GOING GONZO

MELIA MARDEN AND FRANK SISTI JR. CRAFT AN ASTONISHING BROOKLYN TOWN HOME ALIVE WITH COLOR, COLLECTIONS, AND VINTAGE AMERICANA WITH THE HELP OF ARCHITECTS ELIZABETH ROBERTS AND ELLIOT MEIER

- TEXT BY MAYER RUS PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON STYLED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS

The first sign that this 19th-century residence is not your standard Pinterest archetype of a Brooklyn town house appears on the front door—a bespoke bronze knob that looks strangely like Globey from Peewee's Playhouse.

The hardware’s promise of weirdness and delight is fulfilled immediately upon entry, where, instead of a predictable Victorian hall tree or pier mirror, one encounters a polychromatic panel from an antique carousel, a kaleidoscopic arrangement of advertising signs and ephemera, and a cutout of Mr. ZIP, the cartoon character introduced by the US Post Office Department in the 1960s to coax reluctant mailers aboard the zip code train. Welcome to the mad, mad, mad, mad world of Melia Marden, Frank Sisti Jr., and their two children, Alfred and Daphne.

Built in the 1840s, the house, as reimagined by the homeowners and their enthusiastic designer/enablers, is a testament to the power of outré connoisseurial vision. Much like the vintage fun-house mirrors installed on one of its upper-floor landings, the eccentric five-story abode defamiliarizes the familiar, reflecting a delightfully off-kilter vision of ourselves and the spaces we inhabit. Nothing is what it seems or what you'd expect, but everything is somehow funnier, more colorful, more intriguing.