Meet the Connecticut Judges
Steven W. Spandle
Steven Spandle is the founding principal of Steven W. Spandle Architect, which specializes in residential design with projects throughout the United States. The firm has undertaken a diverse array of commissions—ranging from single-family homes to Manhattan penthouses, as well as historic restorations for private clients and institutions.
A practitioner of classical design with a love of history and the decorative arts, Steven is the architect of the White House Tennis Pavilion—the first free-standing addition to the White House grounds in decades. For this project, he received both the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art’s John Russell Pope Award and Traditional Building’s Palladio Award. In 2025, Steven was recognized as one of Traditional Building’s 25 Leaders in the country’s top caretakers of architectural traditions.
A native of Georgia, Steven’s lifelong fascination with architecture, art, and design began with childhood visits to museums and historic houses. These places, the history within, and their collections profoundly shaped his professional pursuits as an architect and influenced his understanding of design. Steven serves on the Board of Trustees for the Winterthur Museum, Gardens, and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, and is a member of their Collections Committee. He also sits on the Board of Trustees for Old Westbury Gardens in Old Westbury, New York, and the Drayton Hall Preservation Trust, in Charleston, South Carolina. Steven and his husband Kev split their time between Coastal Georgia and New Jersey.
Bennett Leifer
Bennett Leifer Interiors is an award-winning studio known for blending sophisticated color palettes, historical references, and whimsical concepts to design uniquely tailored interiors. The firm creates livable, elegant, and artful designs which have grown to include private residences, model residences, collaborations with developers, executive suites and brand campaigns.
The firm’s Principal, Bennett Leifer, was exposed to fine art, architecture and Interior Design at a young age. He pursued an education in Art History and Business at Skidmore College, which helped him develop both an artistic eye and a thorough understanding of the business side of design. Throughout his career he has worked on projects of all sizes, scopes, and styles and has experience working on projects globally. Following a decade of apprenticeship in the Interior Design industry, Bennett founded his New York-based firm in 2013.
Honors and recognition within the industry include:
- Luxe Interiors + Design Gold List 2021
- Bloomingdale’s Mix Master campaign Spring 2019, Fall 2019 and Spring 2020
- Ocean Home Magazine’s Top Coastal Designers 2016 – 2020
- Lux Deco’s Top 100 Interior Designers to Know in 2020 and Top 50 Interior Designers to Know in 2019
- Elle Décor’s A-List 2018
- American Registry’s Top 200 Influencers in the Home Design Industry 2019 – 2020
- The Design and Decoration Building’s 2015 Stars on the Rise
- IFDA’s 2015 Rising Star
- House Beautiful Magazine’s Next Wave 2015
- Traditional Home Magazine’s 2015 Rising Stars of Design
Photograph by Bjorn Wallander
Charlotte Barnes
Traditional, but not. Award-winning interior design, a shared language between style and space, function and suitability, Charlotte Barnes’ aesthetic is grounded in a stylistic mélange of luxurious materials — a clean, modern yet eclectic mix of the contemporary and antique with attention to detail and a measured discipline.
Elegant, warm and livable spaces are a hallmark at Charlotte Barnes Interior Design & Decoration, a full-service interior design firm specializing in high-end residential and commercial projects around the world. Our scope of services is not limited to interior design and decoration; we bring integration and thorough, practical architectural
planning and technical expertise to projects, representing our clients from beginning to end. We focus attention on the decorative arts, bringing together custom design, and antiques as well as modern furniture, fine art curation and accessories.
Charlotte honed her appreciation for interior design and visual decoration while living and traveling abroad. She began her career in fashion at Ralph Lauren Womenswear in New York and London, and Pomellato USA. But when her own London home was published in British House & Garden in 1995, Charlotte Barnes Interior Design & Decoration, LLC was born.
Charlotte serves as a Vice President on the Board of Directors of The Decorators Club in New York. She has been named to the 1stDibs 50 list, inducted into the New England Design Hall of Fame, and honored with the CTC&G Innovation in Design Award for Interior Design in 2022. Her work has been featured in leading publications both in the U.S. and abroad, including British House & Garden, Elle Decor, Frederic, House Beautiful, U.S. House & Garden, CT Cottages & Gardens, New England Home, and more.
Matthew Patrick Smyth
Matthew Patrick Smyth is an interior designer whose work evokes an enduring, traditional sense of style. He was consistently listed as a top designer on Elle Décor’s “A” List for 10 consecutive years. His work has also been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Traditional Home, New York Magazine, WSJ, and Connecticut Cottage & Gardens. Matthew is also a recipient of the D&D Building’s Stars of Design Award.
Currently Matthew’s projects include residences in Palm Beach, Nantucket, Aspen, Geneva and Hampshire, England as well as homes in Litchfield and Fairfield Connecticut; the Hamptons; and city apartments in New York, London, and Paris.
Further personalizing his distinct blend of history with a modern study of scale, Matthew has broadened his work into product design with two rug collections for Patterson Flynn, and a collection of fabrics and wallcoverings introduced by F. Schumacher.
Matthew has participated in numerous designer showhouses, including five times for the prestigious Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. Additionally, he reimagined the NY Mets Room at The Ronald McDonald House of Long Island and designed a celebratory room in honor of Traditional Home’s 25th and Schumacher’s 125th anniversary as a part of Holiday House NYC’s annual showhouse. As he wrote in his first book, Living Traditions: Interiors by Matthew Patrick Smyth from Monacelli Press, now in its second printing, “A single object can bring the entire room into focus and cause everything else to fall into place.” Likewise, the right designer can bring even the most challenging project into focus, imbuing the work with a harmonious feeling of balance.
“Through a Designer’s Eye” is Matthew’s most recent book for Monacelli Press
Lauren Vallario
Lauren Vallario is the CEO and Principal Designer at Lauren Vallario Designs, a luxury residential design firm based in Stamford, CT. Lauren has been creating functional and timeless designs for over 15 years throughout the greater Fairfield & Westchester Counties. She attributes the firm’s success to her collaborative and systematic approach which she developed while working in construction project management. Lauren is knowledgeable and involved in every aspect of the remodeling and new construction process ensuring that her clients love not only where they live, but also the journey it took to arrive there. Lauren has earned a B.S. in Psychology from Manhattan College and an A.A.S in Kitchen and Bathroom Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Prior to establishing Lauren Vallario Designs in 2013, Lauren worked as an Executive Recruiter in the Financial Services industry until she realized her passion for Interior Design. She left Executive Recruitment and return to school for Interior Design. While earning her degree part time, Lauren worked as a Sales Consultant for a luxury kitchen and bath showroom. It was there that she felt the need to niche in kitchen and bathroom design. Once her degree was complete, Lauren immediately established Lauren Vallario Designs and while taking on her own clients, also worked as a project manager for a local construction company learning the back end of design and critical elements of our industry. Lauren has a team of four talented professionals and in addition to Kitchens and Baths they offer full-service design for renovations and new construction.