The exterior of the four-bedroom Colonial has a welcoming vibe with a gracious front porch and crisp white trim.
The console in the foyer is from Blu Dot, and the mirror is from Serena & Lily.
The lighting in the kitchen came with the house; the stools are from the homeowners.
The breakfast nook wallpaper is by Romo, and the cushions are covered in a durable Perennials fabric.
A blue fruit bowl adds a decorative touch.
In the sitting area, a round rug from Art + Loom grounds a Julian Chichester sofa and Arteriors coffee table. The two chairs are from the New Traditionalists.
In the dining room, the table is through Bradley, the rug is from Bolon, the lamps are Christopher Spitzmiller, and the chandelier is by Giopato & Coombes.
The exterior of the four-bedroom Colonial has a welcoming vibe.
In the family room, an RH sofa sports a Perennials linen, the rug is from Art + Loom, and the coffee table is from West NYC Home.
A Lindsay Cowles grasscloth wallcovering sets the color story in the primary bedroom.
The primary bathroom features a Brizo tub filler, a rug through Teia Atelier and a basket from Al Maktoum Goods.
A Prestige Mills rug softens the couple’s home office, where the table is topped with leather from Jerry Pair through Romo, and the chairs are from Carl Hansen & Son.
For years, a couple and their two young sons drove from their home in Riverdale to spend weekends and holidays with their families in Connecticut. As the boys got older, however, they realized they needed a country house of their own. In 2019, the couple bought a four-bedroom Colonial on two acres of land in Warren. They were the first owners of the house, which was built by a developer in 2018. It was the polar opposite of their primary residence, which was more than 100 years old. “We’d spent enough time learning everything about how to take care of an old house,” says the wife. “We were ready for a change.”
The home’s modern, open floor plan appealed to the homeowners, as did the high ceilings, sun-filled rooms and location near a lake and a vineyard. They wanted the house to be a place where friends and family gathered and “lots of comfortable places to sit.” Having grown up surrounded by antiques, they also wanted to maintain the house’s traditional design elements, such as the wainscot in the family room and farmhouse-chic wood paneling around the fireplace. To help them achieve that balance, they turned to Brooklyn-based designer Jennifer Morris, who had done a kitchen and mudroom renovation in their Riverdale home. “Jennifer is great at blending those two aesthetics,” says the wife.
Equally important was the introduction of color. “Left to our devices, we tend to overdo,” she adds. “Jennifer is good at bringing in color that’s very warm and playful, but isn’t an overwhelming rainbow.”
“My goal was to celebrate traditional and modern, while seamlessly infusing color and unexpected touches that make it unique,” says Morris.
Blue plays a predominant role, tying each room together. A valance above the windows in the family room is done in a hand-block–printed blue trellis pattern—a nod to the traditional—while the box pleat gives it a crisp modern feel. The blue RH sectional invites lounging, the orange and rust accent pillows add an unexpected pop, and the blue and rust custom rug is very grounding. She also played up the wainscot by adding a textural gray wallcovering. “It really toned down the space and made it more refined and relaxed,” she says.
The valance repeats in the dining room, where classic wishbone chairs are softened with custom seat cushions in a black and khaki print that ties in with the table’s blond walnut top and black stained base, and the champagne rug. The chandelier’s frosted globes add a whimsical touch. “This room is all about the light and the view,” says Morris. “It has that soft casual feel of a second home—a little less fussy but still elegant.”
In the breakfast nook near the kitchen, the designer covered the walls in an exuberant blue and green print. “When I squint, it’s like I see forests and trees, and it really meshes with the view outside,” she explains. “I love how the wallpaper gave that nook an immediate voice.”
In the primary bedroom, a Lindsay Cowles digitally printed grasscloth wallcovering inspired the design of the space. “It has a great dynamic pattern with pinks and violets, which we carried into the headboard and the rug,” notes Morris.
For the designer, the biggest challenge was being handed a space that lacked vision and personality and knowing where to bend to it and where to distract from it. “The layout was really nice for them,” Morris explains. “This is a home where kids are forced to hang out with their parents on the main floor, and then there are rooms upstairs and a basement to hide in.”
The homeowner agrees. “During the pandemic we definitely made use of that. We liked that it was open, but there was a nook for everyone as well.”
As for the old Riverdale house? “We sold it right away,” says the homeowner. “And now we live in an apartment on the Upper East Side.”
