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Sophie, decorator Lucy Robins’ Walker Coonhound, lounges on a 10-foot sofa covered in a Rebecca Atwood performance stripe. The vinage wood chest was handcrafted by her husband’s grandfather. Swivel chairs by Coley Home are covered in a Jasper Textiles fabric. The wallpaper and Tigre velvet pillows are from Scalamandre. Woven wood shades from Horizons are layered with Matka silk drapes edged with Samuel & Sons’ jute bead fringe.
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Robins designed the bed, upholstered in a Bennison Fabrics print fabricated by Hallman Furniture. The mirror is by Carvers Guild, the lamps are from Legends of Asia with shades by Fermoie, and the side tables are from Serena & Lily.
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The dining area is drenched in high-gloss Benjamin Moore Van Deusen Blue. The sepia-toned folding screen Robins found at West End Antiques Mall was the starting point for the design.
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The powder room wallpaper is Kit Kemp for Kravet. Robins says she first fell in love with Kemp’s work at the Whitby Hotel in New York City. The sink is by Kingston Brass, and the mirror is from Old Vintage. The sconces are by Hudson Valley Lighting with shades from Cruel Mountain Designs, and the marble mosaic flooring is from Stone Center.
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The Bennison print carries the soft palette and floral motif from the primary bedroom to the bath, reappearing on the vanity chair and the custom sconce shades.
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Prestige Cabinets crafted the kitchen cabinets, painted Benjamin Moore Sea Pearl. The unlacquered brass knobs and pulls are from Rejuvenation, and the countertops are honed Luce di Luna quartzite from Architectural Surfaces. The stools are from Poly & Bark.
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The upper cabinets, crafted by Prestige Cabinets, are accentuated with a brass tipping rail in the center. The countertop is Negresco honed granite from Architectural Surfaces, and the knobs and pulls are from Rejuvenation.
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Robins says that the mudroom is American Foxhound Ruthie’s favorite place. The skirted bench fabric is from Madeaux, with hardware from Rejuvenation. The garden stool is from Legends of Asia, and the rug is from Fibreworks.
The interior of Lucy Robins’ home is cozy and layered.
Jewel tones contrast with creamy whites. Color-drenched walls meet metallic accents. Crisp, clean stripes play alongside pops of animal prints and plenty of wallpaper — from lush florals in soft blue to bold geometric prints.
“I have a thing for wallpaper,” Robins says. “I think more rooms in our house are wallpapered than not.”
For Robins, her 1950s-era ranch house in Stratford Hills is both the home she shares with her husband, two children and two hound dogs, and a showcase of the maximalist aesthetic driving her business, Lucy Dabney Interior Design.
“I’m a fairly new designer,” she says. “I don’t have a huge portfolio to show, so I wanted our home to be a place where I could bring potential clients to show them what I can do, and this wild, bold, colorful approach that I lean towards.
“But I also wanted it to be a great place to bring family and friends.”
In 2022, Robins and her husband, Rand, weren’t looking to move, but with a growing family — Robins was pregnant with the couple’s second child — they knew it was on the horizon. When a designer friend sent the Robinses a listing for the Stratford Hills home, they fell in love immediately.
The house had plenty of charm and, with a 2.5-acre lot near the James River, room for their kids and dogs to run. But after sitting vacant for several years, there were also deferred maintenance projects and significant renovations to address.
“We lived in it for two years before engaging any architects,” Robins says. “We wanted to get a solid idea of how we wanted the house to flow and make sure it catered to the needs of our family.”
With guidance from local architect Matson Roberts, they added a screened porch, moved walls to modernize the floor plan and converted a nursery into a primary bathroom. They also combined a dining room and sun porch to create a larger kitchen. “Matson helped me make the dream a reality and kept our expectations realistic,” Robins says.
With the new layout in place, Robins turned to the design.
For years, she had collected fabric and wall covering samples, design inspiration photos, and art and furniture from auctions and local antique stores. Robins turned to all of it as she began assembling a series of mood boards.
Her process is both analog and digital. She lays out physical samples of fabrics and wallpapers, then uses digital tools to layer in accessories, lighting, furniture and other elements. Then, she edits and refines, swapping and removing details until the room feels balanced.
To achieve the maximalist look, Robins often looks for variation in color, texture and materials. In the living room, she mixes a striped couch and floral wallpaper with accents such as tiger-print pillows and a solid velvet ottoman. Hues of blue, warm wood furnishings and a natural woven carpet tie the space together.
“Having different patterns in the room gives interest to the eye,” she says, “but it’s important to look at the scale and proportion and make sure you don’t have three striped fabrics that compete with one another.”
In other rooms, repetition and saturation bring visual interest without overwhelming the senses. For the primary bedroom, Robins uses the same fabric for the bed, upholstery, curtains and chairs. The print continues in the adjoining bathroom, where the fabric adorns sconce shades and a vanity chair.
One of her favorite areas is a cozy bar with geometric wallpaper — Philadelphia Harlequin from Adelphi — and dark green cabinets with metallic hardware.
“Adelphi hand-blocked papers have been a longtime favorite,” she says. “It’s installed on the ceiling and walls. I wanted it to be a jewel box of fun.”
While the bar and living room are examples of Robins’ maximalist tendencies, she also aims for balance across the whole home. “I like to think about adjacent spaces and make sure that they’re talking to each other,” she says.
For instance, the kitchen, which connects to the bar, is an open and sunny space with creamy cabinets, quartzite countertops and unlacquered brass hardware. A white-walled mudroom provides a clean and simple area for stashing outdoor gear.
But both rooms also feature accents of green and gold, including light fixtures, a skirt covering a storage area and a geometric rug — all of which nod to the moodiness of the bar area.
“You have to balance the wild and fun with a breath in between,” she says. “And by pulling back in some spaces, it allows the bar to have that punchy impact.”
Robins says thoughtful curation is key to achieving balanced maximalism.
“Our home is colorful with a bit of funk, and it reflects the personality of our family,” she says.
“The curation takes time, but the layers add personality, and in the end, it’s such a wonderful result.”
