This Staten Island Renovation Blends Family History and Contemporary Cool

Designer Williams Martinez turned his late in-laws' traditional Staten Island home into a charismatic, artistic new space that celebrates his husband's childhood memories, his own Venezuelan history and the new story they're writing together. This before-and-after is overflowing with style and soul.

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September 14, 2023

By: Lauren Oster

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Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Williams Martinez

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

Photo By: Venjhamin Reyes Photography

A Family Tree Grows in Staten Island

Designer Williams Martinez and his Staten Island home go way, way back. Completed in 1967, it welcomed a clan that would build their lives there for the next half century. “My husband and his family moved in when it was finished, so it’s been in the family for over 56 years,” Williams says.

That said, his decision to write its next chapter was a plot twist. The property is a two-family home that comprises a second-floor unit and a first-floor-plus-finished-basement unit. “We were living in the second-floor unit while caring for the best mother-in-law I could have asked for,” Williams recalls. “After her passing, we talked about where we wanted to move. We considered all options, and I presented the idea of buying the house from the estate. My husband was very reluctant at first but in the end, we both thought it was the best decision since we both love the house and neighborhood so much.”

They knew that making the house their home would involve both sweeping changes and grounding personal touches that celebrate Williams’s childhood in Venezuela, his husband’s history in New York and the life they’ve built together. Come on in for an unforgettable introduction to their beautifully blended family.

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Before: The Living Room

Williams and his husband are fond of entertaining, and they undertook renovation with an eye to creating the perfect home for themselves, their favorite people and their art collection. That meant combining practical characteristics of the galleries they love to visit with the aesthetic they’ve developed as a couple.

After: The Living Room

The showstopping leather sectional was the first piece Williams selected for the living room. “This piece we saw and bought in Florida while I was still living there right before I moved to New York,” he explains. It took six months to arrive, but it was well worth the wait: “We love it so much, and we spend most of our time here [in the living room].”

Williams’s thoughtful updates have been a resounding success. “People love our home; they feel it is comfortable and inviting. Friends and family who knew the house before are the ones that get the most enjoyment out of seeing the changes that we made,” he says.

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Dramatic Photography and a Sculptural Plant Welcome Guests

The massive photo to the right of the front door sets the tone for the home beyond it. “Both of us have admired Peter Lik’s work, and when we saw ‘The Sentinel’ [an image of the Manhattan Bridge] and ‘Emerald Mist' [a Coney Island photo in their bedroom] — both iconic New York landmarks — we knew we had to have them, personally as a lover of New York and [for] my husband as a native New Yorker,” Williams says.

The leafy greeter beyond it, in turn, is a mainstay of Williams’s designs. “I always like to bring greenery to the spaces I design. In this case, we fell in love with a seven-foot Golden Pothos. Perfect for that corner!”

SEE MORE: Easy Indoor Tropical Plants

Freeform Floor Covering Sets the Tone for the Living Room

The living room’s stealth MVP might just be underfoot. “The shaped area rug by Stark is something I designed and had cut and serged on-site,” Williams says. “This organic configuration helped me eliminate the issue of having a portion of the material on a high-traffic area, not to mention the movement it brought into the space.”

That said, this home’s art is its soul. “Our pieces have been collected throughout the years. Some pieces were acquired before our relationship, but the majority have been [acquired] together,” Williams explains. “My husband and I have a rule. We both must love the piece! If one of us doesn’t love it, it is not coming home. Each piece has a story behind it. Every time we travel, we love to bring something special home that will remind us of that moment in time.”

READ MORE: How to Pick the Perfect Area Rug for Your Living Space

Thoughtful Lighting Design Puts Art Front and Center

Like every piece in Williams’ home, the Ivan Prieto sculpture in the corner of the living room is illuminated perfectly — and he knew it would be before renovation got started. “Art should always be lit up properly! When designing your home, you should already start planning on art placement since you can incorporate the right lighting while doing construction. Meaning overhead lighting, picture lighting or recessed electrical outlets that will be hidden behind the artwork.”

