Mix, Don't Match pix

It may sound like a backhanded compliment to say that the most exhilarating space in a New York town house renovated by D'Aquino Monaco is the narrow four-story stairwell. But the dynamic layering of 27 wallpaper patterns above the existing paneled dado is arresting and artful—an innovative approach not only to using wallpaper but also to making a 19th-century space a live-in work of art for a young family.

Carl D'Aquino and Francine Monaco's client for this project is Beth Buccini, a co-owner of the trendsetting boutique Kirna Zabête, with its modern-pop decor by Dinersan. "Beth's a fashion person, and the house is very much an expression of her personality," says D'Aquino, who got to know her when working on her previous home. "We mixed the wallpapers in the same way Beth would throw on a blouse, a skirt, and a scarf from different designers. It's an exuberant layering of colors and patterns."

When the firm was invited by Buccini and her real-estate developer husband, Rob, to tour the wisteria-covered Italianate house they'd just bought, she was expecting their third child in three years. "I remember her coming to one meeting eight months pregnant in a Balenciaga gown," D'Aquino says. Under the circumstances, she specified a "very child-friendly pad—chic, adventurous, and cheerful."

Her husband hoped to make the entire first floor a living room elegant enough for entertaining, but she said no way: "Listen, the reality is we need a playroom." The solution was to turn the front half of the floor into a play-parlor.

Adults can converse on the red sofa—set on a houndstooth rug that reminds Buccini of a Behnaz Sarafpour jacket, fall-winter 2005. Meanwhile, children sit on candy-striped foam chairs around a beech table. Games and toys are stored on stainless-steel shelves concealed by curtains that are a graceful floral on the front, a lively ticking stripe on the back. The parlor's multifunctional, multigenerational personality is expressed in the family "gallery" on the Wedgwood blue-gray walls: 300 photographs in gilded frames with plum mats.

The play-parlor's traditional crystal chandeliers give a nod to the adults-only propriety of the adjacent pear-green living room, visible through an open set of pocket doors. Here, old-world elegance faces off against contemporary chic, with eye-candy light fixtures enlivening the mix. Around the fireplace, D'Aquino and Monaco assembled a French 18th-century bergère and ottoman, a slim-lined custom club chair, and quintessentially 1970's brass sconces that Swiss architect Robert Haussmann designed for a hotel. The 12-arm brass "waterfall" chandelier is Italian mid-century.

Between the windows, a television is hidden by plum-colored taffeta curtains, trimmed with 120-year-old Italian gold passementerie and new gilded bobbins that graze the floor. "The clickety-clack sounds like a woman walking in Manolo Blahniks," D'Aquino says.

The ground floor is energized by conversation-piece lighting and strong colors. D'Aquino and Monaco lacquered the dining room in claret and hung two crystal-dripping aluminum chandeliers over the mustard-colored lacquered table, surrounded by Biedermeier-style chairs. Asked for a "sunny and happy" yellow kitchen, the designers provided one with a twist. Buccini flipped for the chic lace Roman shade, the bleached-coconut chandelier, and the aluminum Windsor chairs by, improbably, Martha Stewart.

The master bedroom displays touches of off-beat humor, too. D'Aquino and Monaco put two French 19th-century gilt headboards together to create one big enough for a king-size bed, then upholstered them in a Japanese floral quilting fabric. Behind the bed, the wall is covered in a plum-colored cut velvet, the reverse of the pattern found on the sofa in the sitting room that doubles as a home office. "Carl and Francine understand how much I love color and pattern," Buccini says.

Her husband is not always as understanding. She didn't bother to tell him that the master bathroom would be painted hot pink until he came to check on the workers—and ask, "That's not the final color, is it?" He was equally nonplussed on day one of the seven-day wallpaper installation. When he saw the first floor, his response was: "Are you sure we're making the right choice here?" And the scheme only got more complicated as D'Aquino and Monaco, noticing some trimmings from the paper hanger, decided to turn the leftover strips into pinstripes that would add a jazzy syncopation.

Now, Rob fully appreciates the magnificence of his one-of-a-kind walls. "The wallpaper was a way to offset the heavy molding and paneling and bring the eye up," explains D'Aquino, who chose several metallic patterns to reflect light. "Every door frame becomes a picture frame," Monaco adds. "It's a never-ending story."

PROJECT TEAM: CHELSEA GREEN; JOLENE M. BOLIS; NATHANIEL WORDEN. WALLPAPER (HALL): MAHARAM; THROUGH JOHN ROSSELLI INTERNATIONAL. WALLPAPER (HALL), WALL COVERING (BEDROOM): CLARENCE HOUSE. CLUB CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING ROOM): MANUEL CANOVAS. SOFA FABRIC: DESIGNTEX (BODY); JIM THOMPSON (KICK PLEAT). FLOOR LAMPS: THROUGH TOM THOMAS. CUSTOM RUG: ANGELA ADAMS. TABLE, BERGÈRE, OTTOMAN: THROUGH BERND GOECKLER ANTIQUES. RUNNER (STAIRWELL), SHAG CARPET (PLAY-PARLOR): CLODAN CARPETS. CURTAIN, BERGÈRE, OTTOMAN FABRIC (LIVING ROOM): C&C. CURTAIN TRIM, SCONCES, CHANDELIER (LIVING ROOM); ARMCHAIR (PLAY-PARLOR): THROUGH KIMCHEROVA. CURTAIN FABRIC (PLAY-PARLOR): LEE JOFA (FLORAL); OSBORNE & LITTLE (STRIPE). BINS: POTTERY BARN KIDS. SHELVING: METRO. HEADBOARD FABRIC (BEDROOM): THROUGH QUILTERS' EXPRESS TO JAPAN. CHILD'S CHAIRS (PLAY-PARLOR): THROUGH RISD WORKS. TABLE: THROUGH KID O. CUSTOM RUG: AM COLLECTIONS. CUSTOM FRAMES: GENERAL ART CO. SINK FITTINGS (POWDER ROOM): DORNBRACHT. SCONCES: OCHRE. WALL COVERING: LARSEN. CHAIRS (DINING ROOM): THROUGH SUTTER ANTIQUES; BERGAMO FABRICS (FABRIC). CHANDELIERS: THROUGH MOSS. PAPER HANGER: SCALA PAINTING. ART HANGER: ILEVEL. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: RENOTAL CONSTRUCTION CORP.