SHE & HIM WITH DESIGNER YOUNG HUH, ACTOR ZOOEY DESCHANEL AND PROPERTY BROTHER JONATHAN SCOTT FASHION A MAXIMALIST FOOTHOLD FOR THEIR FAMILY IN MANHATTAN

FORGET 2024'S TIKTOK DATING MANTRA: “I'm looking for a man in finance.” Zooey Deschanel found something better: a guy in construction—six-foot-five, with a thing for plaster cornices.

- CATHERINE HONG

Step into the crisply detailed, Georgian-inflected apartment the actor and musician shares with fiancé Jonathan Scott, one half of HGTV's Property Brothers, and the appeal becomes obvious. For a design fan, getting engaged to a contractor might be the ultimate fantasy. Not only do you find the love of your life—you also get really nice moldings.

And mullioned windows. And French doors. And custom case goods. Not to mention retractable media screens that descend from the ceiling. And kitchen millwork so snugly built you might be tempted to open and shut the cabinets and drawers all day, just for fun. “He won't stop until everything is perfect,” says Deschanel. “And anything I can think of, he can execute.”

Their downtown Manhattan duplex, steeped in French and English aesthetics, is a richly layered fantasia dressed in floral wallpaper and upholstery, draped with silk balloon curtains, lit by Murano glass, and crowned by—yes—flawless crown molding. But as the couple reveal, that old-world ambience is not actually old at all. Located in a turn-of-the-20th-century building, the unit was a much-neglected, not-so-white box when they first toured it in late 2019.

“It was totally raw and stripped down, like an abandoned 1980s office building,” recalls Scott.

“It was definitely sketch,” agrees Deschanel.

But its promising aspects were not to be denied: a coveted neighborhood, soaring ceilings, generous square footage, and three separate terraces. And who was better equipped to tackle a fixer-upper than Property Brother Jonathan himself?

The couple met in 2019 while filming an episode of