Prop Stylist John Dittrick’s Carroll Gardens Railroad Flat Is Not Like His Childhood Home

The couch is from West Elm, and the coffee table is from CB2. “The painting over the couch I found at an antiques shop in Red Hook called Hoffman’s Barn,” John Dittrick says. “The wingback chair I found on Facebook Marketplace, but it’s from Restoration Hardware, as is the large glass lamp behind it. The U-shaped armchair is a floor model I bought from CB2 in Soho.” Photo: David Land

Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, prop stylist John Dittrick had certain interior-design instincts early on. “I had this Playmobil dollhouse, and my cousins had one too, and I remember going to my cousins’ house and looking at the way they set theirs up and going, Oh no, they’ve got it wrong,” he says, laughing. “That’s not where I would put that couch. And my sisters had Barbie dollhouses that I also loved. My mom had this custom Barbie dollhouse made for them that had wallpaper and wooden floors and working electricity, and I was obsessed with it.”

Dittrick starred in local productions of Oliver and A Christmas Carol and “became like this local celebrity,” he says. He studied set design at college; after graduation, he set out for New York City in 2017.

“I had really moved here not knowing what I was going to do,” he says. He found a job as a host at a rooftop bar, then after a few months was hired at West Elm as a merchandise coordinator.

He moved around a lot, sharing apartments with roommates until he struck out on his own in 2021 and found a floor-through rental in Brooklyn that checked all the boxes: “I wanted a place with some character and charm that felt like it had some history. So that was the main thing, and I wanted space, which was difficult budgetwise. But I was looking for a spot where I could host guests; I really wanted that so I could have friends and family visit. And as a prop stylist, I wanted a space with storage. I have a lot of props and décor.”

The railroad had its quirks, including mysterious framed areas in the walls where windows might once have been. When it came time to decorate, he had to reconcile his own taste with the look of his childhood home. “I was very influenced by the taste my mom had,” he says. “She really struggled with stuff, both in a sentimental way and in a sort of record-keeping way. Our house was beautiful, but it was very cluttered. And I have inherited a lot of those sentimental sensibilities. I tend to hold on to things, but all that gives me anxiety, too, so sometimes I feel very burdened by stuff.”

Dittrick decided to swap the locations of the bedroom and the living room, changed out the light fixtures, and covered the basic granite counters with waterproof contact paper. He also replaced a door with a curtain for more space in the guest-room area. Overall, the apartment has more of the modern sensibilities he developed by working at West Elm and knowing designers. “I wanted my home to feel lived in and personal and welcoming and cozy but also to have some air and some space. And not be overwhelming.”

The fireplace is decorative and became a storage area for books. Photo: David Land

The Dining Area: The fabric shade on the hanging light is from House of Jade, an Etsy boutique based in Turkey. “The frame here, this big gold frame, must have been a boarded-up window, but it was basically this big rectangle with a frame around it when I moved in,” he says. “So I decided to ask my sister, Liz Dittrick Hough, who’s an artist, to find a canvas the exact size. She did a painting for me and shipped it from Omaha, so I hung it there and painted the frame gold.” Photo: David Land

The wood hutch is from Humble House in Boerum Hill: “This is my favorite piece of furniture. I just hope that whenever I move, I can get it out of that little nook because I want to keep it forever!” Photo: David Land

The Guest Room: The saffron-yellow quilt on the daybed is from Crate & Barrel. “I got it on clearance, and I don’t think they make that color anymore,” Dittrick says. This area is used as a guest room. The door was removed to make space for the Ikea bed that pulls out to king size. Photo: David Land

The Primary Bedroom: The Pottery Barn side tables were found on Facebook Marketplace. The lamps are from Notary Ceramics, based in Portland. The drawing over the bed is from Chairish. “The blue frame is from the Rusty Roof,” Dittrick says, “a small Mississippi-based company I found on Etsy.” Photo: David Land

The View Into the Kitchen: Dittrick covered the countertops with waterproof contact paper and added a curtain to the door. Photo: David Land

John Dittrick at home. Photo: David Land