At Home with Alfredo Paredes in his historic Locust Valley house

The story of purchasing this house was really in part because of COVID. When COVID took place, we moved out to our place on Shelter Island, which we really had never spent long periods of time in. And then we realized with small children how nice it was to live in a bigger place. And then one day, I was talking to a friend of mine who owns a house out here, and she said her kids were going to go to school out here. And this was the first house that I fell in love with. Harry T. Lindbergh has always inspired me and so much of his architecture has played out in so many of the things that I've worked on over the years, including our old East Village apartment without me even really realizing that that was an inspiration. So when I walked through here, I felt right at home. That was some Gatsby-like approach to this house. I mean, it was very romantic and very... I mean, it really... Movie set. Yes. Yes, for sure. This house was designed by a very famous architect. Harry T. Lindbergh in 1928. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I fell in love right away. Yeah. And you can feel the bones of it. You can feel the history of the house. Did that intimidate you when you took it on? Because you've only been here a couple of years. Yeah, no. I was right at home right away. The original owners lived here until 1970. And then I think maybe it's four other families have lived here after that. I can tell right away you have a very consistent point of view. You obviously transformed it top to bottom. Yeah. Basically, 100 years of updating, 100 years of things happening to her over time that just needed to be pulled back together. And that's what I did. And I saw it right away. You saw right away the potential. Yeah. Right away. An ode to your talent to creating visual landscapes, because I've seen your work for many years now. Thank you. And you're so good at it. And I would love to encourage others, especially in the entry. Entries shouldn't be pass-through rooms. This really sets such a wonderful tone, as we were saying. I love how you have photographs leaning against a larger mirror. Again, layers of height, textures. And it's very personal here right away. It's a big house. So it's a way of getting intimate with the person who arrives by showing things that you love. Yeah. I mean, I'm a collector. I've always been a collector. And I buy things that I love. They find homes. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes I hold on till I find the perfect spot. I just like the mix so that it gives it a little bit of an edge and it's a little unexpected. It's like this cross, I bought him for the Paris flea market, and I couldn't find a place to hang it that just didn't seem so over the top. Yes. And so you put it down. Yes. This is from a friend of mine, a potter named Nathan Moss. And I got this as a gift, but I tend to collect neutrally so that it doesn't stick out. You're right. That's the other thing. There was a uniformity to the hue, the color of that deep rich brown. I pushed myself. This is a big house. So I pushed myself into more. But when I was living in the East Village, I mean, I had a lot in that apartment, but it felt very Zen. Now you got a little more room to grow. I feel sorry for my children. Why? Well, the day that they have to unload all this, it's going to be. Oh, I see. Well, let's not worry about that right now. I want to see what you got here. Oh, my gosh. How many people does this table? Two, four, six. Is this a 12? Fourteen. Fourteen. That's so luxurious. This is a big dining room. Yeah. I was a little overwhelmed by this dining room when I first saw it. When I saw the house, it was pretty traditional, had a, you know, your typical mahogany table with Chippendale chairs, I think, and the room just felt massive. And I don't love rooms like that that just sit there empty. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, pass through rooms. Yeah. So this table is, I mean, this is 16 feet long. I had it made. These are chairs from my furniture line. Oh, wait, these are your chairs? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had them made. And I had other chairs in here, actually. And it looked like a boardroom. The joke in this house was how many lanterns I had to buy and light fixtures and sconces. So by the time I got here, I was like, I'm not buying a crystal chandelier for this. No way. And it feels like the moon at night. Yes. In the woods, which is great. And a shout out to you for bringing a kind of organic warmth to this house with all your wonderful indoor plants that are just very simply potted, by the way, and are just kind of growing all over the place in a contained area. Yeah, I mean, I love plants and I have a bit of a green thumb and I'm always challenged to try to figure out in the Northeast how to do it. I love how you did candles that feel like branches. And this wallpaper, again, it was when I had this table in here with these chairs, it was white walls. And the room felt like, oh my God, I'm at the airport. It's the biggest thing I've ever seen. So this is by a company out of Canada