FEATURES

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The only drawback? A kitchen and dining room not properly scaled for either the architecture or their lifestyle. So a year ago, when the house flooded from biblical rains, they made the best of a bad situation and seized the opportunity to double the size of both rooms, enclosing a screened porch to enlarge the kitchen and a bow-front porch to do the same for the dining room. The kitchen remodel provided Bedoya, a talented cook, with lots of granite counters and a walnut-topped island; the reshaped dining room can seat 16, a boon for such a large family.

In addition to being a busy mother with three children, Bedoya took on the job of completing the home's interiors. With a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology ("I've worked for Michael Kors, Gucci and Ralph Lauren") and courses in design and architecture at Parsons School of Design under her belt, she mixed mid-20th-century American pieces with European art and antiques, calling on occasion for advice from interior designer Steven Sclaroff. "I've always loved basic, modern lines," says Bedoya, a seasoned shopper who's equally comfortable in Madison Avenue boutiques and weekend flea markets. "I was after casual elegance, not shabby-chic beach."

Bedoya's first major purchase: an original Jean-Michel Frank sofa, which she paired with two club chairs from the Paris flea market and centered on a Danish modern rosewood coffee table in the living room. A Venetian mirror from the 1920s hangs above the new Federal-style fireplace mantel, which gives the space a "very American" feel, she says.

The second-floor bedrooms further illustrate Bedoya's decorating impulses—a George Nelson side table here, a ceramic Moroccan light fixture there, and each room boasting a virtuoso piece. Two original Gio Ponti chairs flank the master bedroom fireplace, and Spanish sleigh beds from the 1940s—"They're very Gaudiesque," Bedoya says—provide sleeping accommodations for the couple's 7- and 11-year-old boys. A pair of painted English twin beds, fronted by antique stepstools with fairies carved into the corners, define the 11-year-old daughter's bedroom. "It's important to teach kids how to live with beautiful things," says Bedoya. "Everything in the house has an organic, textural quality that the children can appreciate. Things are elegant, but not precious."