A Rhinebeck House Built for Entertaining

For over a year, Tom Polucci and Jamie Mattingly tracked a Rhinebeck listing on Zillow, captivated by the 2004 shingle-style home’s Venetian red cedar-shake exterior, quality craftsmanship, and generous rooms. When a friend learned that the couple, who had been dating about a year at the time, was stalking the house online during a New Year’s 2015-2016 visit, she called the listing agent. The next day, after their first walk-through, they were hooked. Photp credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine

New Year’s is a red-letter day for Tom Polucci and Jamie Mattingly. Not because it commemorates their wedding (that would come later) or anyone’s birthday (see below), or even merely the turn of another year. January 1 marks an unofficial milestone of their life together: The day they first met their house.

At the end of 2015, the couple had been dating for a year, living in Manhattan, and dreaming of a place Upstate when they booked a mini-vacation in Rhinebeck. “We came for New Year’s Eve,” explains Polucci. “And rented a beautiful house on Route 9 with my best friend Toni, her husband, and their daughter.” The friends celebrated the countdown to the new year together, and then, on the first day of 2016, Toni caught the couple in an act of stalking.

“Jamie had found this house on Zillow, and we’d been watching the listing for a year,” explains Polluci, of the shingle-style home designed by local architect Warren Temple Smith and inspired by the nearby historic Queen Anne Estate Wilderstein. “We loved the cedar shake exterior and the high ceilings with crown molding, and the casement windows and doors also looked good. The craftsmanship was beautiful.” Polluci, an architect and interior designer for the global design firm HOK, had even mapped out the floor plan from the pictures. Downstairs, an open-concept kitchen flowed into an oversized family room with vaulted ceilings; generous formal dining and living rooms revolved around a stone fireplace; and the wide entryway could welcome multiple guests at once. Outside, Venetian red shingles met the sharply peaked roofline. With gently curved arches and a small turret topped by a candle-snuffer roof, the home sat gracefully on three acres surrounded by oaks, maples, and cedars.

Polucci in the eat-in kitchen, surrounded by holiday regalia. He added the Knoll tulip table to the nook and matched it with Emeco chairs and a red pendant from Ikea. “Christmas is my favorite holiday,” he says of the holiday decorations, which he puts up every year right after Thanksgiving.Credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine

Mattingly, a chamber musician and nurse anesthetist at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, couldn’t handle an intensive remodel. He wanted to spend his downtime practicing classical piano. Built by Handcrafted Builders in 2004, the home had primarily been used as a part-time rental. “I could tell it was in great shape,” says Polucci. “There was a quality and craftsmanship that I really admired.”

“We wanted a home for ourselves,” says Polucci. “But, we love having people over and entertaining our family and friends.” With almost 3,000 square feet spread across two stories, there was plenty of room to host holiday parties or spend quiet evenings together. There was even space for a baby grand piano. “It was really important to Jamie that when we bought a house, we’d also buy a piano,” says Polucci. “The home really met everyone’s needs.”

“What was really important to Jamie was a house where he could have a piano,” says Polucci. The baby grand fits perfectly in the living room corner, where Jamie—who studied piano in college and plays chamber music—hosts monthly gatherings with musician friends. The living room’s eclectic mix reflects the couple’s collaborative approach to design. A Century wingback chair matches with vintage Danish green chairs, both from Chairish. Scheurich Keramik vases top the vintage sideboard from Everything but the House. The collaboration extends to color choices too. “Jamie’s favorite color is orange, mine is red,” says Polucci. “Those colors pop up throughout the house.” *Credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine*

They were smitten. But the property was out of their price range, and they didn’t feel ready for the commitment. Polucci’s friend Toni wasn’t having it. “She told us we were ridiculous, then picked up the phone and called the listing agent,” he says of his college friend and fellow architect who is definitely not a real estate agent. “She told the agent she had two clients in town for the holiday and that they wanted to see the house.”

The agent agreed to meet on short notice, and that afternoon the couple took their first walk around the three-bedroom home. “That was it, we never looked at another property,” says Polucci. “We just knew this was the one.” It took some negotiating, but by March 30—Mattingly’s birthday—they had the keys.

Home, Actually

Polucci is the director of HOK’s 350-person interior design practice, which specializes in future-forward, large-scale projects—think LaGuardia Airport’s reimagined Terminal B (where Polucci’s favorite detail is the bathroom tiles paying homage to New Year’s Eve at Times Square) or nearby Etihad Stadium, the future home of the New York City Football Club—HOK designs grand spaces that, at first, seem impersonal.

