we forget entirely. But it happens most Sundays, and it’s a sweet affirmation of our choice to be with one another.

Although the couple wasn’t decorating with a growing family in mind, they ended up welcoming a son into the mix five months ago. Claire’s advice for creating a home that looks good and still stands up to spit up? Don’t. “I tried to take the attitude that I take with clothes, which is [that] clothes are meant to be worn. And homes are meant to be lived in. And yes, someone is going to spill on this at some point, but that’s life!” The baby wooden rocker is by Charlie Crane, and the three-legged stool is from Hem.
“We just had people over last Sunday, and at one point I stopped and looked around the room. There were people having one-on-one conversations around the kitchen island. And then people were circled around the dining room table where the food was, and kids playing in the living area. And it was really nice to have these three separate spaces where people can still move around.”

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest