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Viñas’s ShweShwe wallpaper in the main bedroom, where an Isamu Noguchi lamp joins the custom headboard upholstered in a cotton blend, derives from traditional South African prints.
Who doesn’t appreciate a healthy dose of happiness? Design-wise, nobody brings it on like Ghislaine Viñas. That special talent is what’s kept one repeat client coming back for more, first hiring her to design their Manhattan loft, then their Palm Beach, Florida, condominium, and now a five-bedroom residence in Pound Ridge, an hour’s drive north of New York City. Third time’s a charm—and, to riff on the proverb, charming, too.
The property certainly didn’t start out that way. The 1980’s-built home, set on a wooded 5 ½-acre site, was generously sized, at 6,000 square feet spread across three levels, one below grade. But it was nondescript to the point of drab, with pervasive dark-wood flooring. “It did not exude joy,” Viñas summarizes. So she devised a dynamic overhaul that would marry her signature pop with the family’s love of mid-century design—particularly the wife, whose taste was honed by growing up amid vaunted masterworks. “My methodology is to extract what I can from myself and combine it with what the client wants,” Viñas explains. Here, the shared vision entailed establishing a crisp envelope, with whitewashed walls and Scandinavian-style pale-oak flooring, to offset the jolts of blue, green, and orange the homeowners favored.
Ghislaine Viñas’s Bold Design Brings Joy To This 1980s Home
Flanked by Atelier Van Lieshout’s Statistocrat lamp and Joseph D’Urso swivel chairs in similar hues, the living room’s Deborah Kass OY/YO rests on a custom table, backed by Workstead’s Hieroglyph sconces and a Robert Rauschenberg artwork.
Although Viñas preserved the existing floor plan and eschewed structural work—“no need for wasteful changes”—she did tweak some details. Out went traditional molding and baseboards, in came strong vertical banding via wall paneling and hand-painted stripes. She also introduced the clients to her pal Alan Barlis, principal of BarlisWedlick Architects, who executed additional interventions with firm associate Jessie Goldvarg. “Our work was at the edges and the outdoors,” Barlis says, describing a scope that included extensive landscaping and hardscaping, some 2,500 square feet of decks and patios, and new interior/exterior connections. The BWA team also transformed a 550-square-foot erstwhile garage into a bright, Scandi-inspired guest barn.
Viñas studiously avoided mid-century-mod clichés by comingling recherché vintage items with custom creations from her own drawing board. In the living room, for instance, a bespoke white-oak coffee table—with the delightful surprise of colorful inset boxes—sits comfortably alongside Joseph D’Urso chairs, a Warren Platner ottoman, and a lamp by Dutch outfit Atelier Van Lieshout (Viñas is Dutch and grew up in South Africa). Fellow Netherlander Piet Hein Eek’s 11-foot chandelier, composed of mismatched glass shades, anchors the main stairway, now graced with a more fluid railing. On the landing, an Eero Saarinen settee faces off with a Richard Woods art credenza. Meanwhile, Viñas tamed the large scale of the main bedroom with a double headboard—the front layer upholstered, the back one wood-paneled.
Fusing Color With Timeless Style
Viñas’s ShweShwe wallpaper in the main bedroom, where an Isamu Noguchi lamp joins the custom headboard upholstered in a cotton blend, derives from traditional South African prints.
Surprisingly, Viñas’s favorite moments fall in the house’s lower level, starting with the moody green-and-blue board-and-batten staircase that leads down to the bottom floor. “It’s like a tunnel to happiness,” Viñas comments. This level, now with 16-foot sliding doors that connect to a new pool terrace by way of a garden, contains game and media rooms as well as the husband’s office. For a work break, nothing beats gazing at Robert Rauschenberg’s Platter from the incomparable comfort of a Charles and Ray Eames lounge.
Tour This New York Home by Ghislaine Viñas + BarlisWedlick Architects
The five-bedroom, six-bathroom residence’s second-floor landing features a Jonathan Adler zebra rug and an Eero Saarinen Womb settee upholstered in Ghislaine Viñas’s Mr. Dimple acrylic-blend fabric.
