Updated Oct 12, 2018 7:07 AM EDT
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When die-hard Manhattanites flee to the suburbs, they’re chasing endless space to spread out. But after years of cramming into tight quarters and paring down to essentials, those making the dreaded trek out of the city are often shocked by how hard it is to fill a big home with, well, stuff. Michele and David Kleinmann were no exception. Upon landing in the quiet town of Scarsdale, NY last April, the couple was staring down 4,000-plus square feet of empty. To rescue their blank canvas, they tapped Homepolish designer Gianna Marzella to build a home that felt multifunctional and — most importantly — full.
“The real challenge here was too much space. Sounds crazy, right?! For apartment dwellers, extra rooms are a foreign concept. They aren’t formal people and we didn’t need to clone another TV room, so we built a lounge for reading, playing (hence the very open layout), and working,” explains the designer.
A soothing blend of bold prints, natural textures, and refined art — Marzella wanted a look that quietly blurred the line between casual sophistication and bohemian-cool.
“I really tried to root this design in the Kleinmanns’ vibe and personalities. They’re modern but approachable, a little bohemian, but in a refined, sophisticated way. They still exude an urban sensibility after so many Manhattan years, and we needed to translate that into their new surroundings in a way that still felt relevant to who they are,” Marzella tells Domino.
Bland and a touch dated, the bones of the house were as basic as basic gets when the Kleinmanns moved in. Beyond swapping light fixtures and installing fresh window treatments, tackling the dining room — now boasting custom wainscoting, metallic finishes, and a graphic wallpaper — was high on the must-have list.
“For the dining room, we wanted a big table for entertaining and family get-togethers. Because the room is so enormous, I wanted something to break it up and make it actually feel like a dining room — hence the wainscoting we added,” says Kleinmann.
With longevity in mind, Marzella weighed carefully how hard to go on a wall covering for the dining area. Because the wainscoting ate up half the wall space, the proportions were just right for dialing up the drama.
“I don’t play it safe and I love big impact, but I’m thoughtful about how and where I deploy it,” says the designer. “We usually spend less time in dining rooms than other spaces, so there’s less risk of tiring of such a bold statement. I’m obsessed with this wallpaper, but I wouldn’t have chosen it for somewhere the Kleinmanns would be parked for hours every day, like a family room.”
Just as organic shapes and lines define the dining area, Marzella embraced similar natural forms in the main living room. Though you’d never guess, the show-stopping black-and-white piece hanging behind the modern chaise isn’t a painting — it’s actually a slice of wallpaper.
“I immediately fell in love with [the wallpaper] but it was way too large for the room,” explains the designer of the slick hack. “I spent ages figuring out how to make it work. I cut away a lot of the negative space around what you see and designed a flat custom frame around it so it ultimately reads as a painting.”
While the home is certainly big enough to absorb the couple’s growing needs, it mattered to the now-family-of-four that each space pull double (or triple) duty — like the custom desk that moonlights as a bonus workspace, spare storage, and a display for collected treasures. “I drew on my previous hotel design work to approach the room from a multi-functional perspective,” says Marzella.
Large-scale art also serves as the thread stitching the rooms together. Though they take different forms (the big horse print over the desk and the abstract wallpaper print strike opposite tones), their shared blacks, whites, and charcoal grays create cohesion. “I think the underlying serenity of these seemingly bold pieces makes them natural partners. I see the space and the art selections as energizing and soothing at the same time,” she adds.
“Since I work from home a few days a week, we went with a ‘lounge’ concept that combined an office with a living room and tucked in a built-in desk with storage for me to work at, plus some seating. We love hanging out in the lounge — it’s comfy for me to work or to chill while my daughter plays dress-up,” notes Kleinmann.
Along the wall opposite the framed wallpaper, Marzella and Kleinmann opted for a more personal display of memories and familiar faces. While we tend to think of
in terms of abstract paintings, drawings, prints, it’s clear the focus of this display is family.
“I love photography and loved the idea of making the lounge more personal and inviting by adding a gallery wall of family photos. Walking by it brings back good memories, and I like that I can see part of it from the family room too. Now we just need to add photos of our newborn son!” says Kleinmann.
Like the rest of the room, this photo-centric display extends a sense of balance. Marzella’s number-one rule for a stellar gallery wall? Cohesion. “It doesn’t mean every image must be sepia-toned — which is what we picked for this wall — but something needs to tie it all together,” she suggests. Frames, scale, and subject matter are just a few ways to create a unified display.
“It just needs to feel intentional and read as one visual moment made up of separate, individual stories. There are people who will 100% disagree and say that as long as the composition is right, anything goes. That’s not untrue — it just isn’t my approach, which tends toward clean and modern.”
“We love all shades of gray, plus blues, black, and white. Lately I’ve also been into touches of gold and brass,” says Kleinmann, who considers herself a modern minimalist.
In the master bedroom, the same tranquil palette that informed the downstairs takes a lighter turn. Peppered with velvets and blush pinks, the blue-green scene dishes up just the right dose of calm.
Snoop through more homes we love:
Global, Bohemian Style Shines Bright in This Brooklyn Brownstone
A Colorful Hamptons House Stuffed With Pattern and Texture
Tour a Scandinavian Farmhouse Hiding Out in the Heart of Texas
Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. These days she writes and edits home and renovation stories — house tours, before-and-afters, DIYs — and helms our design news coverage. She lives in New York City, where square footage is a luxury.
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