Taylor Mattos Gives A New York Home A Floral-Forward Refresh
Millwork painted Benjamin Moore’s November Skies and pillows of corresponding Cowtan & Tout fabrics compose the cutting room palette. A Phillip Jeffries grass-cloth covers the walls. The Roman shades sport a Thibaut textile.
“There was nothing in there except for an unfinished dog bath,” laughs Taylor Mattos of the half-constructed bonus room in her clients’ Rye, New York, residence. “It was a pass-through area that didn’t know what it wanted to be.” There was, however, an upside to the previous owners’ abandoned pet spa: plumbing was in place. Tucked at the rear of the residence, the room spills out to a collection of established gardens including herb, stepped, children’s discovery and more. The designer immediately imagined swapping the bath for a farmhouse sink, visions of dinner party flower arrangements and mixing cocktails for alfresco fêtes dancing in her head.
And so, a cutting room-meets-wet bar was raised from the studs, wrapped in a wipeable vinyl grass-cloth wallpaper and fit with millwork painted a nuanced denim tone Mattos describes as “not too preppy with an air of casualness.” An array of blue-and-white “country chic” floral textiles wink to the functionality of the space—and preview the home’s emphasis on botanical motifs.
Designer Taylor Mattos makes the case for neutral floral interiors at the Rinfret, Ltd. offices in Greenwich.
A dining room vignette spotlights an Iatesta Studio sconce and a mirror from A. Tyner Antiques set against Gracie’s Poppies wallpaper.
Take the formal dining room, where a teal-and-champagne wallpaper bedecked with energetic poppies steals the show. “It felt traditional, but a fresher, more youthful interpretation for this young family,” notes Mattos, who spied the new skew at Gracie’s Los Angeles showroom and committed on the spot. The space’s chic mix includes an antique reproduction mirror with rosettes, a smoky, rock crystal chandelier and weathered-wood sconces for an informal material counterpoint. This finely considered sensibility is what defines the work of Rinfret, Ltd., the Greenwich, Connecticut- and Palm Beach, Florida-based firm she has led alongside her design-superstar mother, Cindy Rinfret, since 2020. “The phantom thread of our work, so to speak, is the execution,” Mattos affirms. “We never want a room to hit you over the head—we want you to go inside and discover all the little details and layers.”
This particular collaboration between mother and daughter serves as a reminder that florals needn’t read fussy, frilly or feminine. With surprising palettes and strategic deployments, they can bring youthful verve, and, more importantly, drive home a sense of place through design. Sums Mattos, “The view through every window is trees, gardens and greenery. So much of this house was about capturing that feeling.”