Living in a West Village town house is a dream shared by many New Yorkers. When Andie and Jon Kully and their two children were lucky enough to upgrade from a Manhattan condominium to a storied brick-faced exemplar on a cobblestone street, they made theirs come true. Complete with a separate carriage house accessed via a covered horse walk, one of the city’s last remaining, the 1859-built abode had been previously renovated to handsome effect. However, its interior needed an overhaul to fit the Kully family’s needs—and taste.
Although Andie is a retired interior designer, she wanted to collaborate with another professional on the decorating. She was drawn to the work of New York–based talent Starrett Ringbom on social media, and a mutual friend connected them. Their styles were in total alignment. “I love color and print and pattern, and Starrett has a similar appreciation. Aesthetically, I felt we were very like-minded,” says Andie, who now acts as the creative director of Left Lane, a hospitality and real estate development firm cofounded by her husband.
Andie desired a vibrant and comfortable space whose furnishings skewed traditional. “My sweet spot is a neo-traditional edge,” Ringbom says, “a little sexy, cooler, and not too classic.” The principal of design studio Starrett Hoyt tapped her professional connection at local furniture maker Luther Quintana to create bespoke pieces that were just the right fit, from a colorful canopy bed made to match a set of Andie’s beloved floral linens by Biscuit to a custom-size blue velvet sofa trimmed with a Samuel & Sons brush fringe in a lighter shade. The latter forms a posh seating area in the new living room, formerly cut short by a staircase and mezzanine that Jon and project contractor Marc Kaplan of Elite Builders reconfigured (the interior architecture changes also helped expand the kitchen to allow space for a breakfast nook). Now, with the advantage of a full floor, a pair of Andie’s bergères, reupholstered in a Clarence House moiré, and Karl Springer goatskin cocktail tables join the velvet sofa on one side, while the other features a roll-arm corner banquette whose Chinese leopard toile by Brunschwig & Fils is a conversation starter. Farrow & Ball’s Great White paint lacquers the walls, giving the space a subtle lavender glow.
An exploratory approach to color and pattern is the thread that ties each of the home’s diverse rooms together. During design meetings, Andie would often bring tear sheets of fabrics or furnishings she liked for Ringbom’s concepts. Through this collaborative process, the two would build on each other’s knowledge, creating rich, tailored spaces.
The home’s square footage offered more area for design play than the clients were accustomed to. One of Andie and Jon’s most used spaces in the four-bedroom town house is their upstairs sitting room, where they can cozy up by the fireplace in a pair of peacock-chintz-covered swivel chairs. The Calacatta Viola marble surround matches the countertop in the nearby wet bar. With cabinetry painted in Farrow & Ball’s plummy Brinjal paired with a backsplash of polished brass tiles by Urban Archaeology, it’s an enticing spot for an evening beverage.
Meanwhile, their children are most often found in the basement playing Ping-Pong, Foosball, or guitar or hosting friends. It’s a great house for entertaining, which the Kullys do often via garden parties, dinners, or gatherings in the carriage house. “They really maximize living in their house and use every room,” Ringbom says, an effect that signals a design job well done. And, in a way, Andie’s biggest renovation goal was always to have the most fun abode on the block. “I wanted to be the house where my teenage kids and their friends all come and hang out after school and on the weekends,” she says. “Thankfully, that has turned out to be true.”
