Country Chic
A major renovation turned this Connecticut home into a comfortable haven for a newly blended family
When the owners of this Nantucket Stone and Shingle Style home in Ridgefield, Connecticut, began renovations in October 2018, they had two requirements: It needed to be both sophisticated and casual. The couple was getting married in June 2019, and they were moving into the home with their four children, who range in age from 11 to 14, and a Golden Retriever puppy. The husband and wife, both local business owners, wanted their own spaces in the 18-room home, but they also needed areas for entertaining family and friends. The home, which was built in 2006, had custom millwork and Brazilian cherry floors.
The couple’s tastes are traditional, so the millwork was updated and the floors were replaced with 8-inch, center-cut white oak floor boards. Blue—which reminds the couple of their beloved Nantucket and the ocean—became an accent color in every room, from the dining room walls and drapes to the living room lamp and family room pillows. The wife claimed the living room. It was designed to accommodate
book club gatherings and her office. Her most treasured belongings—a candy dish and crystal bud vase from her grandmother and a painting of her two sons in Nantucket—are on display in a built-in bookcase lined with star wallpaper. A vintage lucite floor lamp has slots for storing books, and several nesting coffee tables with different heights are easy to move around when friends visit. The office area, located in the front of the house, features custom leather ottomans, which double as filing cabinets and extra seating.
The husband’s space is his office, but he was also involved in the design of the large, open family room, where the family of six can gather to watch TV or play shuffleboard. A custommade memento of his hometown Ohio State Buckeyes is displayed above the rustic shuffleboard table. A large, comfortable
sectional sofa has plenty of room for everyone to sit together, and the kid-friendly coffee table was crafted with distressed wood. A small table near the sofa can hold an iPad, and a Ralph Lauren chair next to the new stone fireplace offers a quiet place for reading.
The elegant dining room was designed for entertaining. The large table was custom-made, and a sisal rug with a wide metallic border shimmers in the light of the mirrored chandelier. Peacock blue grasscloth wallpaper adds texture, and a painting above the custom sideboard is framed in water gilt white silver.
The renovation also involved redesigning the foyer, kitchen, powder room, mud room, master bedroom, walk-in closet and bathroom, and part of the lower level. When the work was completed in April 2019, the couple could not have been more pleased. “It was beyond their wildest dreams,” says Patricia Hessel of THT Interior Design in Fairfield, Connecticut. “It was perfect for their needs.”