Lily and Arsen Ustayev's Glamorous Port Royal Abode

Out on the town, Lily and Arsen Ustayev make a glamorous impression: a handsome couple with an eye for style. They’re often seen in bold patterns with trend-forward cuts, delighting in marquee brands (a hands-down favorite is Dolce & Gabbana) and a bit of sparkle, whether it comes from diamond-encrusted jewelry or a metallic thread. “We’re fashionable people; we love to dress up and to look great, and we love design in general,” Arsen says.

When it comes to the home they share with their two children, there’s just as much glamour, but it’s done with an eye toward creating calm and comfort, a more subtle kind of beauty. “We want our home to be a peaceful place that’s not overwhelming,” Arsen says. “You can wear more risqué stuff, but furniture you have to live with every day.”

Photography by Dan Cutrona

ustayev family playing in their yard

The couple’s love of the finer things is grounded in an unabashed pride in providing comfort to their family. Arsen was born in Uzbekistan, when the country was part of the former Soviet Union. When his family of five emigrated to the United States in 1991, they had less than $500 for their family. “Everything in our first apartment—the couch, rug, coffee table—came from the trash,” Arsen says. “As immigrants, we thought, ‘These Americans are throwing out some really nice stuff!’”

Through hard work and with the support of his industrious father, Arsen excelled at school and in college. He got into computer programming, then started his own business in senior care. “We came to this country to become successful, to do the things we couldn’t do because of communism,” he says. During that time, he married Lily, who had moved to the United States from Armenia when she was 18, and they started their family. In 2018, they sold the business and bought a vacation home in Naples.

When the pandemic hit, the Ustayevs decamped to Florida and soon found they didn’t want to leave, buying this Port Royal home to make it their full-time residence. The 9,000-square-foot Tuscan-style house sits on an acre of land on the canal, with a separate guest house for Lily’s parents, who live with them.

The design had many of the hallmarks of the older Tuscan style—lots of moldings, dark wood throughout—so they knew they’d want a refresh in the interiors. “The home already had dark wood floors, so we did everything we could to make it feel light and airy,” Arsen says. “We wanted to carry the lightness of the house throughout the interiors in a transitional-modern style, with pale colors and nice fabrics.” The couple enlisted Holly Pringle, a designer with Norris Furniture, to make the home their own. “I’d known them for a number of years, and we’d worked together on previous homes, so I had a good sense of their style,” Pringle says. “The idea we kept coming back to was Old Hollywood glamour.”

The tone is set from the entrance gate; guests approach a portico fronted by three large arches down a curved driveway. Arsen replaced the old front door, a solid-wood one, with a glass door with iron detailing to bring in light right from the threshold. Inside, a John-Richard chandelier dazzles above the foyer with cascading crystals, echoed by a second one just beyond, in a sunken formal living room. “It’s absolutely breathtaking,” Pringle says.

The u-shaped layout extends from the sunken living room—to the west, one wing of the home holds Arsen’s study and the couple’s two-story bedroom; the east wing contains the family room, kitchen and dining room, garage and two bedrooms. Every space has standout elements that reflect the couple’s sense of style and love of glam. The twin Theodore Alexander sofas in the living room create ample seating for guests, with Old World shine from antiqued metal legs. A hammered metal pub table by the window, paired with oval-back bar stools, offers another gathering area. “The idea was to get some highs and lows, to play with the volume of the space,” Pringle says. A sleek, black Steinway piano offers an opportunity to show off their 12-year-old daughter Sophia’s talents. “She plays beautifully,” Arsen says. “She just shines when friends come over.”

In the formal dining room, Arsen similarly suggested replacing a dark-wood inset ceiling with mirrored tiles, set in a chevron pattern. They reflect light from the elongated crystal chandelier, adding sparkle to the relatively small room. Twin vitrines display Lily’s collection of fine china from Hermès and Versace, nodding to the couple’s style sensibilities.

