Retro digs for a retro sleuth

The “Friends” gang might have painted the walls a cheery yellow and brought in lots of candy-colored furniture. The “Gossip Girl” brats would have made fun of anyone poor enough to live there. But the unrenovated Brooklyn brownstone where CBS’ modern-day Sherlock Holmes rests his head and solves some of the Big Apple’s twistiest crimes hits some timely — if off-kilter — decorating notes.

Holmes’ dilapidated digs on the hit “Elementary,” on Thursdays, are filled with murky lighting and a sparse array of mismatched furniture that’s a stripped-down version of steampunk that’s everywhere in decorating these days.

The TV series’ fusion of postapocalyptic industrial curiosities and British Victoriana is accented with bits of modernism.

“Sherlock is all about function over form, so the unrenovated house suits him,” production designer Andrew Bernard said of the set he created on a sound stage in Long Island City.

In this latest incarnation of the ultimate crime-solver, Sherlock (Jonny Lee Miller) is a recovering drug addict from England whose Watson (Lucy Liu) is his sober companion. The brownstone is owned by his father, a real-estate mogul who inexplicably didn’t gut the place and turn it into condos. The contents of the building, however, belong to neither father nor son.

“The furniture, the rugs, the faux ’70s-style Tiffany lamp in the kitchen — it all came with the house. It’s just stuff people who lived there before left behind,” said Bernard, who found items at antique and secondhand shops as well as retailers selling classic designer furniture and vintage-inspired pieces.

“The show is very graphic and minimal,” he said. “There’s nothing saturated or bright. Shades of red and orange are the accent color, like the Deco mohair couch, the wingback chair or the Saarinen chair.”

That the house was built in Victorian times is a nod to the original Holmes’ era, as is the area called “the Lock Room” on set: simple metal grids of hanging locks that the detective used to practice his combination-cracking skills.

“Our Sherlock has a macro-lens attached to his phone and computer, but he’s not as focused on gadgets as the original was,” Bernard said.

Jojo Whilden CBS THE ART DECO couch at right adds some color to an otherwise restrained palette in the living room of Sherlock Holmes’ unrenovated Brooklyn brownstone. Mixed in with vintage furniture are some contemporary pieces, such as the Dragon’s Tail lamp made of...

Giovanni Rufino CBS WANT TO GO full Sherlock? Bernard suggests distressed walls: “Start with plywood, then put on a base of plaster for that ... bumpy texture. Choose a base color and take the lightest and darkest shades of it and blend them to create a mottled, varied...

David M. Russell CBS SHERLOCK (Jonny Lee Miller) settles into a wingback chair in the brownstone owned by his father. Production designer Andrew Bernard’s strategy behind the look: A restrained color scheme that uses muted oranges and reds as accents.

AMONG THE BITS of Victoriana and retro industrial paraphernalia, a bit of modern design: Eero Saarinen’s classic Womb chair, introduced to the American market in 1948 and sold today through Design Within Reach.