ROXANNE SARNO / TOWNSPEOPLE/ THE EVERYWOMAN
brooklyn chateau
Townspeople
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| 'The Everywoman' Roxanne Sarno |
Roxanne Sarno has created an inviolable sanctuary inside her Brooklyn townhouse. With two children and a doting husband, Roxanne's metier includes homemaker, gourmet chef, horticulturist, designer, architect and impeccable shopper. Her focus on what truly matters: family, home, food and fashion are simple, yet so profound. To me, Roxanne is Martha Stewart meets Miranda Brooks meets Anna Wintour meets Ketut Liyer–Balinese medicine man from the NY Times best selling memoir Eat Pray Love (in spirit, not attractiveness). Roxanne is a beauty. That said, her home is a sublime mixture of elegance and comfort, and a complete reflection of who she is. With cozy comfort being the central theme throughout, our morning teas often turn into late lunches. And Roxanne's rear garden...well, it’s enough to cause the most extreme house envy. Next to the actual Brooklyn Botanic Garden, her garden is the gem of Lefferts Manor.
Roxanne’s garden is a symmetrical oasis with an unexpected mix of bought and found chandeliers to illuminate any desired mood. Strategically placed mirrors bounce light and beauty from corner to corner. A fountain that once housed Gold fish serves as the perfect buffer for what is decidedly a quiet breathing space. Her garden is lavish and unrestrained; a design yielding a classic framework that offers privacy without feeling enclosed. White Peonies, blue hydrangea, and blush-colored roses are at once a plush and lacy boundary against the more structured sky pencils. Wisteria, honeysuckle, orange trees and drift roses spill off of a glass balcony and perfume the entire space. Whenever I enter Roxanne's garden, I want to plunge into it as if it were a meadow. And while other gardens have a sense of the ephemeral, Roxanne’s garden is everlasting.
I’ll admit, it’s been difficult trying to capture Roxanne in under 400 hundred words. She's so talented at so many things it's impossible to depict this 'Everywoman' in one profile. But for now (and to borrow from a description Blogger/Photographer Garance Dore uses for people/things she loves), Roxanne is one of my essentials. And while many will have had the pleasure of touring her parlor floor/garden to find her home a designer's dream and her kitchen plucked from a French film, I have the extraordinary pleasure of calling her 'friend.'
I should probably mention that Roxanne is extremely camera shy and unabashedly private. You should also know that the rare opportunity to photograph Roxanne in her element, wearing a simple white t-shirt and Alberta Ferretti skirt, provided me with complete and utter joy. Townspeople takes a stroll through Roxanne's garden and walks away with the secret to transforming a common backyard into a European oasis.
Roxanne Sarno
talks Gardening, Town, and Takeaways:
talks Gardening, Town, and Takeaways:
Roxanne on Gardening:
TP: What/who are some of your creative influences?
RS: Creative people across many disciplines inspire me continually. For the last few years, it’s been the work of Lucciano Giubbilei, a landscape designer from Italy by way of London. Other landscape designers are Jacques Wirtz and Mario Nievera. Interior designers whose works have a strong connection to garden design bear mention such as Charlotte Moss, Bunny Williams, and Carolyne Roehm. And of course, I can’t forget Martha Stewart.TP: Your garden evokes a level of complexity. Was that specific to the design? If so, why?
RS: I don’t necessarily think of my garden as complex, at its heart, it’s quite simple. There’s an emphasis on form and symmetry with a cool color palette of greens, blues, whites, and purples. It’s a rectangular space that’s mostly divided into two “rooms” with striking elements in both while still connected via a rose-covered arbor. The design was generated based on fixed elements; the giant crab apple tree which created a shaded area and asymmetry at the rear and my imposition of repetitive forms and the need for a “ green carpet” in the front “room.” All the while satisfying my most important brief to have a moonlit garden that had year-round interest.
TP: Are your use of various heights, hues and plant varieties purposeful? Explain?
RS: There are very few accidents here, every plant is chosen to fulfill a specific purpose. Just as when designing an interior space, I wanted variety in texture, though not necessarily color. There is a rhythm created through the use of multiple “sky pencil” (ilex crenata) separated by mass plantings of white peonies and pale colored shrub roses.
TP: How did you begin your garden transformation?
RS: There are very few accidents here, every plant is chosen to fulfill a specific purpose. Just as when designing an interior space, I wanted variety in texture, though not necessarily color. There is a rhythm created through the use of multiple “sky pencil” (ilex crenata) separated by mass plantings of white peonies and pale colored shrub roses.
TP: How did you begin your garden transformation?
