All photos by Kirsten Francis | Courtesy of Emily Shron Interiors
Designer Emily Shron reimagines a storied, 1930s New Rochelle Tudor for longevity as a young family grows in Westchester County.
You’d be hard-pressed to single out the kids’ rooms, which feature full-size beds and sophisticated color palettes, like blush, beige, and navy.
When entering this light-filled, 1930s Tudor home, one is immediately met with softness: plush, inviting sofas; round coffee tables; semicircular alcoves hosting cozy window seats. As it turns out, designer Emily Shron’s fondness for curvature wasn’t purely aesthetic.
“Before I had my son, everything in my house had hard corners,” the proprietor of Emily Shron Interiors admits with a laugh. “He opened my eyes. For these homeowners, who have young children, we used a lot of round coffee tables and side tables and pieces with soft edges.” Indeed, Mom and Dad don’t have to worry about bumped heads or even spills, as Shron opted for performance fabrics throughout.
“In the kitchen, everything is wipeable. In the dining room, the chairs are vinyl,” Shron explains. “That was the undercurrent for the project: We wanted everything to look nice, last, and be easy to maintain.”
It was important to this couple that the house would grow with the family and its three children under age 5. “She was focused on the big picture, doing it once, and doing it right,” Shron says. You’d be hard-pressed to single out the kids’ rooms, which feature full-size beds and sophisticated color palettes, like blush, beige, and navy.
The other top priority was to renovate selectively while preserving the home’s history and character. Window seats are tucked into every alcove, along stained-glass windows. Aside from a freshly upholstered cushion, Shron left them as is, to let the home’s history shine through, literally.
In the living room, exposed-beam ceilings and an original fireplace reveal the structure’s character. “We kept the original wood on the ceilings, which brings a nice richness and coziness to the space,” the designer says, adding, “We felt like it was part of the house’s story and its look.” Original hardwood was upgraded with an espresso stain throughout.
Still, the history needed to strike a balance with these former Manhattanites’ modern tastes. Custom pieces were mixed with furniture from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and RH, as well as more-affordable brands, like CB2. “We wanted to reach a luxurious aesthetic while maintaining a budget and making the space livable,” Shron says. “We didn’t want to feel like anything was too precious.”
The clients’ preference for gray and navy is seen throughout, but Shron added pops of color, with artwork and accessories. An array of contemporary, sculptural light fixtures from Visual Comfort and Jonathan Adler add interest from above, as well.
“We wanted to reach a luxurious aesthetic while maintaining a budget and making the space livable.”
Here, too, the home’s architecture was preserved. Original black-paned windows are paired with contemporary black hardware and fixtures. Finally, to avoid a stark-white aesthetic, wood-look tiles make up the backsplash and flooring below.
Though the couple opted out of a full-gut reno, they knew the kitchen was ready for a makeover. Working with Bilotta Kitchen & Home, Shron reoriented the space to remove a cramped butler’s pantry in favor of an open plan. “Before, it felt chopped up,” Shron says. “Now, there’s one big kitchen and a little breakfast area, with a desk for Mom and an enormous island with five stools.”
Here, too, the home’s architecture was preserved. Original black-paned windows are paired with contemporary black hardware and fixtures. Finally, to avoid a stark-white aesthetic, wood-look tiles make up the backsplash and flooring below.
More renovations were needed for the three bathrooms, which provided Shron an opportunity to take risks she avoided in the rest of the house. “My client gave me more freedom to go a little crazy,” she admits. Of course, the bold looks are discreetly functional.
The designer opted for Porcelanosa tile in both children’s bathrooms — a three-dimensional geometric white in one and a graphic black-and-white in the other. The downstairs powder room features a cheerful, blue-vinyl wall covering. “Everything is durable and easy to clean,” Shron notes, echoing her ethos for the rest of the home. “Nothing feels babyish. The kids use these spaces now, and they’ll still feel cool when they’re 18.”
