The Full Spectrum

A Danbury Victorian hosts a painterly canvas of colors and patterns

BY DAVID MASELLO PHOTOGRAPHS BY RIKKI SNYDER

In Living Color

The living room’s layered look is accomplished with numerous elements that include an ottoman covered with a sturdy Sunbrella outdoor solid canvas and an area rug from Country Braid House. See Resources

EVERY DAY, INTERIOR DESIGNER ERICK ESPINOZA occupies two distinct worlds at his home in Danbury. He characterizes his upstairs home office as “a white box,” while he refers to the downstairs living spaces of his late-Victorian home he shares with his partner, Justin Byous, as “a magical land of color.” Espinoza keeps his office monochromatic and free of excess décor because, as he says, “I need to work in a state uninfluenced by other things. But when the day is done and I head downstairs, I enter rooms packed with color and pattern, and I love that.”

As creative director for Anthony Baratta, LLC—a firm long known for fashioning interiors characterized by multiple hues, competing patterns and accessories of every period—Espinoza also understands the appeal of a more muted palette. “I can appreciate a very clean, neutral interior, and I understand the challenges of designing rooms with those constraints, but I want to be surrounded by colors where I live.”

After sharing an apartment in Queens for years, Espinoza and Byous were ready, as Espinoza explains, “to go to the next step, to hunker down and settle into a home where we could grow as a family.” The circa-1895, three-bedroom house they came upon near downtown Danbury was atypical of most residences of the era, in that it was “sober in design, without all the bells and whistles, turned moldings and carvings you find in places of that era,” says Espinoza,

Getting Cozy (left to right across spread) A corner of the living room features an antique cupboard topped with a weathervane; the star quilt is from Julie Silber Quilts. The den—painted a bright yellow—is where the homeowners spend much of their time. Custom red-hued lampshades from Blanche P. Field provide a sharp contrast to the walls and décor, which includes stacks of vintage National Geographic magazines. The jute rug is from Fibreworks. See Resources