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A stroll through Carroll Gardens with Courtney Jentzen of Swiss Cottage Designs

Today we’re back with another post from Courtney Jentzen, our September Designer of the Month. Courtney’s taking us on a tour of her neighborhood in Brooklyn — take a look!

We’re love calling Brooklyn our home. It’s tough to imagine Swiss Cottage Designs being anywhere else. Our studio is located in Carroll Gardens, a little neighborhood that’s nestled between Cobble Hill, Gowanus, and Red Hook. It’s not tough to find a beautiful block to walk down – the neighborhood is known for its tree lined streets and historic brownstones – or a great new restaurant or shop to check out. While we do love to explore the neighborhood, we also have our tried and true spots that it’s tough to beat.

Smith Canteen - Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

Smith Canteen is a great little coffee shop with awesome baked goods, sandwiches, and the best lemonade around in my humble lemonade loving opinion.

Smith Canteen - Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

I highly recommend popping into Black Gold…just know that you’ll be in there awhile. Despite the window reading “records”, Black Gold is more of an infinitely intriguing curiosity cabinet, full of vintage taxidermy, jewelry, art, and yes, records. Plus, they serve coffee! Definitely one of my favorite neighborhood spots.

Black Gold - Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

Ted & Honey is a cute little cafe that serves both breakfast and lunch. It’s right on the corner of a tiny but beautiful park, so grabbing something to go is never a bad option.

Ted & Honey Cafe | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

The Farmacy is an old school soda fountain, complete with egg creams and employees in those little paper hats. Their ice cream floats are not for the feint of heart. If I don’t think I can conquer one mid-day, I usually go for a blueberry soda.

Farmacy | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

Farmacy | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

Mazzola might be our favorite of all (but don’t tell the others) The ladies behind the counter are always so sweet. You really can’t go wrong with iced tea and a few mini muffins…and maybe some crumb cake, a croissant, bear claw, and a cinnamon bun, just in case. We’ve tried them all.

Mazolla Bakery | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

We don’t trust our Swiss Cottage shipments to just anyone. When it comes to shipping, Omar, at Cobble Hill Variety, is our guy. We pay him a visit just about every day – sometimes twice a day during our big production pushes. Even though he’s a few blocks down the street, he’s a very important part of the Swiss Cottage team. I don’t know what we’d do without him.

Cobble Hill Variety in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

And lastly, let’s not forget about one of New York’s weird treasures, bodega cats. Mars is one of my favorite bodega cats, not just in the neighborhood but in all of Brooklyn- that is kind of a big deal. You can usually spot him sleeping behind the plants at Martinez Grocery on Court Street. If you don’t see him at first, look closer! He’ll usually come out from hiding to say hello and ask for a few ear scratches.

Bodega cat | Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn tour with Swiss Cottage Designs

Thanks for taking a journey around around our little hood! If you’re ever in the area, be sure to drop us a line to say hello!