Happy Hollow

The clients had acquired a historic Spanish Colonial Revival that needed a gut renovation yet demanded to be true to its original design. We began with the bones. The arched windows, the paneled library, the elaborate foyer floor, these were not obstacles to be overcome. They were invitations.

Every room was read first as architecture, and then furnished in conversation with it. The library received its blue scalloped curtains and chartreuse chaise as counterpoint to the dark wood paneling. The dining room earned a patterned ceiling and Murano chandelier. The kitchen became the boldest room in the house, built around a cobalt Lacanche range and custom ironwork hinges patterned from the home's original front door. The reclaimed bluestone flooring looks like it has been in place for 100 years.

The primary suite sits under a ceiling papered in clouds. The bath beyond glows green with a crane mural. Every decision in this house was made with the same conviction: that a home should be slightly astonishing, deeply livable, and entirely its own.