A Tudor's Class in Economy

A designer helps a young couple brighten their dark new home with furniture they already own

- KATHRYN O'SHEA-EVANS

WHEN Alison Hammatt first saw the 1929 Tudor home her clients had purchased in Rye, N.Y., the living room wasn't really living. Brooding, deep-brown wood floors and a somber bronze chandelier at the apex of the 18-foot barrel-arch ceiling made the room feel like a fusty time capsule.

"Tudors are known for being dark, and [my clients] were really interested in light and bright, but in a way that felt appropriate for the space," said the designer, based in Providence, R.I. Beyond respecting the home's roots, Hammatt strove for economy. The homeowners, a couple with two children, hoped to prudently reuse pieces they already owned. "This is a young family," she said. "This is their first home." How to inject a room with cheeriness without it looking cheap: Usher in color, but choose hues with a dusky undertone rather than a hard-candy vibrancy.

"A lot of these are English fabrics.

There is a kind of muted-ness to them," the designer said. Velvet in antique gold, for instance, not pure yellow, envelops the sofa.