When the new owner of a 7,000-square-foot home in Southport asked Alexis Parent for help giving the property a facelift, the Westport- and Miami-based designer jumped at the opportunity. “It’s a unique house for this part of Connecticut,” she says. A mixture of styles, the 1989 build had good bones, large rooms and tall ceilings. “The house was probably very glamorous in its day.” But that day had long passed.
The client had a couple of directives: The house had to be dog friendly (she has seven), and it had to sparkle. “She loves a bit of shimmer,” Parent says.
She approached the project methodically, addressing the most urgent issues first. “Any place there was water intrusion or mold, we worked on right away. Then we took away anything that felt stuffy. Fabrics, carpets, wallpapers and textiles. Those things don’t age well.”
In their place, Parent introduced a sophisticated palette of black, grays and whites, then layered in pops of color and a mix of textures and materials throughout. In the process, she transformed nearly every room into something modern and stylish—yet timeless.
The living room features a pair of Chesterfield sofas and mirrored console tables from RH. An elegant Christopher Guy Jardin Droite accent chair occupies a far corner.
Hammerton Studio Gem chandelier provides lighting over the island, which is topped with Arabescato quartz. The cabinets are by Radzwillas Kitchen & Bath Design, and the Mir Mosaic hearth tile is through Tile America.
A custom chandelier from Hammerton Studio centers above the dining table; the fringed McGuire mirror is through Baker; and the sparkly ceiling wallpaper is through York Wallcoverings.
In the family room, a coffee table from Bernhardt anchors an L-shaped sectional from RH, accented with Hermès throw pillows. The windows are dressed with a Lee Jofa fabric.
Electric Linen porcelain tile from Tile America lines the walls of this bathroom. The crystal vessel sink and vanity are through MaestroBath.
Porcelain tile from Tile America gives the primary bath a zen-like feel. A Hudson Valley Lighting chandelier hangs above a freestanding tub from Torrco.
The custom millwork for the primary closet was done by Radzwillas Kitchen & Bath Design.
A corner of the home office is furnished with a Lazzoni side chair, ottoman and nesting side tables. A polished nickel droplet chandelier by Maxim Lighting is complemented by a silver-leaf wallcovering from Osborne & Little.
The elevated dog shower features custom millwork, tile from Tile America and a Kohler handshower.
A pair of charcoal velvet-tufted Chesterfield sofas make an inviting seating area near the oversized fireplace in the living room. Windows are framed by ivory sheers, which help lighten the space. A Christopher Guy carved mahogany side chair features his signature camellia flowers, an ode to Coco Chanel. In the dining room, a black McGuire fringed mirror adds a dramatic touch above the marble fireplace, and it echoes the black of the ebony table and the lacquered display cabinet. The designer added a bit of sparkle to the ceiling with a paper from York Wallcoverings. “I call it the fifth wall. It’s such an easy way to make a room feel spectacular,” she notes. “In this case it really does the trick.”
Similarly, in the client’s office, with its exuberant Kandinsky-style painting over the hearth, she covered the ceiling with a silver beaded Osborne & Little paper and added a chandelier with polished-nickel droplets. “The room really glows,” says Parent. “It’s not just beautiful during the day, it’s beautiful at night as well.”
The heart of any home is the kitchen—and this one was definitely on life support. “It was so cavernous and everything was so dark—the cabinets, the floors,” Parent says. She added and moved walls to enhance the flow, replaced the existing three islands with one giant island topped with a sleek Arabescato quartz countertop with a double waterfall edge, changed clunky overhead lighting for a Hammerton Studio chandelier, redid the cabinets, framed the double-sided fireplace with a gray and chrome mirrored tile, and crafted a custom tile hood above the Wolf range.
She took the same approach with the primary suite, with “its cave-like bathroom,” which Parent took down to the studs. She replaced the old steam shower and relocated it to a 10-foot-tall glass enclosure. Adding to the airiness of the space are the 48-inch-square porcelain wall tiles (the floors are 24 by 48). “You can imagine what it was like to lay them out to get all the veining right. It took days.” Next to the bathroom, the reconfigured walk-in closet is a fashionista’s dream with an illuminated glass display case built specifically for her collection of designer purses.
As often happens with a renovation, the project took on a life of its own. “We started with some of the smaller projects first, then she realized once you start updating, it makes other things look very old.” Parent would schedule the work for the winter and then wrap up for the summer, so the client and her partner could have peace and quiet. “We were carving out her forever home,” says the designer. “We weren’t designing for the market; we were designing it for her.”
