From Builder-Grade to Beautifully Personal: A Townhouse Transformation at Edge on Hudson
When this family came to us, they had just moved into a brand new townhouse at Edge on Hudson in Sleepy Hollow, New York. The development is beautiful, the location is spectacular, and the bones were solid. But like most newly built homes, it looked exactly like every other unit in the development. Builder-grade finishes. Predictable fixtures. No personality.
That is where we came in.
The brief was clear: take a standard new construction townhouse and make it feel completely and unmistakably theirs. A young family with kids, a yoga practice that needed its own dedicated space, and a real appreciation for design. They wanted a home that felt intentional, lived-in, and layered without being precious or untouchable.
This is that story.
The Challenge with New Construction
Builder-grade homes present a very specific design challenge. Everything is new, which sounds like a good thing, but it also means everything is generic. The finishes are chosen to appeal to the widest possible buyer, not to any specific person. The hardware is forgettable. The bathrooms are functional but flat. There is no patina, no history, nothing that says anything about the people living there.
The goal here was to add all of that. Deliberately and thoughtfully, room by room.
The Living Spaces: Warm, Casual and Made for a Family
The main living floor is where this family lives and it shows. A deep slipcovered sectional in a performance fabric that can handle kids and life anchors the living room. A round oak coffee table, a Beni Ourain rug with graphic black stripes, and a large scale landscape photograph bring warmth and personality to a space that started as a blank white box.
The dining area is all natural wood — a simple Scandinavian-inspired oak table paired with sculpted chairs and a bench, with an ARTY print on the wall that says everything about this family's spirit. The kitchen, which came with dark cabinetry already in place, got its personality from the styling choices around it: open shelves beautifully stocked with cookbooks and ceramics and an olive tree, warm wood barstools at the island, and a sleek linear pendant in warm brass overhead.
The contrast between the dark cabinetry and the warm white subway tile backsplash is sharp and modern and it works beautifully.
The Den: The Biggest Transformation in the House
If the living floor is where the family gathers, the den is where the adults retreat. And this room is one of my favorite things we have ever done.
We painted the walls a deep charcoal navy and installed a full custom built-in wall unit from C-Los Cabinetry in the same dark tone. The shelves are styled with books, ceramics, and objects that feel completely personal. A natural oak countertop runs the full length of the lower cabinet section, and the hardware is from Restoration Hardware in a textured brass that you want to reach out and touch.
The result is a room that feels like it was carved out of the building rather than added to it. Moody, sophisticated, and surprisingly cozy. The velvet swivel chairs in dusty blue are perfect and the white linen drapes keep the space from feeling too heavy.
Painting everything the same dark color, including the built-in, is a technique I love and use often. It makes the room feel intentional from every angle and turns a simple built-in into an architectural moment.
The Bathrooms: Where the Builder-Grade Got a Real Upgrade
The primary bathroom got a full treatment. Large format marble-look porcelain tile floor to ceiling in the shower, brass fixtures throughout, a gold-framed mirror, a warm brass vanity light, custom floating oak shelves styled with beautiful objects, and a grasscloth-look wallcovering that adds texture to every surface. The contrast between the warm oak shelves, the brass fixtures and the cool marble shower is exactly right.
The powder room is the most dramatic room in the house. A Cole and Son cloud wallpaper wraps all four walls and the ceiling. Navy painted board and batten below the chair rail grounds it beautifully. The vanity is a warm oak with a quartz countertop and brass fixtures. Every single person who walks into this bathroom stops. It is that kind of room.
The kids' bathroom got something completely different and completely wonderful. A gold star wallpaper on every surface including the ceiling creates a magical, enveloping space that feels like sleeping under the night sky. Animal art in white frames, a clean double vanity and fun book ledges on the walls make it a room kids actually want to spend time in.
The Foyer: Setting the Tone from the First Step
The entry foyer was one of the first things we addressed because it sets the tone for the whole home. A warm textured wallcovering, a live tree in a natural basket planter, a raw edge live wood bench, a simple sisal mat, and two tall leaning mirrors that reflect the light beautifully. Clean, warm, and welcoming without being fussy.
