How an Accidental Gut Remodel Gave This CEO the Home of Her Dreams

This Connecticut house went from dark and dated to bright and breezy.

By: Elly Leavitt

Ideally situated in Haycock Point, the home was originally constructed in 1901. Lividini and her partner John Speredakos purchased the home in 2007, initially hoping to simply restore it and bring back some of its authentic features. Some of the home’s features, like wood paneling (of the 1970s variety, not the chic variety) and avocado-colored appliances, needed an update.

Instead, what followed was a five-year restoration period that saw a complete—and fairly mandatory—transformation from the original structure.

To comply with new zoning laws, the couple had to raise the house, which in Lividini’s words “was kind of devastating because we loved the idea of this little bungalow cottage; lifting it up would have given it a whole different effect and we didn’t want a big house.” Nine feet higher and a new garage later, they were finally ready to start decorative renovations.

Lividini recruited her friend and designer Charles Riley to help make the process a little less overwhelming. They purposely salvaged some things from the first structure: beadboard paneling on the upper level, as well as the original floors. Then they filled it with textures and materials that one might find in a house built in 1901—the goal here was to stay true to as much of the home’s charm that attracted the couple in the first place.

“I feel like one man with a hammer and nail did the whole thing because renovation took forever,” says Lividini. “But when we were finished, we had an even more spectacular view. We get sunsets and sunrises. The light is incredible. The bird life on the Sound is incredible.”

Lividini, who prior to launching her own company worked at Saks Fifth Avenue as the head of fashion for many years, cites her travels to Europe as a big source of inspiration. Drawn to the country-casual vibe of parts of France and England as well as the classic style of the New England seaside, she drew in elements from around the world to craft her home, whose style she dubs “Provence meets coastal New England.”

Some of these elements—the red, white, and blue color scheme, for example—are more obvious than others. The cultural interest lies in Lividini’s stunning collection of antiques, which she acquired over years and had mostly been sitting in storage, waiting to be used.

The pillows are a great example of this, constructed out of antique fabric she had picked up years ago and saved for the perfect project. In the kitchen, the eye-catching collection of rainbow-hued enamel pitchers are the product of various trips to Parisian flea markets. The zinc clock, another flea market purchase, was a nightmare to bring stateside because of its weight but now hangs proudly in the entryway.

The distressed wood table at the heart of the kitchen, Lividini’s take on a traditional island, is a local treasure: “It was found right here in Connecticut, in an antique store. It feels like one of those classic new England pieces; someone probably built it out of old boards from their basement. It’s a really primitive piece, but it’s very new England,” she says.

However her favorite piece, though antique-inspired, is actually from Kohler: the beautiful farmhouse-style kitchen sink.

“The whole kitchen was built around that sink,” she says. “I had seen an antique sink like that up in Maine that I fell in love with but was in such bad shape. I couldn’t believe Kohler had a sink like that. It’s my favorite thing in the entire house.”

Despite her collection of global goods, Lividini is the farthest thing from a big box retailer snob, crediting brands like Serena & Lily and Rejuvenation for several of her most-loved pieces. And turns out, she’s just as much of an Ikea fan as we are: 

“I’m there almost every weekend. You know what the best buy from Ikea is? The mattresses, and also the quilted pillow protectors are unbelievable. They’re inexpensive, and they’re totally hypoallergenic. I would definitely recommend them.”

A mix of high-low and European-American style, Lividini’s seaside home is enough to inspire anyone to want to go antiquing. Read on for some of her tips for vintage shopping like a pro.

Go with your gut.

"Now, it’s so easy because you can have your phone with you and look up anything. Twenty years ago when I was collecting quilts and fabric, it had to be an instinct. Your instinct is the most important part.”

Don’t worry too much about sticking to a theme.

“I think that when you buy things you love, they all go together...and everything shouldn’t match too much anyway.”

Get help when necessary.

“Charles Riley would help me when I had a warehouse full of stuff really figure out what went where. It’s overwhelming—don’t get carried away and buy too much stuff.”

Expensive isn’t always better.

“Even though the house is full of antiques, nothing is a truly valuable antique. I don’t think anything is over $2,000. If you’re buying a $100,000 armoire, to me that’s pressure because it has to really be worth it, and you have to be able to re-sell it. But when you buy inexpensive antiques at flea markets or antique stores off the road—if it’s not too expensive and you love it, does it matter if it’s authentic or not?”

Fashion Executive Jaqui Lividini Injects a Bit of Europe
Into Her Carnegie Hill Apartment

By Charlotte Safavi
Photographs by Peter Murdock

Quaint and quiet aren’t adjectives typically associated with Manhattan apartments—even when they’re located on the sleepier edges of the Upper East Side. “I don’t even feel like we live in the city,” fashion executive Jaqui Lividini says of the Carnegie Hill home she shares with her longtime partner, actor John Speredakos, and their young daughter. “Our apartment overlooks a street full of trees, and sunlight streams in all day. It’s something you don’t always find in New York.”