Adjacent to the dining room is the show-stopping wine cellar Arsen conceived. Three walls are made of glass, with nearly invisible brass wire cradling the wine collection. The far wall, the focal point, is a single pane of onyx, lit from behind with soft LEDs. “I’d always been fascinated with wine cellars, but I knew from the moment I saw this house that I’d want something more modern,” Arsen says, noting that it took quite a bit of research and work with the contractor to find a way to make his vision a reality. In front of the onyx wall is a display of cognacs. “I am not a big drinker of cognac, but I love the beautiful bottles,” he says. “A lot of them are handmade—Baccarat or Lalique crystal—and very rare.”

The luxe factor carries over in the family room with antiqued mirrors flanking a 100-inch flat-screen TV, set in cream-toned custom cabinetry. The Ustayevs worked with Pringle to finish the ceilings in an iridescent wallpaper, covering the dark wood. A generous sofa and two Theodore Alexander Incognito upholstered chairs with acrylic side supports make the room a comfortable place to lounge. “I love more comfortable fabrics, things like velvet or silk, that feel nice and smooth to the touch,” Arsen says. He and Pringle designed the acrylic breakfast table, inspired by icicles. The open kitchen has a large island for casual family meals and a window with a view of a koi pond. “They made refreshing light choices in the kitchen, a little more Art Nouveau,” Pringle says. Of note is the backsplash—done in marble with a 1920s-style fan design. “Lily and Arsen aren’t driven by trends, but will take risks and choose unusual things that they respond to,” the designer says. Pringle used sheers with silver and gold accents to incorporate sparkle everywhere.

The study is done in Mediterranean blue with gold accents, with the overall look inspired by designer Christopher Guy, whose aesthetic harkens to the golden age of glamour. “Most of the house is in palettes of pale blues, pearls and linens, so here we wanted something really unique,” Pringle says. A nearby powder room has a palm-like wallpaper in shades of gray, with the leaves taking on an abstract effect—set off by chrome hardware.

While the Ustayevs enjoy creating spaces that impress guests, their private spaces—which take up two wings on either side of the living and dining areas—are just as considered. “Lucky for us, Lily and I have very similar tastes,” Arsen says. “We want our home to look like a quote-unquote designer house, but we don’t care about brands in furniture. We brought lots of our fashion sense to the design to have a fresh, beautiful look.” A chrome canopy bed in Lily and Arsen’s bedroom is the star of the double-height, coffered-ceiling room, sparkling underneath a crystal chandelier. Custom floor-to-ceiling drapes filter the light from tall, arched windows. The earth-tone rug incorporates organic metallic stripes, mimicking the motion of sand. A Caracole Lady Love vanity was added for Lily. The delicate beauty of the piece provides a feminine, retro touch to the space.

Their bathroom has his-and-hers vanities and closets for each, finished out like fine clothing stores (hers in white wood, his in darker tones). There are dedicated spaces for each accessory and rugs and seating for comfort. “Lily loves shoes and handbags, so there’s plenty of space for her D&G, Louis Vuitton and Chanel,” Arsen says. A spiral staircase leads to the “overflow” closet. “We moved here from Pennsylvania, so that’s where we store all of our warm clothes, our fur coats, the sorts of things we’ll use when we go to Aspen,” he adds.

Since the home has more bedrooms than the Ustayevs need, both children have two-room suites to themselves, with one area for sleeping and the other for spending time with friends, studying and playing. Sophia’s suite is ballet pink, with plush rugs, velvet upholstery and curtains with a subtle flamingo print. In her living area, Sophia has a built-in desk with pink crystal hardware, a couch and TV for movie nights with friends, plus a white piano for practice. “I love how everything’s so pink because that’s my favorite color,” Sophia says. Arsen confirms: “My daughter’s a girly girl; she loves pink and more pink!”

Blues and grays dominate 9-year-old David’s room. His study has a blue, textured leather desk and an accent wall of tiled-chevron grasscloth wallpaper from The Vale London. “It’s absolutely spectacular,” Pringle says. David’s decor includes lots of signed sports paraphernalia and shelves full of models of cars, trucks, boats and bikes. “My son loves football and sports in general,” Arsen says. “It’s really a space any kid would want to hang,” Pringle adds.

Overall, the home’s decor reflects a sense of style learned and earned, an effervescent appreciation of the finer things in life. “Comfort is important, but we also want the house to be pristine,” Arsen says. “Our home is a celebration of how far we’ve come.”