They say that an Englishman’s home is his castle, and although Marcus Wainwright’s house is on a modest scale, to him it is a little bit of England, a retreat from the urban jungle of New York.

Wainwright is one half of the cult clothing label Rag & Bone, smiled on by Vogue’s Anna Wintour and worn by both Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Not bad for someone who left England to get away from the traffic and weather, and spent time as a dive master in Mexico before tackling, without any formal training, the notoriously fickle business of fashion. But then, the ethos of Rag & Bone is not about a desire to be fashionable, it is about quality and Wainwright’s belief that “if you make nice clothes, people will wear them and come back for more”.

The style of the two-storey Brooklyn house he shares with his wife, model-turned-artist Glenna and their baby, Noah, like that of his clothing line, is simple, sturdy and understated. “It was the lure of having a proper home and outside space that attracted us, because we could put down roots here and wouldn’t have to move again for some time,” says Glenna.

In New York, it is rare to have your own garden, and, although it is dominated by a large pond that came with sitting tenants – Jaws and Nemo, the koi carp – it is much used. “In the summer, it functions as another room and we spend most evenings and weekends out here. It really doesn’t feel as though we are living in a city at all,” says Wainwright.

“We bought the house in January 2006, got married in April and found out that Glenna was pregnant in July, so it was a busy year,” he says. In that time, the couple also turned the house into a home. Wainwright got the DIY bug from his father and built much of the furniture himself. The coffee table in the sitting room is made from 120-year-old wooden beams that he rescued from a skip, and the substantial bookcase from scaffolding planks.

Furniture in the first-floor, open-plan living and dining area is a mix of old and salvaged. The “burnt” chair that sits in front of the spindly German table by the fireplace was being thrown out from Wainwright’s offices; in the process of stripping off the paint, the wood became darkened and singed, which appealed to his love of the well-worn. He found the dining table at a yard sale and the vintage leather armchair in the street. The leather sofa was a second-hand bargain at $100 (about £50).

Offcuts of the scaffolding bookshelf were used to make shelves in the couple’s bedroom, where a one-off Rag & Bone blanket, with camel cashmere on one side and black-and-white check on the other, lies across the bed. An example of Glenna’s artwork – a Japanese-inspired piece showing a girl’s face – hangs above it. Other paintings, of delicate flowers, are displayed on the desk in the sitting room.

Noah’s small, sunny nursery – a white room with mobiles hanging from the ceiling and bright pictures on the walls – is at the front of the house. His wardrobe is limited at the moment, so he has no need for storage space, but no doubt his father will construct something solid and sturdy when the time comes.

On the ground floor, a utility space has been fitted in under the rise of stairs, which themselves act as a boot-and-shoe store, with Wainwright’s Dodger work boots – made in Northampton to a classic British style – ready to stamp the indelible mark of an Englishman in New York.