Our seventh annual REAL SIMPLE HOME is fast-approaching, and this year, we’ve turned to a team of designers, organizers, and developers to make over an 1890s brownstone in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The full reveal won’t happen until our October issue hits stands in September, but we’ll be sharing plenty of sneak peeks along the way. For now, read on to meet the dream team!
Blessed Little Bungalow (Amber Guyton)
Laundry Room
Amber Guyton owns Blessed Little Bungalow, an interior design firm based in Atlanta, GA. As an interior designer, content creator, influencer, product curator, and most recently, wallpaper designer, she has been featured in publications like HGTV Magazine, House Beautiful, and many others. She is committed to democratizing the design industry, and believes that interior design should not be a luxury reserved for just a few.
Brooklyn Grange
Backyard
Brooklyn Grange is a Brooklyn-based company focused on making cities more livable and climate-adaptable. They launched in 2010 and are now the leading soil-based rooftop farming business in the U.S. In addition to operating over 300,000 square feet of rooftop farms in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, Brooklyn Grange designs, builds, and maintains beautiful, eco-focused urban gardens. Co-founder and CEO Ben Flanner, Director of Design Build, Michelle Cashen, and Lead Landscape Designer, Travers Martin, will be leading this year’s revamp of the Real Simple Home backyard.
The Brownstone Boys (Barry Bordelon and Jordan Slocum)
Gab
First Floor (kitchen, dining room, living room)
Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon (aka The Brownstone Boys) are Brooklyn-based interior designers, authors, DIY-ers, and old house enthusiasts. They create spaces that marry historic charm with clean, modern designs, and this year, the two will tackle the first floor of the brownstone, including the vestibule, living room, dining room, and kitchen. Their work has been featured in HGTV, Architectural Digest, and on Good Morning America and Magnolia Network. Their first book, For the Love of Renovating, debuts in June.
Jessica Davis
Third Floor Den and Kid’s Room
Jessica Davis is the founder of Atlanta-based design studio Atelier Davis, and the creative director of the luxury hardware brand, Nest Studio. With degrees in art history and interior design, her rooms are influenced by historic and contemporary art and architecture, as well as her Chinese-American heritage, travels, and time living in Asia, Australia, and the United States. With both Nest Studio and Atelier Davis, Davis has supported fellow working moms and socially-conscious manufacturers. She is a founding member of the Asian American Pacific Islander Design Alliance, and she hopes to bring awareness to the AAPI design community.
NEAT Method (Marissa Hagmeyer and Ashley Murphy)
Organizing
Founders Ashley Murphy and Marissa Hagmeyer founded NEAT Method in 2010, bringing a fresh perspective to the home organization industry. They started with services in San Francisco and have since spread into markets across the country. Today, they’re a lifestyle service brand with 95 locations across the US and a product line of organizing supplies for the whole home. Murphy is based in Chicago, where she lives with her husband, two kids, and their dog, Scully. Marissa lives in Colorado with her husband and two children.
Hema Persad
Third Floor Bedroom and Bathroom
The Toronto, Canada native was a practicing attorney before she decided to forgo law and pursue a career in fashion. In 2014, Hema Persad moved to Los Angeles where she dressed A-list celebrities and styled ad campaigns before starting her interior design career in 2021 after a client asked for help decorating their home. She now designs residential and commercial spaces around the country and launched her interior design studio, Sagrada Studio (sagrada means sacred) in 2022. The studio’s mission is to help clients find their own versions of timeless design, inspired by culture and comfort. Hema loves traveling, discovering L.A., and spending time with her husband, Ganesh, and three daughters.
Jasmine Roth
Guest Suite
You may know Jasmine Roth as the host of HGTV’s hit shows Hidden Potential and HELP! I Wrecked My House, but she’s also the founder of Built Custom Homes, curator of online retail store, The Shop by Jasmine Roth, and author of the book, House Story: Insider Secret to the Perfect Home Renovation. Roth specializes in finding ways to make homes as personal, functional, and beautiful as possible. When she isn’t designing, building, or hosting, she loves to spend time outdoors with her husband, Brett, and her daughter, Hazel Lynn, in Huntington Beach, CA and Park City, UT.
Mikel Welch
Mikel Welch
Primary Suite
Mikel Welch is an interior designer and lifestyle expert whose passion for design was evident even as a child (he constructed houses using Legos!). Today, he runs the New York-based studio, Mikel Welch Design and serves as a host and expert on Netflix’s Hack My Home and as a contributor on The Drew Barrymore Show, where he loves to share his tricks for home renovation and achieving a luxe look at affordable prices. In 2020, Welch was named to House Beautiful’s NEXT WAVE designers and has designed green rooms for Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Halle Berry.
AlexAllen Studio (Alexandra Burr and Allen Slamic)
Architect and Designer
Architects Alexandra Burr and Allen Slamic launched their Gowanus-based architecture, lighting, and furniture design studio, AlexAllen Studio, in 2011. Their design style is all about balance, proportion, and refinement, and they are constantly exploring new manufacturing methods and technologies to make their designs more sustainable and efficient.
Adam Dahill
Developer
Adam Dahill has been working in mortgage banking for over 20 years and is currently a Mortgage Sales Manager with Citizens Bank in New York City. Adam and his family had been living in the 2024 REAL SIMPLE HOME since 2012, planning their own renovation, when he decided to purchase his first development house in 2015. He has since completed six renovations and restorations and the REAL SIMPLE HOME will be his seventh! Dahill lives and works in Brooklyn along with his wife Charity Lord Dahill who is a working artist and teacher as well as their two daughters Charlotte and Violet.