Pretty in Pink

The homeowner’s favorite color, pink, is rendered in a chic coral in the dining room, where a glossy lacquered ceiling gleams above a playful Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper. The colors meet in the custom chairs. A breezy Aerin chandelier hangs above the custom dining table.

Gold-toned nailhead trim on the dining chairs adds an extra touch of sophistication and warmth.

The foyer holds a custom console table from Society Social painted the aptly named Dishy Coral from Sherwin-Williams. Designer Lynn Morgan felt the dark wood floor was too somber for such a cheerful home, so she had it painted in a fresh lattice design.

Oomph’s Westport Classic Mirror in Tucson Coral as well as coral stool cushions and toss pillows add a lively touch to the living room’s palette of blue and white.

Little shots of color, including the bright pink lanterns, add a cheerful note to the kitchen.

A brass faucet and brass hardware warm the white kitchen.

White trim pops against the turquoise and royal blue of the family room’s walls and furniture. Hot pink, lime green, and color-block prints from the late Wendy Concannon add zip.

A guest suite goes all in on pink with its blush walls and hot pink rug and lounge chairs. The white sofa chimes in with bright pink piping. The homeowner commissioned the artwork from her friend, New Canaan artist Jo Tonkovich.

A powder room gets a dose of drama with Clarence House’s Tibet wallpaper in pinks, blues, and turquoise.

The primary bedroom’s bed and lounge chair are outfitted in Quadrille’s China Seas fabric in pretty shades of turquoise and navy.

If it takes a certain fearlessness to decorate a house in bold color, imagine how brave a homeowner must be to insist that one of those colors be pink. Hot pink, blush pink, coral pink, salmon pink—they all make an appearance in this New Canaan home. “I’m kind of known for loving pink,” the homeowner confesses. “And Lynn is the person to have if you’re going for color.”

Lynn would be Lynn Morgan, a Rowayton-based designer as fearless as her client when it comes to daring hues. “It’s all about balance,” Morgan says. For this home, Morgan and assistant Kate McCabe achieved balance by pairing varying shades of the homeowner’s favorite color with a range of blues, then tempering the energetic vibe with calming white.

In the dining room, the ceiling inset wears a glossy coat of coral lacquer, a shade repeated on the backs of the custom chairs. The deep blue chair fronts complement the wallpaper, Brunschwig & Fils’s Ashanti in blueberry, a playful abstract zebra print. White molding and wainscoting and a sisal rug keep the cheerfulness from tipping into delirium.

Across the home’s center hall, the living room uses coral as an accent against the cornflower blue of the lacquered ceiling and the Schumacher drapery fabric. An acrylic coffee table and curtain rods keep things light and airy, while accents of brass lend warmth.

The foyer acts as a thematic connection between what Morgan calls the “yin and yang” of the dining and living rooms. Rather than the expected dark wood floor, Morgan brought in decorative painter Shelly Denning, who laid down a coat of soft white paint then added a lattice of blue and coral. “I adore painted floors,” Morgan says. “This one tells the story of the whole house.”

The predominantly white kitchen gets a spark from a pair of hot pink pendant lanterns above the island. Acrylic stools sport cushions of pink, white, and blue. And what better kitchen mascot than a pink pig? The painting above the range, a birthday gift to the homeowner, was done by Berkley Matthews, an artist and one of the owners’ daughter’s high school classmates.

Color reigns again in the family room, where splashes of hot pink and lime green enliven tranquil seafoam blue walls. Perhaps as a thank-you for a husband’s tolerance of his wife’s passion for pink, the primary bedroom is a romantic sanctuary of sky blue, turquoise, and white. A guest suite, however, is unapologetically pink, from its blush walls to its hot pink rug and lounge chairs.

The goal—a cheerful environment for an active family—was achieved in spades. “The first thing everybody says when they come is, ‘It’s happy,’ ” the homeowner says. “That’s a nice thing to hear.”

Project Team 
Interior design: Lynn Morgan Design
Builder: TR Building & Remodeling