Latin American and Scandinavian influences took the lead in the design of this upstate New York home – and the result is warm, colourful and incredibly joyful
DINING ROOM
‘I love when the art becomes the focal point,’ says owner Babba.
HALLWAY
Babba (left) believes a good home is a place that makes you feel creatively inspired.
A home should reflect the people living there, ‘We and Babba and Carl Rivera’s warm, playful and welcoming old hunting lodge in Tuxedo Park, upstate New York, represents a couple who believe a good home is a place that makes you feel creatively inspired and spiritually grounded – ‘a place that brings out the best version of you,’ as Babba says.
At the heart of their home is a love of hosting and bringing people together. And with a mix of vibrant art by emerging names from South America, clean-lined Scandinavian design, vintage pieces from the 1960s and American New England-style textiles, the home truly represents all aspects of Babba: her Chilean heritage; Swedish upbringing; entrepreneurship, as founder of a NYC-based business; and family life, as a mother to two small daughters. ‘My husband, who is Swedish, and I are very inspired by the duality between our Scandinavian roots and my Latin American heritage. We love contrasts in life and bring that passion into interior design, too,’ says Babba.
For years, the couple had talked about finding a house upstate, and the idea took shape during the pandemic, when Babba was pregnant. As Airbnb didn’t have anything to rent, they started looking to buy and found this cosy house by chance. ‘It felt weirdly familiar, like a place that had been home in a previous life, somehow. I think part of that feeling comes from the familiarity that this Dutch Colonial house style brings to us – as Europeans living in the US, we don’t always identify with traditional American housing,’ says Babba.
PORCH
‘I love how our house sits under two trees, making it cosy,’ says Babba.
‘We didn’t know about Tuxedo Park beforehand, but when we went here to look we found this charming house, located in a magical place – it’s a hidden gem,’ she continues. ‘It is incredible that a place with so much untouched nature is only an hour from the city.’ Tuxedo Park was founded in the 1880s by the tobacco baron Pierre Lorillard IV as a hunting and fishing playground for his friends, and
