Kaleidoscope Craft: Alex Deringer’s
Personal Home Is Lovingly Curated

But from an interiors point of view, the house has been a true kaleidoscope, a constantly shifting landscape of design, resulting in its latest incarnation at any given time.

“My heritage is Latin. My mother was from Colombia of Dutch descent and my father, Chilean. I am a first-generation American, who bridges all of the Americas, North and South. My taste is informed by my culture and travels. My home definitely has a wanderlust to it, an eclectic nature,” says Deringer.

Of this, there is no doubt. One only has to look at Deringer’s furnishings and artworks to see that her home is global, artful, and lovingly curated.

“I’ve especially invested in our art collection,” she continues. “I have greatly enjoyed developing it over the years. I’d say my interiors tend to evolve around the art in any given room.”

For example, a Hunt Slonem bunny canvas in an antique frame served as inspiration for the dining room’s design. It depicts black-and-white rabbits on a neutral backdrop, combining hints of gold, silver, and rose hues. The dining room effortlessly blends metals, from the hammered silver table base to the brass knobs on heirloom case goods. Even the rose is picked up in a blush-upholstered bench and curtains. Meanwhile, the vintage Lucite dining chairs are upholstered in a graphic geometric textile, echoing the feature wall’s patterned paper that wraps around into the bar behind the open space.

“Of all things, I love fabric and wallpaper the most,” says Deringer. “I also believe pillows are the unsung heroes of most rooms. They are small but mighty!”

What Deringer calls the ‘kaleidoscope room’ sits in the heart of the home and was inspired by a bolt of Osborne & Little chinoiserie fabric. This living room textile finds its way into throw pillows and a custom-cut bulletin board, showcasing the whole pattern. Furthermore, it’s palette is not only deconstructed into a pair of cut-velvet armchairs, but also colorful threads of it run through the other rooms in the house, including the unexpected citrine cabinet paint in the adjacent bar.

“I love the boldness of that citrine. It makes a really small space have a big impact, becoming more than just a pass-through. We entertain a lot. It’s such a dose of happy and bright,” she says.

The living room also features a full wall of curated art hung above an antique painted bench. The art travels through to the library, a paneled moodier room at the front of the house. It’s beadboard was original to the farmhouse, and Deringer embraced it here, painting the whole room a blue-gray, pulling that hue from a vintage Italian screen depicting ducks.

“It’s definitely a more masculine space,” she adds.

The parlor, with its clean-lined modern chaise, is by contrast more feminine, combining Deringer’s love of a range of textiles and eclecticism in art and furnishings. A Pierre Frey tribal throw pillow print sits effortless on the chaise, while a fringed needlepoint upholstered ottoman sewed by her mother-in-law floats beneath a piano. The room itself is crowned in a striking Art Deco chandelier.

“I do believe in layering textures, patterns, and colors as well as marrying periods and styles; it feels timeless to me,” says Deringer, adding, “My house is a living thing, an evolutionary experience. I’m always adding, changing, removing…but it works, because it always reflects. You can spin a kaleidoscope, and each time it’s different, yet the same.”