SEE MORE: 20 Living Room Lighting Design Ideas

Beloved Art Fills the Walls With Stories

“All the artwork we own is special and has a story behind it, but my personal favorite is 'HE WORE HIS HEART ON HIS CHEST' by Richard Garriott-Stejskal [framed behind the West Elm armchair],” Williams says. “We were at a gallery in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and, I fell in love with it; my husband pretended he didn’t like it. The next day he called the gallery and bought it. My birthday came and he surprised me with it. He tricked me and we both love it!”

SEE MORE: 10 Ways to Display Artwork in Your Home

Contemporary Print Recalls a Favorite Childhood Character

"‘The Red Baron’ by Nelson De La Nuez is one of our favorite [pieces] since we have both loved Snoopy all our lives,” Williams says. "We knew he had to be in a special location in our home and needed to be well lit.” He wasn’t kidding about planning lighting design well in advance. “The art light we used is by Situ Art Lighting. We had a recessed electrical outlet box installed in the wall behind him so we could plug in the light without having to expose any cords.”

Before: The Dining Room

With just two walls to define the dining room in the open-plan portion of the first floor, Williams needed to deploy visual cues that would give the space subtle gravity and distinguish it from the kitchen and hallway it adjoined.

After: The Dining Room

The space is now refined and refreshing all at once. “We wanted to be and feel comfortable and relaxed and not very formal,” Williams explains. “The monochromatic palette was perfect to complement the kitchen that’s adjacent to it.” Sheers now filter the natural light that spills into the space, and a Hubbardton Forge pendant presides over a curvaceous arrangement of Homenature vases. Williams focused his design on that magnificent pendant’s bronze florets and soft gold finish: “We wanted it to be the focal point.”

SEE MORE: 100+ Top Designer Dining Rooms

Hand-Hewn Details Give a Crisp Space Character

Williams chose a Restoration Hardware dining table that combines a bold, Brutalist silhouette with irregular, chiseled furrows that give it touchable texture and the unmistakable look of a crafted rather than manufactured product. The tailored wood trim on the barrel-back linen dining chairs, in turn, evokes masculine summer suiting.

SEE MORE: 35+ Ways to Refresh Your Dining Room

Before: The Kitchen

The kitchen is relatively small, “so we wanted to keep it light and bright,” Williams recalls. Since he planned to replace the white tile with the same ebony-stained Brazilian cherry that carries through other spaces on the ground floor, that would mean inverting the room’s color scheme and going lighter with the cabinets his late mother-in-law had selected.

After: The Kitchen

Hello, sunshine! The creamy tone and Lucite hardware Williams chose for the kitchen cabinets’ new look create an elegant contrast with the deep, matte flooring and give the room a feel of timeless luxury. “We decided to use the same stone for the countertops and backsplash for a seamless look,” he says.

READ MORE: Kitchen Remodeling: Where to Splurge, Where to Save

Contemporary Accessories Counterbalance Traditional Cabinetry

New stainless-steel appliances provide functional and visual updates to the older pieces they replace, and jewel-bright glassware and cookbooks function as a bridge between this more traditional space and the eclectic ones beyond it. A translucent Roman shade filters sunlight just enough to maintain the kitchen’s ethereal atmosphere.

SEE MORE: 10 Winning Kitchen Window Treatment Ideas

Dimensional Tray Designates the Bar Area

No room for a bar cart? No problem: An architectural accessory like the Jonathan Adler tray Williams perched on the counter between the kitchen and the hallway provides storage and Old Hollywood glamour without gobbling up precious floor space.

SEE MORE: 40 Stylish Home Bars Squeezed Into Small Spaces

Before: The Hallway

The creamy wall color + white molding + traditional flush-mount light was an outdated formula for Williams and his husband — and it made this space feel a bit cramped.

After: The Hallway

Williams knew just how to revitalize the hallway: “The power of a fresh coat of paint is endless,” he says. “Using the same color for your walls, ceilings and trim is a perfect way to keep it simple and obtain that open feel.” A crisp new fixture spotlights each of the four pieces he chose for the walls — and its silhouette lends it the gravity of sculpture to boot.

So, what was Williams’s winning new hue? “In this case I used my favorite white from Benjamin Moore, Chantilly Lace. I used it for the walls and ceiling in a flat finish, and semigloss for the doors and trim,” he says. “For the flooring throughout the house, we used an ebony stain in a matte finish. [I] loved the dark and bright contrast [that lets] the art be the focal point.”

