Inside a Chappaqua Tudor Designed for Entertaining

A custom ebonized-oak table and Kravet chairs upholstered in a green performance velvet accommodate dinner parties of ten in the formal dining room.

Interior designers Cami Luppino and Alana Irwin kept most of the home’s existing millwork intact. In the entry’s arch, they installed a floating marble slab; the gray bench underneath coordinates with the stone’s veining. The mirror was an Etsy find.

The speakeasy cabinetry conceals a refrigerator and ice maker, and the wine fridge hints at the more extensive collection cellared in the finished basement.

Twin banquettes that seat two—three if you pull up a stool—in the speakeasy are covered in a chestnut faux leather that wipes clean in an instant.

The formal dining room’s channel-tufted banquette offers a perch for more casual dining or conversation over cocktails.

The husband loves to cook, so it was imperative the remodeled kitchen includes plenty of prep space. Enter the white-oak island where four people can keep him company.

White-oak beams, floating shelves, and floors warm up the white kitchen, which overlooks the backyard.

The designers divided the home’s enormous great room into more intimate conversation areas. How enormous? Each of the two faux-leather-topped coffee tables measures seventy-five-by-sixty inches.

The far end of the great room has a casual dining area that overlooks the side yard.

keeping with the dark, moody theme of the nearby speakeasy, the color-drenched powder room boasts a hand-painted Porter Teleo wallpaper in a deep forest green.

The primary suite is positioned in one of the Tudor’s gables, so the designers embraced the romance with silk pillows and shades of blush and ivory.

While most of the home’s marble is honed, Luppino and Irwin opted for polished Calacatta marble in the bath for a dressier feel.

The team gutted the primary bath and reimagined it with a fluted oak vanity and a coordinating makeup table.

A Story Driven Interior Sets the Tone in a Chappaqua Tudor

If the best interior design tells a story, then the moment anyone walks through the door of this brick Tudor, they know they want to be part of its cast of characters. It starts with the entry’s green-tinged concave mirror—as much an art piece as a place to check your lipstick—which interior designer Cami Luppino describes as an Alice in Wonderland-moment that almost gives the impression of falling down a rabbit hole.

What’s at the bottom of the rabbit hole? Well, if you’re a sommelier—cue the wife—a cozy spot for uncorking a bottle of wine seems logical. Hence the carefully concealed pocket door in the entry’s paneling that opens to reveal a speakeasy-like space with twin corner banquettes and a well-stocked bar. Above it all, a ceiling wrapped in a wood-inlay Phillip Jeffries wallcovering adds a dose of drama.

The 8,800-square-foot 2001-built home in Chappaqua, New York, didn’t always have this strong of a narrative, though. The homeowners and their three kids, two in college and one still at home, lived in the residence for a year before reaching out to Luppino and her business partner, Alana Irwin, at Lulu Home. “Initially, they hired us to decorate just a few rooms: the entry, dining and living rooms,” says Luppino.

Expanding the Design Vision Throughout the Home

But one thing led to another, and the homeowners asked the designers to keep going. Eighteen months later, the family wound up with a new entry, formal dining room, great room, kitchen, powder room, office, primary suite, and the aforementioned speakeasy, which was just a passthrough before Luppino and Irwin let their imaginations run wild.

The family didn’t provide the designers with a ton of direction, says Irwin. “They were curious and enthusiastic, but they let us steer the ship and didn’t second-guess our decisions.” They did scratch their heads over the dining room’s banquette, nestled under a wall of windows, but it has since become one of their favorite elements.

That’s probably because the couple appreciates a good party, so any additional seating is always welcome. “They are big livers of life,” says Luppino. “Every holiday is a huge deal—it’s go big or go home—and the more the merrier.”

Designing Entertaining Spaces with Drama and Functionality

With that kind of ethos, it’s not surprising that a workhorse kitchen was at the top of the priority list. Luppino and Irwin enlisted Veronica Campbell at DEANE to turn a dark, cramped room into an airy space filled with white cabinetry topped with a creamy Statuario marble. A white-oak island houses a prep sink, conveniently located right behind the range, and a microwave.

But the showstopper is the hood, finished in a proprietary paint-and-metal combination that, when buffed, says Campbell, takes on an exceptional patina. “The same finish was used for the caps on the island legs and in the speakeasy cabinetry,” she says. “It’s quite stunning.”

Luppino and Irwin filled the home with thoughtful arcs like that, moments that are a little glam, a little fun, and a little functional. The result is one compelling story.

Project Team
Interior design: Lulu Home
Builder: The Shanahan Group Construction Management

Styled by Anna Molvick