Andrea Sinkin Uses a Vibrant Color Palette to Update a Traditional Home

The tour de force in the front entry hall is the chandelier of cascading white plaster from Visual Comfort & Co. “It is earthy but glamorous and dramatic,” says interior designer Andrea Sinkin. The continuity of color that runs throughout the house begins with the staircase’s gray handrails.

Grasscloth wallcovering and silk curtains bring texture to the living room. The chandelier of mirrored discs from Arteriors adds a playful note.

An island from the original kitchen, fitted with a beverage refrigerator, is repurposed as a bar in a corner of the room.

The color scheme continues in the dining room’s willow-pattern wallpaper from the Pluma line at Romo. Sinkin paired a Worlds Away table with side chairs in light-toned wood with caned backs and seats upholstered in blue-gray fabric. The sideboard is finished in woven grasscloth. The modern chandelier from Visual Comfort & Co. resembles a mobile.

A spot for family dining was designed around a banquette on one side of the new island; the table base is from Dunes and Duchess, and the top was custom made by builder Palette Pro Painting & Renovation.

The banquette is upholstered in performance vinyl from Kravet, and floral arrangements are by Abilis Gardens & Gifts in Greenwich.

A nook in the family room, command central for children’s activities, has a corkboard for notes and cupboards for storage.

The monochromatic gray tones of the primary bedroom make this a restful retreat for the parents. The upholstered bed is by Bernhardt. The Fiona mirror from Made Goods, one of the homeowner’s favorite pieces, is crafted from silver and mother-of-pearl in a floral motif.

A closet was eliminated in the primary bathroom making room for a pair of new vanities and a built-in makeup station. The space opens to a private outdoor balcony.

For a couple with three boys under seven, moving from a New York City apartment to a house in suburban Connecticut was an opportunity to create a home tailored to their needs. “The house had good bones,” says the owner of the 4,900-square-foot, six-bedroom traditional-style structure set on a bucolic half acre, but to work for her active family it needed an update. “I wanted to modernize while respecting the classic architecture,” she says.

To help execute a plan, she connected with Greenwich-based interior designer Andrea Sinkin. “Andrea has a bold style that I love,” she says.

Sinkin’s goals included bringing continuity to the overall aesthetic, which she accomplished with a palette of blues, greens, purples, and grays. “It was important that all the rooms relate,” says the designer, and the thread begins in the impressive two-story entry hall. The focal point is a sinewy grand staircase with handrails painted Benjamin Moore Storm, a gray hue Sinkin uses throughout the house.

The kitchen was a hodgepodge. Two islands and two large support pillars broke up the space, stained-glass windows blocked the light, and, most important for the family, it lacked a place for casual dining. Sinkin replaced the columns with a structural beam allowing for a more open floor plan. She created a new single island that cleverly incorporates banquette seating for a kitchen table, changed the doors and hardware on the base cabinets, and installed new countertops and a tile backsplash.

One of the existing islands was repurposed as a bar in the living room, where Sinkin covered the walls with grasscloth in soothing shades of blue, gray, and purple. “The tactile quality of the materials was purposeful,” says Sinkin, “and everything is user-friendly.” The room has a game table to encourage non-electronic play and an oversized shagreen coffee table with storage for puzzles and books.

The dining room reads as an ethereal oasis thanks to wallpaper in a wistful willow pattern. Natural light floods the space, which, like the rest of the house, is beautiful, functional, and just right for this family.

Project Team
Interior design: Andrea Sinkin Design
Builder: Palette Pro Painting & Renovation