Glen Oaks: A New Home Interior in Rye, NY

What Our Client Wanted - The clients were a young family who moved from New York City to Rye, NY with their two daughters. The home is a new construction center hall Colonial, and they were looking for both interior design guidance and technical solutions to several planning challenges. They love to entertain, but both the formal dining and living rooms are relatively small (15’ by 15’) and lacked strong natural light. In addition, the positioning of several doors made furniture placement difficult, and a solid wall opposite the entry hall made the main floor feel visually disconnected.

“I wanted all the rooms to be related to each other — a cohesive design,” says Mimi. “But with a solid wall opposite the entryway, the view of the other rooms was blocked. The clients were skeptical at first, but soon appreciated that the screen we designed defined the entry while allowing the sightline to run through the entire first floor.”

To create the illusion of more space in the dining room, Mimi designed a coffered ceiling and installed a chandelier along with a large floor mirror to reflect it, bringing more light into the room. In the living room, a custom curved sofa was designed to allow for more seating. The opening into the living room was narrowed, which made it possible to add extensive built-ins along one wall, including a “hidden” bar inspired by one the family had seen while traveling in Paris.

“The double doors into the living room were six feet wide,” Mimi explains. “By narrowing them to just five feet, we were able to build in two custom bookcases and three cabinets for the bar.” The mirrored cabinet doors further enlarge and brighten the room, and synchronized color LED lighting inside the cabinets and above can be adjusted to create different moods.

For wall art, the clients had fallen in love with photography they discovered in Venice, but the scale was wrong for the room. Mimi worked directly with the artist in Italy to enlarge and custom-size the pieces to ensure a proper fit. The wallpaper, while it reads like grasscloth, is actually vinyl — a more durable and child-friendly alternative.

The kitchen cabinets and countertops were original to the house, and a full renovation was not necessary at this stage. Storage, however, was lacking. Space was carved out of the underutilized mudroom to create a generously sized pantry, and the mudroom itself was reworked to include a closet and a custom bench surrounded by shelving to neatly organize coats, shoes, and boots. The pendant lights over the kitchen counter and the furnishings in the breakfast nook and desk area are all new.

In the family room, the fireplace was upgraded from a standard builder-grade installation. It was converted from wood-burning to gas and fitted with a custom mantle and cladding stone surround. A distinctive console table crafted from chamcha wood anchors the space, while custom media cabinetry and sofas with a movable console over the ottoman make the room comfortable for everyday family use. When the clients fell in love with a piece of art that was too large and beyond the budget, Mimi again worked directly with the artist to create a custom-sized giclée print. The wood sculptures were sourced on Etsy.

The husband’s home office became one of the most personal spaces in the house. With its custom cabinetry and felt wallpaper detailed with baseball stitching, the room reflects both his interests and his very specific comfort preferences — including a fondness for keeping the room quite cold. To avoid overcooling the rest of the house, a dedicated Mitsubishi split-system air conditioning unit was installed so the space could be independently controlled. This home office was later recognized as a finalist in the Westchester Home Design Competition 2021 in the Home Office category, a distinction that reflects the room’s balance of function, character, and careful detailing.

The project was completed in two phases and included all new furnishings, custom rugs, and window treatments for the family room, formal living and dining rooms, home office, and breakfast nook, along with extensive custom design work: the entry screen, dining room ceiling, living and family room built-ins, and the reconfiguration of the mudroom.