SPLASH DANCE: Droste’s turquoise kitchen is enhanced by the Moroccan-tile backsplash.
The Grizzly Bear frontman, who’s lived in the cozy apartment since 2006, added splashes of color with paint and artwork.
The handmade origami mobile (above) that was made as a wedding gift
Grizzly Bear frontman Ed Droste, 33, is a New England native, but he’s made Greenpoint his home for the last decade. And since 2006, he’s lived in a 500-square-foot, one-bedroom rental on a tree-lined street off the Lorimer L train stop. He shares the Brooklyn pad with his husband, Chad McPhail, 32, and their tiny rescue dog, Beast.
“We’ve done more renovations than it probably makes sense to do,” Droste jokes while sipping a cup of cold-brew coffee in his colorful eat-in kitchen, which pulses with bright turquoise walls and a lively Moroccan-tile backsplash.
The paint job is the latest of the remodels, and as Droste explains, more complicated than it appears.
“It was a major process to do. We just did it like six months ago. It’s a high-gloss paint, so they had to sand the walls perfectly,” he says. “Since Chad’s an interior designer, he gets deals and knows a lot of contractors.”
Fortunately, replacing the particleboard cabinets above the sink with real wood shelves was far simpler.
“We just took it out and replaced it with these $20 boards from the lumberyard,” Droste says.
And though the kitchen isn’t huge, the couple enjoys hosting dinner parties — even if space is a bit tight.
“We can fit eight people in the kitchen if we cram,” Droste says. “When it’s cold, we’ll cook all day and take on a challenging recipe. It’s fun. I’m more of a sous chef. Chad’s a little bit better at following the recipe than I am.”
The rest of the railroad apartment is decorated in a more neutral palette with pops of color here and there, especially via the artwork that covers the walls. The living room features abstract pieces by Droste’s great-uncle, artist Carl Pickhardt, that Droste describes as having a “shiftless ’60s vibe.”
In the bedroom hang a pair of colorful geometric paintings by Droste’s high-school friend, William O’Brien; they are similar to the work that O’Brien created for the cover of Grizzly Bear’s 2009 album, “Veckatimest.”
In the corner of the bedroom is another piece made by a different artist friend. When Droste and McPhail (who met on Friendster 8 1/2 years ago) got married last year on Cape Cod, they told their guests that, in lieu of presents, they would welcome contributions to their honeymoon in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. Their friend Allison Sires (co-owner of the Lower East Side boutique Thomas Sires) decided instead to create a mobile of a thousand origami paper cranes. It arrived four months after the ceremony but was well worth the wait.
“She totally blew our minds with this,” Droste says. “She’d been hand-doing it for months.”
When it comes to his decorating style, Droste explains, “I’m not a man with a decorating plan, but there are things I’ve picked up over the years.
“I got that when I was spending New Year’s with some friends in Mexico,” he says, referring to the antique glass pendant that hangs in the living room.
That piece complements the lived-in feel provided by artifacts like an old shoe holder from a factory; the couple found it while browsing a Chelsea flea market and it now holds oversized books.
Surprisingly, there are few signs that a musician lives here. Grizzly Bear’s new album, “Shields,” was created mostly outside the apartment, outside New York even.
“We leave the city when we write because it’s such a distraction,” Droste explains.
Some of the “rural spaces without Internet” the band has holed up in this past year include Cape Cod and Marfa, Texas.
“This album, we just kept retreating, which is why we have tons of extra songs,” he says. “We’ve never had that before, and it’s another reason why I like it a lot because I feel we were able to choose the best out of a group of like 30 songs.”
The 10 tracks on “Shields” bridge many musical moods, from the bluesy opening song “Sleeping Ute” to the ethereal interlude “Adelma” and the hook-driven “Speak in Rounds.” It’s the sound of a band that has fully claimed its sound. And it’s quite possibly Grizzly Bear’s most accessible album to date.
The band has already started another world tour, which will end two months from now in New Zealand. Droste will stop back briefly in Greenpoint when he’s in New York to play Radio City Music Hall on Monday. And he relishes his time at home.
“It’s a relief,” he says, “to be able to sleep in your own bed.”
ED DROSTE’S FAVORITE THINGS
* Paintings by William O’Brien, a friend who did the album cover for Grizzly Bear’s “Veckatimest”
* A book shelf that’s actually an antique shoe holder from a factory
* The handmade origami mobile that was made as a wedding gift
* A glass pendant light from Mexico
* A cactus
* Artwork by his great-uncle Carl Pickhardt
* The Moroccan-tile backsplash in the turqouise eat-in kitchen