Carnegie Hill is known for its charming blocks, shops, and restaurants that give off an intimate, almost European, feel—a logical choice to live, certainly, for someone who has spent her life in the style world. The founder of Lividini & Co., a fashion-based branding company launched in 2005, Lividini was previously the senior vice president of fashion merchandising and communications at Saks Fifth Avenue—a formidable post that yielded a sizable contact list and a reputation to match. She now specializes in advising a vast network of clients, ranging from icons like Lord & Taylor to newbies like Jack Wills, on all things style-related.

As a fashion executive, Lividini is accustomed to luxury accommodations in international locales; at home, however, she and Speredakos wanted to create a relaxed, elegant environment that was family-friendly and sophisticated at the same time. The couple envisioned a fresh-faced Manhattan apartment with the storied appeal of a charming European country cottage.

As passionate about style on the home front as in her business, Lividini follows a similar creative process for each arena: She starts with old-school scrapbooks filled with tear sheets. “I’ve always made a book for every home I’ve renovated,” she says, although the undertaking in this case was not hers alone. After compiling a look book for her new apartment, Lividini hired interior designer Charles Riley, with whom she worked closely to achieve the 18th-century Swedish Gustavian–style decoration she’s particularly drawn to, with its washed color palette, scrubbed whites, and painted woods.

The apartment, in a landmarked building dating from 1890, had good bones to begin with, including pickled wood floors, period paneled doors, and ten-foot ceilings. The dark wood finishes and recently remodeled modern kitchen and baths, however, would have to go. Riley let the Scandinavian aesthetic guide him as he transformed each room, starting with the kitchen, where he painted the seeded-glass cabinets white and paired them with pale marble countertops. He added a farmhouse sink, along with a custom corner banquette that accommodates an ample antique farmhouse table. “When you walk in, it really feels like you’re in a house,” the designer says.

The apartment’s furniture is a seamless integration of antiques and reproductions, all tastefully assembled for modern family life. In the living room, a striped silk accentuates the contours of an antique curved-back sofa, accent pillows with botanical prints add pops of personality, and durable hemp linen wears well on a pair of faux-finish chairs, the range of fabrics testifying to Lividini’s love of textiles.

A lifelong collector, Lividini showcases many of her favorite things here, including rare books about fashion, multiple chess sets (Speredakos loves to play), and pastoral artworks (including an Andrew Wyeth giclée) depicting Maine, where Lividini and Speredakos spend time in the summer. She amassed the mostly European array of furnishings during “all those trips to Europe over the years. In between business, I’d be off antiquing in Paris or London, absorbing that European sense of culture and style.”

Given Lividini’s fashion-world pedigree, her walk-in closet was a necessary focal point during the renovation. In a nod to Narnia, Riley designed mirrored doors that she can walk through directly from the master bathroom. But while the capacious cabinet is fitting for a fashion executive, it’s more Manhattan apartment than McMansion, and Lividini claims she could actually use a bit more room. “I have to switch it out seasonally,” she says. “I still can’t fit everything!”

tour jaqui lividini's stunning space

Jaqui Lividini’s stunning Carnegie Hill apartment features rooms inspired by different facets of the fashion industry executive’s life. If anything, her video home tour is a reminder that personal touches are what makes a home special and unique. Bonus: Lividini’s decor is greatly influenced by her time spent in France—and her living room is swimming in fashion books.

Jaqui Lividini Writing Home Blog

When she’s not pumping up fashion brands for Lividini & Co., she is blogging on traditionalhome.com.

By David Moin 

HELPFUL TIPS: When she’s not pumping up fashion brands, Jaqui Lividini of Lividini & Co. is rebuilding her 100-year-old classic Connecticut beach cottage on Long Island Sound, which was almost “put out to sea in Hurricane Irene,” Lividini said. “Irene took the porch out, the shed was gone and water came right through. There was a lot of damage.” The cottage sits on a point that juts out on the sound, and fortunately Sandy did not cause more damage. “It’s vulnerable but very well built,” Lividini said.

Given such firsthand knowledge, Lividini is blogging on traditionalhome.com, writing about her cottage, shoreline property issues, how to rebuild after a disaster and the surprises and delays that accompany old-house redos. New flood zoning, for example, has forced Lividini to come up with a brand-new set of plans,  like raising the house and putting in breakaway walls. “There’s so much going on with shoreline property because of all the recent devastating storms. The team that I hired, Design Development NYC, have been working on a lot of homes devastated by Sandy.”

Quickfire Interview With Jaqui Lividini

By: Anika Yael Natori

Thanks to my mother-in-law’s company and industry, I have had the privilege of meeting and socializing with some of her amazing friends and colleagues. Jaqui Lividini is one of the most interesting- beautiful, elegant, ever-so-glamorous, always fashionable and chic, creative, and inspiring. Jaqui runs her firm, Lividini and Co, which is a brand strategy company and works closely with many high profile companies such as QVC, Ellen, Hudson Bay, and many more. She is smart, strong, fierce, sweet, and the most beautifully decked out lady I have ever seen. Anything she wears is perfection. I had the opportunity to do a quick fire interview with her, so take a look!