Decorating & Design
Bold Colors Transform This New York House
Updated on September 23, 2019
When architect and interior designer Garrow Kedigian isn’t at his pied- à-terre in Montreal designing for international clients, he lives and works out of Fred Astaire’s former prewar apartment on Park Avenue in New York. Known for his bold use of color, Garrow was the perfect fit for color-hungry Lindsey, a Parsons-trained interior designer, mother of two, and director of marketing, and her husband Ben, who needed help decorating their Arts and Crafts–style house in Pound Ridge, New York. Garrow added neoclassical accents, from new millwork to Empire-style prints, paired with mid-century modern art and furniture, for a “New York meets Paris” feel, says Garrow. Click through for a look inside the bold, colorful space.
Garrow and Lindsey in her lively living room, which pairs tangerine walls with a peacock blue sofa.
To create a grand sense of arrival in the foyer, Garrow added mirrored panelling above the original front door and millwork down the sides. Dark blue wainscotting further grounds the space. A pendant lantern hangs from the 18-foot-high ceiling to “create architecture where there was none.”
The original stair hall was a large, blank space so Garrow had a canvas print of a 19th-century Empire painting made to fill the main wall. “It was originally inspired by a postcard,” he says. Now that museum collections are in the public domain, Garrow often contacts museums for high-resolution images of his favorite Old Masters, including Géricault and Piranesi, so that he can place them in clients’ homes.
Garrow kept the original white walls in the kitchen — the room was in good shape when Lindsey and Ben bought the home and they wanted to put their renovation dollars elsewhere. The flooring throughout the house is the original white oak stained a medium walnut color.
The Ralph Lauren rug in the family room was the first item Ben carried into the house when the family moved in, and Garrow agreed it should stay. “It’s relaxed and fun, and there aren’t a lot of people willing to do such bold geometric patterns. It showed me they were willing to take risks.” He painted the window frames dark blue to encourage people to take in the natural pond on the property. “When you paint window frames a dark color, it sharpens the view looking out — especially at night.”
“The ceiling in the dining room is just over nine feet high,” says Garrow. “When you do a high-gloss finish, the eye almost sees through it, giving it a more effortless and effervescent feeling.”
A buffet found in Connecticut and a vase picked up in Paris add to the home’s collected feel.
“The powder room is a little weird and I love it!” says Lindsey. She’d eyed the zebra wallpaper by Scalamandré for years and jumped at the chance to use it.
“Lindsey rides horses and has a very Ralph Lauren streak about her,” says Garrow. “Plus, this home is in horse country, so one of the rooms had to have an equestrian feel!” The hunting scene in the library is reproduced from a Christie’s catalogue.
Because of the principal bedroom’s high ceilings, Garrow painted every surface a dark green shade that envelops the space. The color was inspired by a hotel room Lindsey and Ben fell in love with in London.
The armchair in the principal ensuite is a white, shearling Hartwell chair that Lindsey sourced at Anthropologie. Because it’s so comfortable and light-filled, the bathroom has become Lindsey’s upstairs office. “I do Google Hangouts and FaceTime calls in there with my London colleagues, and no one knows I’m in the bathroom!” This fits Garrow’s philosophy that bathrooms and kitchens should look and feel as decorated as any other room in the house.
For her daughter Caroline’s bedroom, Lindsey chose a timeless mauve and green scheme. Oscar de la Renta’s Hedges wallpaper for Lee Jofa adds sophisticated pattern.
The home is nestled in a lush green setting.
John Gruen
House & Home March 2018
Garrow Kedigian