To say that Kai Avent-deLeon is juggling a lot would be an understatement. She’s the owner and visionary behind the Brooklyn concept shop Sincerely, Tommy (and its in-house cafe), and she’s currently overseeing construction on a new project, a restaurant and boutique hostel set to open in the fall—all in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood where she was born and raised. She’s a designer in her own right, creating pieces for Sincerely, Tommy’s in-house clothing line and sculptural furniture for her own apartment, and painting on the side.
But entrepreneurship—and an appreciation for design—runs in the family. Avent-deLeon’s grandmother bought a handful of buildings in Bed-Stuy in the 1980s that she now rents out, and her mother is also in real estate. “They both have such a strong sense of individual style,” says Avent-deLeon, 30. “Every holiday growing up, my grandmother would have a guy come over and decorate her apartment. He had very eccentric style, and she’d let him have free rein. Seeing things like that and the art shows she would host and her very expressive style helped me develop my own.”
When a unit opened recently in one of her grandmother’s apartment buildings on Jefferson Avenue, the women worked to renovate the kitchen and bath on a budget, leaving the original dark moldings and mirrors intact; then Avent-deLeon fitted it with a shop owner’s eye and objects picked up in her travels. She and her partner moved in three months ago—one week after their baby was born. Take a look at the finished apartment, by turns gallery-like and playful.
Photography by Mel Walbridge for Remodelista.
![the front door of the apartment opens into the dining room, with dark, original 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-dining-room-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
![a sculptural yellow chair was a chance find on instagram: \2\20;it&# 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-dining-room-chair-2-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![on the mantel are three terra cotta pots, collected on avent deleon&# 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-dining-room-mirror-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
![avent deleon treats sincerely, tommy as a gallery of sorts, collecting locally 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-dining-room-bed-stuy-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
![an original door (the etched glass panel depicts a woman holding a bird) opens 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-babys-room-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![another doorway off of the dining room leads to the newly renovated galley kitc 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-kitchen-full-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![the glass front cabinets on the right were existing. \2\20;they\2 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avent-deleon-kitchen-cabinets-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![restaurant supply style metal shelves, mounted above the new sink. \2\20 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-kitchen-sink-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![through the kitchen is the petite bath, with woven baskets that, placed at eye 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-kitchen-bathroom-mel-walbridge-733x1357.jpg)
![looking from the bedroom, at the front end of the railroad apartment, toward th 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-full-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
![in the bedroom, avent deleon had the same local woodworker build a red folding 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bedroom-full-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
![the space on one side of the folding screen serves as a sitting area. the setup 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bedroom-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![a japanese maruni rope chair and a three legged kenyan headrest, collected from 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bedroom-mirror-mel-walbridge-733x1099.jpg)
![a white curtain, hung from a wooden rod, conceals a small niche off of the bedr 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bedroom-basket-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![a bassinet, on loan from a friend, beneath works by rosemarie auberson. 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bedroom-bassinet-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
![the folding screen creates a sense of intimacy for the bed area. instead of mak 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-bed-mel-walbridge-733x489.jpg)
Note the original details, like the glass door knobs.
![avent deleon and her son. 33](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/kai-avant-de-leon-bed-stuy-apartment-portrait-mel-walbridge-733x1100.jpg)
N.B.: Follow Avent-deLeon on Instagram at @kaiaventdeleon.
Take a look inside more New York apartments:
- A Two-Week, $1,000, 500-Square-Foot Rental Overhaul by a Design Student in Bushwick, Brooklyn
- Quiet, Please: A Stylish Apartment in Bustling Jackson Heights, Queens
- The New Yorker: A 400-Square-Foot West Village Apartment, Thoughtfully Redone by a Young Architect
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