Bloomsbury in the Bronx: At Home with Livia Cetti and Family

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Livia Cetti made her first wedding bouquet—for a family friend—when she was just seven. “I had hippie parents,” she says. “My father was an artist/contractor and my mother was the crazy mom who whipped up tofu from scratch and kept a full-size loom in her bedroom.” Livia grew up in the mountains of Santa Barbara with chickens and cows in the yard and acres of cactus gardens. She went on to study art at the San Francisco Art Institute, but worked for florists all along the way—which led to her becoming an editor at Martha Stewart Weddings.

Livia now has her own studio known as The Green Vase and is celebrated for her botanical stylings—when Tiffany wants to fill its Fifth Avenue windows with cyclamen, she’s the one they turn to, and when exotica, such as flowering cherry branches are needed in November for a Burt’s Bees ad campaign, she concocts exact lookalikes out of other fresh plant parts. Livia is equally known for her paper creations: She’s the author of two how-to books on the subject, including the new The Exquisite Book of Paper Flower Transformations. And though she long ago left California for NYC, she’s even created a facsimile of her bohemian childhood home, backyard chickens included, in a hidden corner of the Bronx. Come see.

Photography by Kate Mathis.

livia lives in a funky \190\1 spanish mediterranean house in riverdale, in the 17 — Above: Livia lives in a funky 1901 Spanish Mediterranean house in Riverdale, in the northwest Bronx, with her husband, Danny Marrone and their two boys, who are 9 and 11. Conveniently, Danny happens to be a contractor (his business is Edgehill Construction) and was able to take on the full gut of their 1,800-square-foot place himself, new terracotta roof and heating and AC systems included.

“It was a mishmash of ugly: Every surface upstairs and down was either wallpapered or linoleumed,” says Livia. Danny opened up the compact downstairs by creating twin arched passageways between living room and dining room/kitchen.

it took sixty 80 pound bags of concrete to create the mantel. (&# 18 — Above: It took sixty 80-pound bags of concrete to create the mantel. (“It’s framed in white melamine and we did two pours.”) That’s one of Livia’s red paper camellias mixed in with the fresh greenery.

John Derian was the first to sell Livia’s paper flowers, and for the opening of Astier de Villatte’s Paris shop last spring, she was flown out to create a giant Victorian-inspired paper arrangement. The terracotta head is Nigerian and dates to the 15th century; it was a holiday present from their neighbor friend Bruce Frank, owner of Bruce Frank Primitive Art.

danny&#8\2\17;s inspiration for the curved plasterwork was the living 19 — Above: Danny’s inspiration for the curved plasterwork was the living room’s existing archway that opens it to the sunroom.

Livia is an avid collector of vintage exotica, and she especially loves embroidered textiles—her sofa is draped in a dropcloth, a backdrop for her round-the-world collection of pillows. Her best source? “My mother is an antiques dealer [her shop is the Green Vase Antiques], and she’s always texting me photos and sending me her finds. If I get tired of something, it gets shipped to her shop; we have a constant give and take going.”

danny custom built the sunroom&#8\2\17;s window seat and livia cushioned&#x 20 — Above: Danny custom-built the sunroom’s window seat and Livia cushioned it with futons (the family’s lone TV is perched opposite, on a fifties credenza out of view from the living room). The tiger maple floor is original, newly refurbished. And that’s a Bolivian poncho draped over the hoop chair.

an old enameled dental cabinet is livia&#8\2\17;s curio case. the wall 21 — Above: An old enameled dental cabinet is Livia’s curio case. The walls throughout are painted Pashmina in matte from Benjamin Moore Agora, a warm medium gray—”a perfect neutral that works well with both the modern and the antique,” says Livia. The moldings are in semigloss Jute, also from Benjamin Moore Agora.

a swiss sixties chair—a riverdale trash day find—is propped with 22 — Above: A Swiss sixties chair—a Riverdale trash day find—is propped with a pillow Livia made from a sequined sweater. The emu head is one of Cody Foster’s papier-mâché creations from John Derian.

a prickly pear cactus (in a woven palm planter from target) fills the window of 23 — Above: A prickly pear cactus (in a woven palm planter from Target) fills the window of the niche library, formerly the downstairs bathroom. The windows throughout are all new, save for the ones in the sunroom, and are by Pella.

in the kitchen, the couple splurged on a hardware free design in dark oak 24 — Above: In the kitchen, the couple splurged on a hardware-free design in dark oak with aluminum framing from Poggenpohl’s Segmento line. “Because it’s a tiny space, we wanted to hide the appliances, and we loved how clean and neutral the cabinets look,” says Livia. (See Good Küchen: 9 German Kitchen Systems.)

The counter is a placeholder—it’s two Ikea Hällestad boards ($109 each) with metallic edging—until the time is right to replace it with marble or Caesarstone. The sink is also from Ikea and the vintage pendant light was an eBay score.