The Staircase Landing: Art That Stops You in Your Tracks
One of my favorite moments in the whole house is the staircase landing. A bold graphic print of Converse and Louboutin sneakers against a bright blue NYC subway-inspired background hangs above a simple warm oak cabinet styled with cookbooks, fresh white roses, and a snake plant. The staircase itself has a clean natural oak handrail with black metal balusters that feel modern and sharp.
This print tells you everything about this family in one image. New York roots, a sense of humor, a love of fashion and culture. The art was not chosen to match the walls. It was chosen because it means something to them. That is always the best reason to hang a piece of art.
The Primary Bedroom: Dark, Dramatic, and Deeply Personal
The primary bedroom is one of the boldest rooms in the house. A deep matte black accent wall behind the bed is the anchor, and against it hangs a large scale natural wood geometric wall panel that is striking in its contrast. The art is the focal point and everything else serves it.
A black nightstand with a single brass pull, a Pendleton blanket in graphic navy and white, crisp white bedding, and a round brass mirror with a floating brass shelf on the opposite wall round out the space. It feels like a grown-up retreat that also happens to have a child's painting propped on the shelf — which is exactly the right balance for a young family.
The primary bathroom continues the matte black fixture theme established in the bedroom, with marble-look porcelain tile in the shower, black hardware and fixtures throughout, and a clean frameless mirror with a black framed medicine cabinet that is styled beautifully. The contrast between the cool white tile and the warm matte black fixtures is crisp and timeless.
The Kids' Rooms: Bold, Joyful, and Completely Theirs
The boy's bedroom is painted in a deep saturated navy blue with board and batten millwork carried all the way around the room. The gold star wallpaper from the bathroom appears here too on the ceiling, creating a magical continuity across the upper floor. A cork memo board for the child's art, a geometric elephant wall mount in matching navy, and open book ledges for displaying toys and favorite reads make this room feel genuinely like a child's space that was designed with real care and intention.
The nightstand situation is particularly charming — a low open-shelf unit overflowing with books and small toys says everything about how this family lives and what they value.
The Custom Built-In: The Storage Wall That Does Everything
One of the most practical and beautiful moments in the house is the custom built-in storage wall in the main living area. Floor to ceiling in a soft warm grey with open shelving above for display, cabinet storage below, and window seat benches on either side with additional storage underneath. It spans the full wall between two windows and is styled with books, ceramics, cacti, and natural objects that feel completely personal.
This piece alone transforms what could have been a plain wall into the focal point of the room. Custom millwork from C-Los Cabinetry made this possible and the quality is evident in every detail.
The Wet Bar and Wine Fridge
Off the main living area a small wet bar nook with a sink, a KitchenAid wine fridge, grey floating shelves styled with ceramics and glassware, and a small potted olive tree creates a dedicated entertaining zone that feels deliberate and well-considered. This is the kind of detail that builder-grade homes never have and custom design always delivers.
The Rooftop: An Outdoor Room Above the World
The top level of this townhouse opens to a spectacular roof terrace. The covered outdoor living area has a full sectional sofa in warm linen with black and white graphic pillows, a woven rattan drum coffee table, and a ceiling fan overhead. It opens onto a fully furnished outdoor dining terrace with a black dining table and bench, surrounded by lush oversized planters overflowing with greenery and flowers.
The rooftop garden is genuinely impressive. Large dark charcoal planters are filled with layered plantings of holly, trailing succulents, grasses, and flowering shrubs that create privacy and beauty at the same time. On the top of a development in Sleepy Hollow, with open sky all around, this terrace feels like a private sanctuary.
The Details That Made the Difference
What makes a new construction home feel personal is never one big decision. It is a hundred small ones. The brass knurled drawer pulls from Restoration Hardware on the dark cabinetry. The choice to paper the powder room ceiling. The live olive tree on the kitchen shelf. The mountain landscape photograph in the living room that the family clearly loves. The kids' star wallpaper carried across the ceiling. The floating oak shelves in the bathroom instead of a medicine cabinet. The child's painting propped on the primary bedroom shelf next to the crystals and dried botanicals.
None of these things is standard. All of them are decisions. And together they turn a builder-grade townhouse into a home that could only belong to this family.
That is the work.
Photography by Julia D'Agostino. Cabinetry by C-Los Cabinetry. Hardware from Restoration Hardware. Closets by California Closets. Style and Space Interiors is based in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