that I kept seeing on my Instagram called Fine and Dandy. And I called them and we immediately was like, can we do this? And I just love how it feels like you're in the woods with the wood, like at night, because that's all lit up. It's just, it's really pretty. And for you who clearly love neutrals and browns and beiges in warm ways, I love how you have this pop of, it's almost, is that a velvet? It's velvet. It's like a peacock blue. So fabulous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for, you just whipped that up in five seconds. It's like incredible. Yeah. You know, for a Miami boy, I love making fires. Well, you must love coming into this room. I mean, I could sit here all day reading all these incredible coffee table books. I look forward to winter because of the fires. One thing that I'm struck by in here, you're a man after my own heart and that you too love black and white photographs and artwork. And I really love how your collections stretch across the whole breadth of this room, behind the piano, on the floor, in the bookcases, in front of the bookcases, on this wall. Yeah. It started with just collecting. Like I said, over there, I just buy things without really thinking too much of where they would go long time ago. So then you end up with a big assortment and I just love the eclectic mix of them all going together. I think all those years at Ralph, you know, with all these English elaborate interiors that we did, taught me to collect and how to layer them all together so that it felt they'd been there for a long time. When people see this, I hope that they will push their boundaries a little bit of how things should be displayed and get a little inventive. You have to be passionate to collect. Love it, buy it, own it. And I have a lot of high and low. There's expensive things and not so expensive things put together. I also love your very strong coffee table game. Is this yours? Did you design this? Of course you did. And you made it extra wide to really pile up books because I love to display coffee table books too, but my tables are a little too narrow. So it's just, this has a luxurious feeling to it. Yeah. It seemed really big when I first made it, but it sort of got swallowed up here perfectly. Perfect here. Thank you. I love all these doors and windows that are like, this is all original. Yeah. So beautiful. Yeah. This is called the three seasons room. I guess back in the day they needed, before air conditioning, they had screened in porches. Yeah. It's incredible. And it stays cool all the time, as you can tell. You can feel the stone. I mean, this is all stone, right? Stone. And we're below grade too, which is interesting. On the house, he designed the house sort of backs up into the hill. And these murals are by the original artists who the house was built for. Really? Is that just paint? It almost looks like it could be chalk. I don't know. His granddaughter was here documenting it recently. Yeah. And these mirrors, I was a little bit on the fence about with the mirrors because I was like, I don't know that I like those mirrors. But then I realized the brick was also painted by him and I was like, I let it go. And also over the door. This room is very special. Yeah. You know what you almost want to, I can imagine people playing charades back in the thirties on a summer night in here with gin and tonics. And then it leads out to the garden that way. Oh, I can't wait to see. It's so beautiful. Thank you. This is massive. I can't even, this is like, you don't need anything more in the house, but this and maybe a little bed. Our entire East Village apartment was this room. Really? Yeah. But I was so mesmerized when I came in here the first time it was empty. There was nothing here. Really? I wasn't sure what to do with it, honestly. I mean, I know you, you're never intimidated by huge spaces, all your career, you've turned big places into places that people can shop and live in, but still the ceiling was like this, I mean, the rumor or the folklore was this, the original owner was a painter and this was probably the spot he painted it. It had a door on it. It was private, had a funny little window that food would be passed through from the kitchen. We lived here for a year before I knew what to do with this. I kept coming into this room like, what am I going to do? Like I was planning to renovate the other kitchen. Right. And then I realized that this should be a big kitchen. And that's... It's not just a kitchen. What I love about it is that it's three stages of living. It's the prep and the beyond glamorous, I can't even, don't even get me started about the way you, you made it almost like a living room, but that is the kitchen. And then here's where you eat. And then you have the final apres meal, the lounging. It's the perfect family room. It's the perfect, you have two children. Yeah. And we're here a lot. All the time. All the time. Yeah. Can I also just say the genius-ness of, you put in a banquette here behind this incredible island. And so you instantly created a lot of seating. And then on either end, I bet you, you designed these, right? Yeah. These are my Isla chairs. