Lucci called her longtime decorator, Betty Barbatsuly, who suggested bringing her daughter Lisa Richardson, also a decorator, into the fold. “Susan wanted us to come look at her family room and kitchen, to give it a fresh look,” says Richardson. ”But then we went from room to room and the inspiration just kept going.”
The mother-and-daughter duo revamped almost every corner of the 7,000-square-foot home, including its exterior, which now gleams with white siding and cobalt-blue shutters. It’s a palette that echoes the updated look of the family room, a large space that combines an open kitchen, a breakfast area, and a comfortable salon facing a fireplace. The origin of this color combination was a white rug with abstract blue splatters from Stark Carpet, which Lucci picked out during a visit with Richardson to Manhattan’s D&D Building. “I really wanted to freshen everything up, with cleaner lines and no clutter,” says the actress. “At the same time, I didn’t want it to look like an apartment in the city. This is a house built in 1927.”
Lucci was pleasantly surprised when Richardson, who is of the same generation as her own two children, suggested keeping several antique furnishings. “She recognized the quality of things,” says Lucci. “I was about to auction my mahogany Chippendale chairs, and I kept thinking, ‘Gee, they’re so beautiful.’”
The chairs stayed, albeit lacquered off-white, and paired with a contemporary glass-topped oval table with cast aluminum legs. This space is a perfect example of how the decorators merged existing older pieces—many with sentimental value—with newly purchased ones to create a bright, timeless look. White walls, a greige rug, pearl-toned fabrics, and glass accents bring luminosity, while an antique pine credenza and framed gilt mirror act as a weightier counterpart. Above the fireplace mantel, a whimsical painting by New York City artist Danielle Kosann adds color and vim.