“I grew up in the Bronx in a very Italian family,” says Polucci. “Christmas Eve was a big deal. We would go to my grandparents’ house for the Feast of the Seven Fishes with all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. Then we would all go to midnight mass.” The tradition continues. Every December 23rd, Polucci goes to his parents’ house in Connecticut to prepare fish with his father. On Christmas Eve, “a caravan of my parents and my sister and her family and her in-laws,” comes up to Rhinebeck. Their Restoration Hardware table seats 14, and a mix of Restoration Hardware and Birch Lane wood chairs provide seating. The chandelier is from Wayfair. “My aunt Julie hates it,” Polucci says. “But Jamie calls it cheap and cheerful, and I love it.” The custom North Park Woodcraft sideboard houses vintage transfer-ware plates and family heirlooms, along with glassware from Tiffany, Waterford, and Crate & Barrel—all perfect for a holiday feast. *Credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine*

But Polucci has mastered a design paradox—whether the space is an international airport where millions of strangers rush past each other, a stadium where thousands converge in a huge collective rite, or a Rhinebeck dining room where a tight-knit family gathers annually for the Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve—the design objectives are the same: Welcoming friends; celebrating (or commiserating) our collective wins and losses; coming home. All design, at any scale, is about creating spaces where people connect. “The intimacy of interior design is what I love the most,” Polucci explains. “During the design process, you get to know clients on a very intimate level. You learn who they are, how they work, and what their culture is.”

Birthday Suit

In 2016, when the couple first moved in, they didn’t have much furniture, so they started from scratch. “We didn’t have anything when we bought the house,” explains Polucci. “Our life came first, and the design is a response to both of us and how we like to bring people into our home.”

They began by giving the open-concept kitchen a facelift with fresh paint and new lighting (they’d add Quartz and Granite counters, as well as a subway tile backsplash, later) and furnished the adjacent family room for lounging with their first guests. They also furnished the primary bedroom suite and the covered porch. For Christmas of 2016, they had guests, but not much to sit on. “So we brought the new porch furniture inside and celebrated on that,” Polucci says.

Fittingly Perfect

In 2017, they began tackling the design of the dining room and formal living room. “We wanted the design to feel eclectic and collected over time,” explains Polucci. “We mixed in a bit of vintage, some Mid-Century pieces, and a bit of country.” They found a 10-seat wooden dining table that expands to fit 14 people, which easily fit into the spacious dining room. To match it, the duo commissioned a custom sideboard from North Park Woodcraft in Hyde Park that takes up an entire wall.

In 2016, the couple gave the kitchen a light refresh—painting the island, adding absolute black granite in a flamed finish for the perimeter countertops, Zodiac quartz for the island top, and installing a Daltile subway tile backsplash. “We wanted to tie the finishes to the overall palette of blues that run through most rooms,” says Polucci. Pendant lights from The Inside hang over the island, flanked by Knoll stools. The kitchen has become central to their life together. “We cook a lot,” says Polucci. “There’s nothing better than to cook together, to laugh together. It’s been a really special experience.” *Credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine*

They replaced the chimney breast and removed the ceiling brackets in the living room, but kept the crown molding and window trim. A baby grand piano fit perfectly into the living room corner.

The couple finished the first floor just in time. Later that year, two fellow chamber musicians decided to have a destination wedding in Polucci and Mattingly’s living room. “There were just four of us in front of the fireplace, with Jamie playing the piano,” says Polucci. “It was touching and lovely, and it really inspired us.”

It gave Polucci and Mattingly an idea. On Thanksgiving of 2017, with both their families gathered around the dining table, they announced their engagement. The following October, a day after their wedding at a local church, they hosted a brunch for their guests. “We had 60 people at the house,” Polucci says. “On the porch, upstairs, downstairs. It was beautiful weather, and someone played the piano. It was perfect.”

Ten Years in Rhinebeck

In 2019, they decided to take the party outside. Working with Scott Zimmer of Zimmer Gardens, they developed a master plan for the surrounding 3.3-acre property, featuring multiple bluestone patios and intimately scaled gathering spaces. “When we have guests, there are different outdoor experiences for everyone,” says Polucci. “We can have a meal or a cocktail, or just sit and enjoy the view.” Zimmer also planted new trees and garden beds throughout the property and laid bluestone pathways connecting the outdoor rooms.

In the primary suite, Quince and Pottery Barn bedding tops the bed, while West Elm chairs provide reading nooks. A photo mosaic by friend Julie Denesha hangs above a custom black dresser from North Park Woodcraft. The eclectic approach—mixing high and low, vintage and new—reflects how the couple has collaborated on creating a home that reflects both their tastes. The design process mirrored their relationship. “The intimacy of getting to know Jamie, of building a life together, of making sure our home reflects our values and the way we want to live our life,” says Polucci. “It’s been a great gift.”*Credit: Winona Barton-Ballentine*

That year, Polucci took his hosting duties off-site as well, becoming the national board chair of The Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), a nonprofit that raises money for people living with HIV/AIDS. “I was inspired by my mother, who was a nurse in the `90s at an AIDS hospice,” says Polucci. “She said it was the most rewarding work of her career.” Through their annual gala and other social events, DIFFA funds housing, meals, and mental health support.

The 2020 lockdown curtailed the couple’s hosting abilities, but gave them extra time for home improvement. With the help of SwimKing Pools and Spa, they added a pool and a bluestone deck.

Ten New Year’s days later, the home is a succession of crafted spaces that reflect the life Polucci and Mattingly have built together. “It’s really become home,” says Polucci. “We built it together and found a place that really fits us. Having a home makes us appreciate family and friends more. Being able to welcome the important people in our lives and love them is really special. And I didn’t expect any of it.”