Restaurant Design: Hotels, Lodging & Restaurants: Five Leaves in Brooklyn

Restaurant Design: Hotels, Lodging &; Restaurants: Five Leaves in Brooklyn

Designed by John and Kevin McCormick (of Freeman's and Beatrice Inn fame), Five Leaves in Greenpoint features a nautically themed interior and counts the late Heath Ledger among its investors. "The McCormicks are not exactly decorators or contractors, while they do both," according to a profile in the New York Observer.  "Rather, they are professional distressors: helping build restaurants and bars where each dust particle, creaky door hinge, dent, and scratch is applied with expert precision. Johnny rusts, oxidizes, and ages surfaces. Sometimes he uses chemicals to create aged-green copper; other times he attacks light fixtures, bar tops, and doors with nails, keys, or whatever else might be lying around. Kevin, meanwhile, is the wall and ceiling expert: applying layer upon layer of paint and plaster as well as candle wax, or motor oil if necessary, to get a weathered look."

Go to  Five Leaves for more information; photographs by Will Femia.