Success-Orize

When Kristin and Brad Glassman moved in to the Colonial-style home they built in upstate New York a year and a half ago, they tried to give a sense of history to their adjacent dining and living rooms by painting them a pale buttery yellow and adding elegant moldings. And while Brad, an immigration lawyer, and Kristin, a stay-at-home mom who used to work in civil law, were pleased with their achievement, they couldn't avoid the elephantine truth about these pristine rooms: They and their daughters, 6-year-old Isabella and 3-year-old Allegra, almost never went in them. "I joked that we should put DO NOT ENTER tape around them," Brad says. "They were too formal."

But when O at Home put the Glassmans in touch with Bridgeport, Connecticut–based stylist Corey Grant Tippin, things changed—fast. Charged with transforming the rooms into warm, inviting spaces, Tippin says he appreciated the bare bones on which he had to build: "I was digging the moldings and the French furniture, which blend well with modern accessories."

The Glassmans' dining room had been furnished with a dining-room set by Mona Liza Furniture and double scallop sconces by Circa Lighting, but it felt unfinished, he says.