See inside Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad’s art-filled 19th-century townhouse in Brooklyn.

“The vision for the house was deeply tied to who Jon and I are as humans—to our creativity and our lineage,” explains writer Suleika Jaouad of how the interiors of the home she shares with partner and musician Jon Batiste emerged.

“We began to meld Tunisia and New Orleans into a style we call “Tunisiana,” a homage to our shared Francophone and African roots. We wanted a home that felt soulful, timeless, and elegant, with a playful twist.”

A heady mix of architectural and stylistic references, today, the 19th-century townhouse the couple shares in Brooklyn is filled with creative energy, art and found items today.

“We had to find a way to merge our tastes, lifestyles and visions for the future in both symbolic and pragmatic ways – and let me tell you, pragmatism is not a strong suit for either of us. I wanted to preserve and restore every decaying tin ceiling – to fill the house with one-of-a-kind salvaged objects, each with a whimsical backstory, including a vintage elephant-shape bar and a taxidermied peacock that became the topic of fraught debate. Jon had his own outrageous dreams, like a yellow brick road running through the garden, and for a while, a Mardi Gras theme: everything furnished in purple, gold, and green. My diplomatic reply was an upbeat: ‘That sounds great… for your recording studio!’” laughs Jaouad.

Luckily, her friend and designer Hallie Goodman was on hand to help.

“We achieved a balance,” Jaouad explains. “It’s there in the poetry of the arches and curves of the millwork. It’s there in the contrast between white lime-washed walls and those drenched in colour. The pink kitchen, inspired by the New Orleanian love of saturated hues, pairs perfectly with the blue Tunisian tile backsplash. (The tiles were made by my friend, Mokhtar Lahmar, who hand-makes and paints each tile in a garage-turned atelier in the seaside town of Nabeul.) It’s in the 19th-century beaded Moroccan light in our bedroom, and the giant, drippy chandelier in the living room made of upcycled water bottles by artist Willie Cole. It’s in the art, which ranges from paintings by my Swiss mother, Anne Francey, to the Haitian-American artist Patrick Eugène, to my grandfather’s collection of vintage posters. It’s in the traditional Parisian furnishings and the North African pottery, textiles, and rugs, collected over a lifetime of trips back to the fatherland.”

And, it is there in the house that the couple – through perseverance and collaboration – turned into a home.