READ MORE: The Ultimate Guide to White Paint

Before: The Shower

Williams didn’t plan to change the long, narrow bathroom’s footprint, but he did intend to use every trick in his professional toolbox to make it feel spacious and maximize its functionality. It was time for the extant assortment of earth-tone tiles to make an exit.

After: The Shower

This sleek two-tone shower is just 58” x 32”, but the dark, veined quartz Williams deployed on the accent wall and ledge make the space feel much more generous. The paler walls and the flooring throughout the bathroom feature 24” x 48” porcelain tiles that give the look of stone without its budget-ballooning properties.

SEE MORE: 50 Black and White Bathrooms We Love

Before: The Vanity

“An open and brighter feel was the starting point for this bathroom renovation,” Williams says. “A custom vanity and sink were crucial to the design, since we needed lots of storage and we wanted double faucets.” Whisking away these floor-to-ceiling cabinets — and eliminating the pinch point they created in the portion of the bath beyond the shower — was key to reimagining the room.

After: The Vanity

What a difference a rearrangement of storage makes! Using the same dark quartz he used for the accent wall, Williams created a sleek, streamlined countertop that opens into an extra-wide sink with two faucets. He integrated electrical outlets in the middle drawers on either side of the vanity he designed, thus eliminating the visual interruption they would have created on the countertop. How did he decide what did deserve pride of place there? “As far as accessories, I like to keep a balance of practical and beautiful items that speak to each other and make us feel like we are in a luxurious bathroom,” he says.

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Before: The Bedroom

Williams envisioned a “dark, moody and masculine” bedroom, and planned to envelop the space in tones and textures that would cultivate that mood. He also knew that the room would not be multitasking: “A bedroom should be for resting and sleeping,” he says. “Items like a desk, workout equipment and clutter do not belong in this space.”

After: The Bedroom

“The fundamental elements of a restful bedroom are a comfortable, quality mattress, cozy bedding and accent lighting,” Williams says. Floor lamps, table lamps and lighting for artwork should all be customized with dimmer switches. He set the tone for the room with dark, wall-to-wall carpet and Phillip Jeffries grass-cloth wallpaper, then developed it with luxe touches like a wingback Arhaus bed, gleaming Kelly Wearstler table lamps and throw pillows from The Collective West.

SEE MORE: Dark + Dramatic Colors for Any Room

Artwork Can Affirm Connections With Loved Ones

The smaller artworks perched on each nightstand have special significance for Williams. “My grandmother loved collecting art,” he says. “After she passed three years ago, I wanted to make sure I had a few of her pieces in our home to remember her. Those two gold-framed paintings were from the town where she was born. There is a very famous street [there], and they represent the colorful architecture of the area.”

Pale Photography Glows Against a Dark, Textural Wall

Awash in misty morning light, this Peter Lik photograph of the mossy midwinter coastline at Coney Island is a fitting work to see at the start of one’s day; it’s also a handsome tonal counterpoint to the deep grass cloth Williams chose for the bedroom. The three-shaded Uttermost floor lamp he placed beside it complements the photo’s wide, pale mat.

Bud Vases and Boucle Soften a Masculine Room

Williams accented his masculine design for the bedroom with textural and romantic elements that layer its look. A nubbly, flower-shaped stool from The Collective West echoes both the creamy Arhaus nightstands and the cozy woolen blanket at the foot of the bed, and a pair of fluted glass vases with calla lilies offer a note of organic elegance.

Useful Handicrafts + Sleek Storage = The Perfect Closet

The dressing space in this closet area leaves little room for embellishment, but Williams infused it with warmth in the form of a pair of Senegalese woven baskets and a hand-hewn stool. Floor-to-ceiling mirror- and wood-fronted cabinets, in turn, put every inch of storage to work.

How did Williams' husband react to the renovation? "He absolutely loved it," Williams says. "Although it’s the home he grew up in, the changes we made make it feel like a brand-new and fresh home. Our home, where we are building new memories yet still cherishing the past."

SEE MORE: 30 Closet Design Ideas

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