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, as I was renovating this house, but I didn't know where they would go, but here they are. Sorry. This is not so good. And then there's a bench that pulls out for this side. Everything is represented here. Chairs, banquette and bench. So smart. And so good for the kids. Yeah. And the dog. Oh yes. And the dog. You can find me here at five in the morning watching TV. So this is our bedroom. So beautiful. Oh, thank you. I love waking up in the trees and in the forest, you know, from the Lower East Side to the woods is a nice change. And look at your bathroom. Oh, it is breathtaking. Thank you. I've recognized that wonderful basket weave tile. Yeah, this is waterworks. Did you add a border? I did. I did. Well, I fell in love with the stone that's on the walls. I wanted something sexy, dark, that was graphic, but needed to feel like it was always here. You know, something that I wouldn't get tired of. It's timeless. Thank you. So I found the original plans for the house that Lindbergh did, and these were the designs for the original doors that never got built. So we did them for all of the upstairs bedrooms. Your son's room. How old is he again? He is six years old. Six. Six. About to turn seven. I mean, I love how you are already encouraging him to edit, display everything that he loves. Look at all the stuff on the wall. You can really see a sense of his personality. Yeah. I mean, the house is large enough that everyone can have their own place. They can have it the way they want. I don't get hung up too much on designing for him. No, of course not. But I love how this framed... Is that a photo? Is that a poster? It's a poster. Oh, it's a movie poster. Yeah. We bought it in Rome. I just loved it. We both have Vespas, so somehow when we saw it, we went right for it. We're getting these. But you put it next to something about the Minimites. Does he like to play hockey? He does like to play hockey. Yeah, my son too. And then you have one of his drawings. Yeah, you've layered it all in. Well, he'll say, can I put it on the wall? It's like, absolutely, let's put it up on the wall. So you want to see my daughter's room? I so want to see your daughter's room. They got Jack and Jill rooms. Oh, how cute. Do they go back and forth? Are they close in that way, or do they like to have their own separate, separate... She's like, leave me alone, and Klaus lands the door. But the whole house was connected through Jack and Jill, all the bedrooms, and I kept them together. And then there's a secret door through my closet. I love that. Like Narnia. Like Narnia. Exactly. Yeah. This is Carolina land. She's obviously a rider. She's an equestrian, and she loves horses. And her little chair. She selected this chair. I was saying, I love this. You didn't design this? She wanted a bed like this with a trundle. You know, she wanted purple and pink. But it's so sophisticated in a very girlish, dreamy way. Yeah. No, you know, girl has her friends in here, and they hang out. She likes to hide candy in her armoire and serves it like appetizers. Really? She's like, this is for when I entertain. Well, we talked about a little bit earlier of having young children and designing rooms for young children and a house that has young children in it. That you have to be prepared that they will evolve, right? You were talking about in your son's room that the beds are going to not be bunk beds soon, and that will change. And her taste will evolve here, and you have to be. Totally prepared. Prepared and love each stage of it, right? Yeah. And I don't get hung up again with all the stuff. This is all the things that matter to her. Look at how she's landscaped her windowsill to reflect everything that she loves. With literally the word love. Yep. I love her already. She's the best. Thank you. Coming to my guest room. Wow, this is quite a guest room. By the way, I love all the sisal as a base layer over the hardwood floor with another layer of rug over that. Very English country house. And I realized that this was really an English country house. And it's sort of in its desire, which is why I joked about this room, because I am so print phobic. I'm a guy that... And I lived in the land of prints, right? Yeah. So when I had to do... I was like, oh my God, I have to do curtains. You thought you had to break down the pattern here. This room, when I took over the house, was basically a white room with a bed. There's nothing. Maybe there was a desk. It's very minimal. But the fantasy is to come and stay in a beautiful country house guest room. So that wall needed that whole setup. And I felt like I found... I love this stuff from venison, which it's sort of bohemian, but earthy. If it was gonna... If you were gonna have to do a print or pattern, this was gonna be it. This is so you in a reluctant pattern. Yeah, yeah. And the chandelier was the original chandelier that was in the dining room of this house when I bought it. And I believe the sconces were too. And I was just like, I don't really want a chandelier in the dining room. And this is where it ended up. It's way too adult for me, but in here it's nice.