The reading room in the Prybyl family home, Ithaca, NY.

The powder room.

Faux stone niche.

The master bedroom.

The master bathroom.

The Prybyls
Ithaca, New York

The Prybyls wanted to cozy up their newly built 6000 square foot home in upstate New York that showcases panoramic views of Cayuga Lake with large windows that vault to 12' ceilings. The reading room's bird-cage feel with its high arches presented an interesting problem. Donna wanted the room to be conducive to turning on the fireplace and reading a book. Butterscotch faux leather walls and the tassel border tied in the furniture with the rest of the room and made sense of the interesting architecture (see above photo.)

Donna felt that lowering the sense of too much space overhead was important. To counteract the powder room's vertical feel, we painted 4" trompe l'oeil moldings with a deep 12" border to lower the ceiling. An accompanying warm cream faux finish complements the tumbled marble floor and gives the powder room a cozy glow.

The niche's narrow 8" shelf gave Donna no room for a real flower arrangement and presented itself as a meaningless indent in the wall. The painted flower arrangement keyed to colors in her oriental rug, paired with the faux stone surround, grounded the niche in the wall and made sense of the architecture.

The master bedroom suite with its many faceted ceiling and barrel vault feeling in the bath seemed barren and unfriendly. To marry the powerful imposing king-size bed to the rest of the room, we painted gem-colored panels and a bright blue-sky ceiling balancing the color from top to bottom of the room. In the bath, we keyed decoration to the marble tile keeping a light airy feel.

After faux finishing the dining room walls a golden tone, Denise painted the portraits of the Prybyl twins on their first holy communion day so as to specifically fit in the Prybyl dining room. The girls look wistful and innocent surrounded by the arched windows veiled light.

The dining room, decorated with Denise's custom portraits of the Prybyl twins on their first holy communion day.