“When I came into the house, you could feel the history,” says the owner of this Greenwich house that has roots in the early 1700s, but was transformed into a grand Victorian in the 1890s, and renovated again at the turn of the 21st century. The family of five loved the house they purchased, but they didn’t want to decorate in an old-fashioned way.
“We knew we could make it our own, but we would have to do it while maintaining the integrity of the house,” the homeowner says. “We needed to hire someone that had an eye and a care for this kind of a project.” A friend connected them to New York City–based interior designer Matthew Kowles. During an initial meeting, Kowles floated a few ideas that would dramatically transform the space without remodeling, and the owners immediately knew he was the right designer to help them create their dream home.
With a plan to move the dining room into the former family room closer to the kitchen and then treat the old formal dining space as a second living room, Kowles had already solved much of the house’s flow problems. However, Kowles had several interesting aesthetic challenges to overcome, including a very old house and clients with quite contemporary tastes. And while the two spouses both liked modern interiors, the husband explains, “My wife and I are like polar opposites of each other.” He likes bold, dramatic rooms, while his wife prefers things quiet and serene. They also wanted to turn an architecturally formal house into a comfortable family home for their three teenagers.
For style clues, Kowles looked to the few pieces of art and furniture the family wanted to bring to their new house. A bed by De La Espada that the wife loved inspired Kowles to suggest a visit to the The Future Perfect showroom, which represents the Portuguese brand in New York. Housed in a turn-of-the century townhouse and filled with of-the-moment furniture, Kowles recalls walking in with his client, “We both just sort of looked at each other and the stress disappeared. We were like, ‘Okay, this is the vibe.’” On another shopping trip to the Apparatus lighting showroom, Kowles practically had to drag the husband out because he was so smitten with the brand’s look and feel. “Even one day spent with a client running around to see different things really helps me to get a feel for what they’re drawn to,” says Kowles.
In one living room, Dune armchairs, a custom tufted sofa, and a De La Espada coffee table pop against the room’s antique moldings and walls coated in Venetian plaster. An Apparatus light fixture hangs overhead.
A vintage table from the Antique and Artisan Gallery sits beside a custom, corner banquette upholstered in Carleton V. fabric. The wool and silk rug hails from Holland & Sherry.
The breakfast room features white-washed walls, decorative floors by artist Shelly Denning, and a lighting fixture from Taiwan-Lantern.
Kowles commissioned the heirloom walnut table from Godar Furniture, while an Apparatus chandelier illuminates the room.
A vintage chair sports new Holland & Sherry velvet upholstery alongside a Formations cabinet.
In the media room, Kowles mixed a Pierre Frey sofa fabric with a bold Patterson Flynn carpet, Moss Home club chairs upholstered in Elitis fabric, and a Holly Hunt ottoman.
A Cliff Young desk anchors the husband’s office beneath a custom chandelier and atop a vintage Oushak rug.
Powder room walls are covered in a de Gournay mural.
Created by J. Quintana Upholstery, this custom four-poster bed is made up with Matouk linens and pillows made from vintage ikat fabric. The green lamp is from Visual Comfort.
A custom bed upholstered in Etro fabric from Clarence House is a bold bedroom focal point. Kowles paired it with Made Goods bedside tables and Visual Comfort lamps.
Kowles began identifying anchor pieces for each room. “As I started, I found that the house really wanted these big modern gestures. They felt right,” says the designer. Somehow a large-scale Apparatus lighting fixture was perfectly at home in the circa-1710 dining room; an oversized sofa felt fitting in the formal Victoria living room. “Not many houses would be able to take both 18th-century antiques and cutting-edge modern in the same room,” Kowles adds. As he designed, he balanced between moments of maximalism and gallery-like restraint, satisfying both his clients’ preferences.
Divining their preferences wasn’t the only key to unlocking their interior style. Kowles says it also took a little reframing to help them think of furniture more like art. “When I made that connection that these were pieces that they were collecting that would either be there forever or go on to one of her kids, they really embraced the hunt,” says Kowles.
Kowles deftly tapped into his client’s tastes, but he also unleashed a new passion. The husband says he now travels to Art Basel to keep up with the latest art and design and spent eight months hunting down a Jindřich Halabala chair. And while Kowles took special care to make the house feel layered and lived-in, he also intentionally left some spaces blank to receive art and accent pieces in the future. “My mantra is not to buy everything all at one store or all at one time,” he says. After all, a great house takes time.