Board-and-batten lines another staircase—illuminated with custom-colored Pastille sconces by RBW—which leads down to the basement level.
The office’s E60 stool by Alvar Aalto and Eames lounge stand on a wool rug, overlooked by another Rauschenberg.
The kitchen was updated with engineered-stone counters, ceramic backsplash tiles, a stainless-steel hood, and Jason Miller’s Endless pendant fixture.
In the mudroom, Viñas’s custom console joins her Mock Rock wallpaper and a collage by her daughter, Saskia.
Beyond Piet Hein Eek’s Old Lampshade chandelier, the second-floor landing showcases a trio of hand-painted wallpaper sheets above a Wrongwoods credenza by Richard Woods and Sebastian Wrong.
Explore The Home’s Lower Level Inviting Moments Of Joy
The basement-level media room sports another oak coffee table and a wool rug, both custom—as is the ottoman, dressed in Paul Smith’s Velvet Stripe.
In the game room, with sliders leading out to the pool, hand-painted stripes by Paulina Trojnar backdrop Pierre Paulin’s linen-covered Pumpkin swivel chairs and a Ping-Pong table by Antoni Palleja Office.
A prefab garage was transformed into a guesthouse via new windows, a hip ceiling, and such furnishings as Charles and Ray Eames chairs and an Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby sofa.
FROM FRONT KNOLL: SETTEE (LANDING), SWIVEL CHAIRS, LOUNGE CHAIR, OTTOMAN (LIVING ROOM), SOFA (BARN). HBF TEXTILES: SOFA FABRIC (LANDING, MEDIA ROOM, BARN). EMISSARY: CURVED TABLE (LANDING). CHRISTIAN HAAS: TALL TABLE. JONATHAN ADLER: RUG. ARONSON’S FLOOR COVERING: RUGS (LIVING ROOM, BEDROOM). HOLLAND & SHERRY: SWIVEL CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING ROOM). MOOOI: FLOOR LAMP. WORKSTEAD: SCONCES. THE RUG COMPANY: CUSTOM RUG (MEDIA ROOM). NAULA DESIGN: CUSTOM OTTOMAN (MEDIA ROOM), CUSTOM BED (BEDROOM), CUSTOM OTTOMAN (BARN). MAHARAM: OTTOMAN FABRIC (MEDIA ROOM). SUITE NY: SOFA. PASTOE: CABINETS (MEDIA ROOM, BARN). RICHARD WOODS: CREDENZA (LANDING). THE FUTURE PERFECT: PENDANT FIXTURES (LANDING, KITCHEN). RBW: SCONCES (BASEMENT STAIRCASE, MUDROOM). FLAVOR PAPER: WALLPAPER (MUDROOM, BEDROOM). COLLECTOR NYC: CUSTOM CABINET FABRICATION (MUDROOM). INDUSTRY WEST: STOOLS (KITCHEN). 57 ST. DESIGN: NIGHTSTAND (BEDROOM). ISAMU NOGUCHI: TABLE LAMP. DESIGNTEX: BED FRAME FABRIC. CONTARDI USA: READING LIGHT. ANOTHER COUNTRY: TABLE (BARN). DESIGN WITHIN REACH: CHAIRS. ZERO LIGHTING: PENDANT FIXTURES. ARTISTIC TILE: BACKSPLASH TILE. LUCY TUPU: CUSTOM RUG. SVENSKT TENN: OTTOMAN FABRIC. HERMAN MILLER: LOUNGE CHAIR (OFFICE). ARTEK: STOOL. KASTHALL: RUG. PIERRE PAULIN: ARMCHAIRS. ROMO: ARMCHAIR FABRIC. LA CHANCE X NOTE DESIGN STUDIO: STOOL. RS BARCELONA: PING-PONG TABLE. THROUGHOUT SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY: PAINT. ACARA CONSTRUCTION: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.