Their first choice, yellow, clashed with the pale rose of Aciar’s hand-painted tile for the backsplash. Terracotta became the front-runner, but every day the samples—all eight of them—looked different. “It’s the hardest color to get right because it can either be too pink, too gray, or too brown,” says Polonsky. They painted the whole kitchen, built on-site, with their final pick only to realize it read more like coral.
At that point, the couple could have thrown in the towel, but this room was to be “the center of the universe,” as Aciar describes it. It’s not dinner at the Aciar-Polonsky household without an apéro, and they always top off the night with a sip of mezcal or amaro. Thankfully “when one of us was getting tired, the other was able to challenge and say, ‘We are going to be here forever; we can’t just settle,’” says Polonsky. The winner ended up being a blend of Benjamin Moore’s Baked Terra Cotta and Salmon Stream for the perfect balance of warm tones.
Below, from top: Cima Burners, Pitt Cooking; Range Hood and Oven, Fisher & Paykel; Ceramics and Custom Built-in Cabinetry, Fefo Studio; Vintage Mirror, Taylor + Ace.
Opening image: Baked Terra Cotta Paint and Salmon Stream Paint (mixed), Benjamin Moore; Custom Cabinetry by Fernando Aciar and Anna Polonsky; Custom Tile, Fefo Studio; Crue Faucet, Kohler; Limestone Countertop, ABC Stone; On Polonsky: Patchwork Dress, La Réunion Studio; Anna Bracelet, Nature Studio. Above: Vintage Visie Pendant Lamp by Louis Poulsen, Chairish; Custom Dining Table, Homeroom; Vintage European Cafe Chairs, Nomadic Trading Co.
When one of us was getting tired, the other was able to challenge and say, ‘We are going to be here forever; we can’t just settle.’”
As luck would have it, Aciar had just finished a scrappy, equally intuitive remodel for Ostudio, his collaborative maker’s space, with Junior DeoPaul of JRGC Build. “I figured out that they could work with the flow of things,” says Aciar. Granted, “they also hated us because we changed the color of the cabinets 10 times,” he adds, laughing.
Ever since Aciar launched his ceramics brand, Fefostudio, in 2014, he has been drawn to the same handful of shades: mustard, indigo, rose, and black. So when demo for the brownstone’s parlor-level kitchen (the original space was tiny and one floor up) began midsummer last year, he instinctively turned to his go-tos. But Polonsky feared the colors would be too trendy in a room they’d be using 24-7; a hue that nodded to a natural material would be more timeless, especially when kicked up with black window frames and a stained open deck.
Black Knight Paint (on stairs), Vanilla Ice Cream Paint (on molding), Butter Pecan Paint (on walls), Benjamin Moore; Custom Lamps, Fefo Studio.
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When one of us was getting tired, the other was able to challenge and say, ‘We are going to be here forever; we can’t just settle.’”
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Opening image: Baked Terra Cotta Paint and Salmon Stream Paint (mixed), Benjamin Moore; Custom Cabinetry by Fernando Aciar and Anna Polonsky; Custom Tile, Fefo Studio; Crue Faucet, Kohler; Limestone Countertop, ABC Stone; On Polonsky: Patchwork Dress, La Réunion Studio; Anna Bracelet, Nature Studio. Above: Vintage Visie Pendant Lamp by Louis Poulsen, Chairish; Custom Dining Table, Homeroom; Vintage European Cafe Chairs, Nomadic Trading Co.
Below, from top: Cima Burners, Pitt Cooking; Range Hood and Oven, Fisher & Paykel; Ceramics and Custom Built-in Cabinetry, Fefo Studio; Vintage Mirror, Taylor + Ace.