A Fairfield Home for a Growing Family

The front hall features airy Pear Tree wallpaper by Kravet, but Ferraro’s favorite element is the antique gilded mirror: “It brings soul to the space.”

For quick meals, the Ferraro family sits down at a kitchen island lit by antique brass-and-white-glass fixtures. Homeowner and designer Dana Ferraro had two in storage but could only find a third in chrome—so she painted it to match.

The sunroom that originally sold Ferraro on the house features utilitarian stone floors and walls. To soften the hard surfaces, she chose a floral fabric for two skirted coffee tables positioned in front of a built-in bench covered in Brunschwig & Fils Les Touches fabric.

Ferraro’s late friend, designer Molly Patton, was fond of Federal-style mirrors. In her memory, they form a leitmotif throughout the house, including in the sunroom.

Bold primary colors dominate Ferraro’s son Leo’s room, while a campaign-style bureau echoes his brother’s furniture. The cobalt-colored bed was custom made to complement the sunny Benjamin Moore Showtime walls

Ferraro painted the family room walls Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee, but they were originally gray. The luminous new color accentuates the beams while letting the many textures of upholstery, carpet, and pillows stand out. French doors open to the kitchen.

Son Frankie’s room is painted a light blue with an Erin Gates by Momeni rug. Wooly textural art hangs above the Pottery Barn crib.

To turn the dressing room alcove into a space where she would lounge, Ferraro added a chaise and installed Katie Ridder shades.

The botanical-print duvet in the primary bedroom sparked the custom bed covered in Kravet green velvet. Katie Ridder’s Leaf wallpaper continues the floral theme.

As soon as she received the news that she was expecting a second child, interior designer Dana Ferraro went looking for a larger home. The five bedrooms tucked into a Fairfield house ticked many boxes, but the home’s sunroom clinched the sale. Ferraro walked into the room, with its greenhouse roof and stone floor, felt the sunbeams on her face, and knew she was home. With just a little tweaking, she determined the house would fit her family like a glove.

Ferraro found the space in December 2018, when she was still mourning the loss of Molly Patton, her best friend and partner at Molly Patton Design. From the moment Patton hired Ferraro to work at a New York City magazine, the two bonded. In fact, Ferraro and her husband followed the Pattons from the city to Fairfield where Ferraro ultimately joined her friend’s interior design firm.

When Patton passed away in 2015, Ferraro dove into growing the business in Patton’s memory. The skills she acquired in the process would be utilized as she perfected her family’s new home.

From the street, you would never guess that what appears to be a one-story ranch packs 4,000 square feet of spaciousness; due to the property’s sloping grade, the home’s true two-floor colonial character isn’t revealed until viewed from the back. The front entrance opens to the upper bedroom level with a staircase that descends to the family spaces. Part of Ferraro’s challenge was to make the entrance flow gracefully, so visitors are naturally drawn down to the kitchen, sunroom, and family room. She achieved her goal by wrapping both the entry and stairway with Kravet’s Pear Tree wallpaper. Ferraro also kept furniture in the area to a minimum to encourage movement down into the living spaces.

Originally, the lower level also included a formal dining room, but the kitchen needed an update to meet the demands of a growing family, and the dining area felt redundant. That’s where Ferraro’s father came in.

Builder Ken DiStefano didn’t think twice before accepting his daughter’s project. “We think alike,” he admits. He agreed with Ferraro’s plan to bump out the space by a foot, installing a wall of windows in the kitchen that allows panoramic views of the backyard’s pool and play area. “The cabinets were the toughest issue,” DiStefano notes. The windows meant forfeiting upper cupboard space, but a thirteen-and-a-half-foot-long quartzite island and a butler’s pantry both provide storage.

Meanwhile, Ferraro went to work furnishing the house. She focused on creamy hues on the walls to create continuity in the lower living areas, introducing patterns with cheerful upholstery, rugs, and pillows, while rattan, bamboo, and wicker add texture and a sense of informality. Upstairs, the designer grew adventurous with a primary bedroom clad in Katie Ridder wallpaper and an adjacent dressing room painted aubergine. The children’s rooms are equally vivid, especially four-year-old Leo’s space, which accents his collection of stuffed lions. “I have the zoo room,” he proclaims.

“Leo is already attuned to color and pattern,” Ferraro proudly notes. Clearly her son inherited that penchant from his mom. Or maybe he soaked it up from his surroundings—Ferraro, after all, values intentionality. That’s why round Federal-style mirrors repeat throughout the house: they remind her of a purchase she made with Patton. In fact, every Ferraro project has some Molly Patton sprinkled in. “We shared so much,” she says.

Project Team 
Interior design:  Dana Ferraro, Molly Patton Design
Kitchen builder: Ken DiStefano, DiStefano Builders