This Actor’s Brooklyn Apartment Proves Paint (and DIY Spirit!) Can Completely Transform a Rental

published Oct 22, 2025

This Actor’s Brooklyn Apartment Proves Paint (and DIY Spirit!) Can Completely Transform a Rental

published Oct 22, 2025

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, New York

Style

Eclectic

Maximalist

Bedrooms

Square feet

500

Sq ft

500

It was actually this Brooklyn neighborhood that first caught the attention of actor, writer, and artist Rosaline Elbay when she arrived in New York City to start filming the miniseries Kaleidoscope and was looking for a place to rent.

Credit: Kiritin

Rosaline writes that you shouldn't be afraid to "get cheaper/old frames and paint them! I think painting some of the frames to match the walls, and also finding other variations of green, helped avoid the overall effect becoming too chaotic considering how many pieces are up there."

“I stumbled out of a work meeting in Boerum Hill, looked around, and realized I was on exactly the sort of block I wanted to live on,” Rosaline writes of her apartment hunt in the summer of 2021. “I hounded a broker and camped out by his office so he’d take me to all his viewings. This was the third one.”

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Credit: Kiritin

Rosaline says this wall usually has a painting-in-progress that she's working on; she keeps her painting supplies under the couch. "I think this wall being simpler, with two large pieces and three bits of plate from places I love, helps balance the room and also lets the green paint and the brick do their thing," she explains. "I’m always trying to avoid the space feeling cluttered by 'filling up' too many planes or surfaces, because all these objects you love can start to overwhelm instead of drawing the eye. It’s a constant negotiation, especially in a NY apartment where space is precious; ideally things would be spread out over more rooms."

“As soon as I walked in and saw the fireplace, the exposed brick, and the trees through the window, I knew I wanted this flat; I’d had a whole list of wild demands (an in-unit washer-dryer! A balcony!) that I gave up because it felt so perfect,” continues Rosaline, who most recently was seen as Nora Koriem in Netflix’s The Diplomat.

Credit: Kiritin

Rosaline says that being on a budget is always a challenge. "I’m on FB marketplace and in thrift stores and on stoops and at estate sales," she writes. "It’s taken time, and waiting for the right thing, or trying the wrong thing and reselling it and waiting for something else. And it still feels like it’s in progress. When I’ve helped friends design their spaces, it feels so much easier because you can go, here’s the budget! Here’s the timeline! And in those circumstances I move really quickly. But given free rein I could work on a place forever, just like I would on a painting. There’s always opportunity to adjust, and it grows with me."

“There’s a bit of Zamalek, the neighborhood in Cairo where I grew up, and a bit of London to it; and the stoop was so perfect, and the fire escape was big enough for plants,” she continues.

Credit: Kiritin

Rosaline says that guests to the space always ask whether she painted everything ("yes") and why are there there are so many elephants ("because").

“It felt like home. And when I asked the landlords about whether I could paint and make other changes, they were very encouraging and supportive. It felt like an apartment I could really take care of and nest in for a long time.”

> Ask a question & discuss this Tour in our Community Forum!