Sarah Wittenbraker
Sarah Wittenbraker Design
If minimalism conveys simplicity, then interior designer Sarah Wittenbraker is a maximalist through and through. A mother of three, Wittenbraker is no stranger to happy chaos. In fact, she embraces it. Her goal when designing clients’ homes is to create authentic environments, so it’s no wonder the details of her own space came together organically.
Wittenbraker introduced color into her 4,500-square-foot Tarrytown home slowly, starting with a vibrant floral couch that served as a necessary counterpoint to what, for months, was a black-and-white living room. Complementing the colorful sofa is a subdued painting by local artist Diana Greenberg. Wittenbraker later stumbled across a vintage sky-blue bench upholstered in velvet, blending not only patterns but textures.
Incorporating big patterns into small spaces is a trademark of Wittenbraker’s interiors. Inky black wallpaper with psychedelic and colorful mushrooms creates dramatic contrast in the bar nook. A tiny bug crawls along the leaves of the dining room’s growing-vine motif. In the entryway, Kelly Wearstler wallpaper mimics a pegboard with its black and white designs. Her affection for bold wallpaper invokes the nostalgia of your great-grandmother’s bathroom in an enviable, modern way.
But the 1960s home, redone by Josh Cummins of BuildCo, was not curated by Wittenbraker alone; she collaborated closely with architect Elizabeth Baird. The cherry on the sundae? Wittenbraker’s children, Lulu, Oscar and Beatrice, weighed in on their rooms, giving the colorful space extra character. – ABBY MOORE