Before it was overflowing with cheer and personality, this Riverside home was straining at the seams. The homeowners had moved in as parents to one young child in 2016. But as their family expanded to a party of five, the house had started feeling a bit cramped. Over the years, though, they’d grown to love their close-knit neighborhood and their proximity to the children’s schools. So instead of uprooting the family, the couple assembled a team to transform their house into a space that fits their needs for now and into the future.
The 1938 Colonial was built in the traditional style, with smaller rooms that needed updating. The most important thing on the current homeowners’ list was to create a more family-friendly open floor plan, with an expanded kitchen and lots of multipurpose spaces where they could spend time together and host larger groups. “We wanted to create an environment that was joyful, functional and flexible,” says the wife.
The dream team who helped them make it happen consisted of interior designer William Lyon, architect Tim Peck of Shoreline Design Group, builder Keith Banks and construction consultant Pat Kirkpatrick. They worked together seamlessly to plan, problem-solve and help their clients check everything off their renovation wish list.
“Pre-planning is huge,” says Kirkpatrick, who used her background as a general contractor to help her clients think through all the important details, from overall layout down to the best locations for light switches. Peck laid the plans, Banks led the build, and Lyon brought in the personality. After many, many conversations between the homeowners and their design pros, the end result is a home that makes use of every corner, with added storage, a finished third floor with a new office and a playroom, plus totally revamped bedrooms for the kids and lots of flexible spaces that are great for everyday living but can also accommodate extended family and friends.
The family room is big on comfort–and color–with Lee Industries chairs in a Thibaut fabric and a pair of green sofas from Kravet.
Lee Industries barstools through Eleish Van Breems Home provide seating at the island, which is illuminated by Visual Comfort pendants.
The kitchen’s BlueStar stove and hood in Pigeon Blue with brushed brass pop against a mosaic backsplash through Greenwich Tile & Marble.
An Arteriors lighting fixture is suspended above a Willow Furniture & Design dining table surrounded by chairs from Made Goods. The small hummingbird artwork is by Daniel Angeles.
Schumacher’s Lemonade Lemon wallpaper, part of the Vera Neumann collection, and a Lumens pendant add citrusy zing to the mudroom, where built-ins are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Jetstream.
In the primary bedroom, Cloudscape, a painting by Rachel English, is complemented by Serena & Lily wallpaper, while the bed is from Pottery Barn.
The primary bathroom shower is lined with Akdo Tile’s Beacon Aster Carbon Art Glass.
The ceiling of a child’s bedroom is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Soft Sky through Ring’s End with walls in a Savannah Hayes wallpaper; the bed is from Monte Design with Stamattina sheets and a Pine Cone Hill duvet and shams from Lynnens; and valances are made of Lee Jofa’s Twister Print.
A Savannah Hayes wallpaper lines the walls of the pool bathroom, where the mirror is from West Elm, and the blue and white tile (reflected in mirror) is through Ideal Tile of Stamford.
New Roman shades in a GP&J Baker fabric and a rug through Classic Carpet finish the sunny playroom.
The built-ins in the third-floor office are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Tropical Oasis with Top Knobs hardware.
The more open floorplan on the first level includes a new kids’ study and mudroom, and a larger, brighter kitchen that exemplifies the cheerful aesthetic that runs throughout the project. “When the homeowners told me they wanted a cornflower blue oven and range hood, I knew they meant it when they said they wanted color,” laughs Lyon. His bright and happy palette includes lots of lighter backgrounds, plus the clients’ favored blues and greens acting as anchors to punches of pink and lemon yellow.
But of course, Lyon also made sure his design choices were durable and kid-friendly too. The dining room chairs and kitchen barstools are upholstered in a sturdy leather-look vinyl, and finishes were chosen with day-to-day wear in mind. “I didn’t want them to walk into the house and hold their breath, I wanted them to be able to live in it and enjoy it,” says Lyon.
That ethos of enjoyment extends to the couple’s art collection too. “We just buy what we love to look at,” explains the wife. Over the course of the renovation, they kept an eye on new works from favorite artists and had specific ideas of what should go where. In their new primary suite, a modern canopy bed faces a large-scale cloud painting by Rachel English, whose work the homeowners had followed for several years. The tranquil piece is the perfect choice for a bedroom sanctuary. “When we wake up each morning, it feels like we’ve been sleeping among the clouds!” says the wife.