Page 28 - Allison's Magazine ~ Issue #101

I love the staircase She wanted it to feel like it was historic,
because of its ample but she also wanted it to be a bit quirky
light and because and tongue in cheek.
I love Gracie
wallpaper, a hand- How was it both a renovation and a
new construction?
painted wallpaper
It had been added on to around the
that requires a lot of 1980s, but it was a really bad addition.
time perfecting and We got rid of that addition, brought the
antiquing. It’s a great house down basically to the fireplace
connector between column and the foundation, and
salvaged some wood. The rest was a
the original part of the
new construction.
house and the new
part of the house.
How involved were the clients in
the project?
We did a lot of antique shopping with
them in Connecticut and New York,
and we combined these finds with the
wife’s family heirlooms. Most of the art
pieces were bought at auction. They also
wanted each room to have a theme, like
How does your art background Downton Abbey, where someone would
benefit your designs? come to your house and you’d tell them
I’ve found that painting and drawing to put their things in the Yellow Room
train your eye. So when I’m putting or in the American Room. They wanted
a design together, I’m thinking of it their rooms to have these fun names.
based on the rules of composition: focal They even named the home: Sunnyside.
points, rhythm, repetition, and even
color theory. I think my art background Is there an architectural style you
really helped strengthen those skills as leaned toward with this project?
a designer. A lot was based on Federal-style
architecture and furnishings. I sourced
What were the owners looking from a store in Connecticut, which
for in this Hudson Valley produces Federal-style furniture in
farmhouse project? England with some of the original
A husband and wife who live in multigenerational furniture makers
Brooklyn Heights were up visiting and then brings them to the US. So,
friends for the weekend and, on a whim, for example, the dining room table and
they decided it’d be great to have a dining room chairs are brand new, but
country home and found this property, they’re made exactly the same way they
which was a working farm. The were made two hundred years ago.
husband is also from South Africa,
coincidentally, where he grew up on How else did you balance the old-
farms, so it appealed to him. The first yet-new vibe in the dining room?
thing the wife said to us was that she We wanted it to feel like people could
didn’t want it to be too serious. come for the weekend and relax, so we

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