RS: This south facing garden has evolved over several years, but the foundation of what is present was carefully laid out on paper as a template to follow. It’s had to serve a young family with two boys and many soccer balls and sprinklers along the way. There was always a small green area that I wanted to keep, though, in an earlier plan, the grass area was circular. The crab apple tree, which we fell in love with when we purchased the house, dictated the shaded area, which I surrounded with blue and white hydrangeas and other shade-loving plants. A Mother’s Day present of a white Chinese Dogwood is also in the mix at he rear. A circular brick herringbone patio was installed by me with the help of my husband (chief co-conspirator in all my plans)one summer evening after putting the kids to bed. Linking the rear shade garden to the full sun front area are rows of boxwood, and a “New Dawn” rose-covered arbor. The sunny area feels more restrained due to the symmetrical nature of the soft plantings. I love having a conversation between contrasting forms whether in the form of hard scaping, mirrors or architectural remnants. The most recent addition is a water feature, which adds another level of relaxation to the Brooklyn ambiance (aka sirens, choppers, traffic etc.)TP: How have you incorporated drama into your rear garden?
RS: In the rear garden, I’ve added a mix
of old chandeliers that hang from the tree limbs. Several decorative mirrors reflect the rest of the yard and blur boundaries. I’ve also reused blue stone stairs to create an architectural element that leads up to a crab apple tree and disguise the massive root system.
TP: It appears you have a fondness for strong form. Are you inspired by gardens from a particular region?
RS: The classical French and Italian
garden designs have always been a source of great comfort and inspiration. Their emphasis on form, symmetry and color restraint feel very natural to me. Just as many classical French and Italian gardens were meant to be viewed from a distance, my Brooklyn townhouse garden can be seen from a balcony level. And throughout its design, that view has impacted the choices I've made.
TP: Would you say your garden mirrors the style of your home?
RS: The garden design mirrors that of my home only in so far as I’ve treated the garden as an extension of the interior, but with a slightly more restrained palette. They share many similarities such as circular forms juxtaposed in rectangular spaces. Inside, it’s a wall sculpture, outside its hardscaping. Both areas use mirrors as decorative and functional elements. For me, it’s always about the mix of form, color and elements harmonizing to produce the desired result.
TP: What is the desired impression you'd like visitors to take away from the design?
RS: I’d like visitors to see that although it’s a small Brooklyn Townhouse garden, you can achieve an oasis in the city. A garden in the city, regardless of the size, is a valued thing.
TP: What is the desired impression you'd like visitors to take away from the design?
RS: I’d like visitors to see that although it’s a small Brooklyn Townhouse garden, you can achieve an oasis in the city. A garden in the city, regardless of the size, is a valued thing.
TP: What is your all-time favorite flower to receive?
RS: I can’t choose one. But perhaps the top five, in no particular order, are roses, peonies, ranunculus, hydrangeas, and freesias. I’m also quite partial to orchids of any kind. They grew in my front yard in Trinidad and Tobago.
TP: A few words of encouragement to the novice home-gardener:
Roxanne's Beauty Blueprint:
What time of day do you feel most beautiful?
When I’ve had 8 hrs of sleep, and my hair and body behave themselves.
Describe your any day/go everywhere face:
Minimal makeup. Mascara, blush and lip gloss
What's in your make-up bag?
Kiehl’s lip balm, Mario Badescu sea emollient hand cream, MAC lipstick in Real Redhead, Estee Lauder sumptuous infinite mascara, Bobbi Brown concealer in almond. Chanel blush in Rose bronze and Giorgio Armani luminous foundation.
Roxanne's Town: Lefferts manor
Favorite Town Haunts:
Cafe: Tip of the Tongue
Pizza take-out: We make it at home
Date night: Saul at BMA or Al Di La
Cocktails with girlfriends: Bar Corvo or Midwood Flats
Market: Whole Foods and Fairway
Sweet treat: Doughnut Plant coconut cream filled doughnut
Sunday outing: My backyard with rum drinks
Date night: Saul at BMA or Al Di La
Cocktails with girlfriends: Bar Corvo or Midwood Flats
Market: Whole Foods and Fairway
Sweet treat: Doughnut Plant coconut cream filled doughnut
Sunday outing: My backyard with rum drinks
Shower or bath? Shower
Coffee or tea? Green tea
Natural or treated? I’ve done both
Loose or fitted? Both
Heels or flats? Heels
Work out or work less? Work less most days
Finishing Quote:
"If my day were a short story the title would read:
Life is short. Plant flowers, eat and drink really good food and wine with people you love."
Roxanne Sarno
Interview by Crystal Granderson-Reid
Townspeople ©
Townspeople ©
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