After career pivots—she to interior design, he to landscape design—Brittany and Matthew Bromley are now helping their clients (and each other) create their dream homes.
It’s not hard to admire the lives of keen-eyed design couple Brittany and Matthew Bromley. They manage their respective businesses—Brittany Bromley Interiors and Bromley Landscape Design—from a dreamy studio and retail store on a bucolic green in Bedford, NY. Brittany also just opened a new location for her interiors business in Palm Beach, FL. They often collaborate on residential projects and, together with their kids, live in a historic 18th century colonial home in Bedford.
As it turns out, it was the renovation and design of that home that sparked Brittany’s career pivot from real estate to interior design.
Neighbors fell in love with her innate ability to mix antiques with a pinch of modern glam and would ask her to help them with their own homes. Word spread fast and in 2013 Brittany Bromley Interiors was born.
The switch was a natural transition for Brittany. “I started to realize—and what my real estate clients kept telling me—is that so much of what I was doing when I was helping them find a home was offering design-oriented suggestions of what their home could be.”
Matthew embarked on a similar career transition when the couple realized how often clients were looking for indoor and outdoor design services. He decided to ditch his financial career and indulge his life-long passion for landscape design and gardening. Bromley Landscape Design soon took root in 2019 in a shared office space with Brittany. “People find the concept of an indoor/ outdoor team to be really attractive because for them it’s one stop shopping,” she says.
The Bromleys juggle two children, two businesses and dozens of clients, and yet their home and lifestyle are the definition of stylish sophistication. How do they do it? We talked to each of them to find out:
Talking Interiors with Brittany
How do you describe your design style?
I am very interested in having my client’s homes feel like them and not like me. I gravitate toward an eclectic, layered-over-time look that feels like a home as opposed to a showcase.
What do you love most about interior design?
As a designer there is always something new I want to try and I get to do that for clients and sometimes for myself. Four years ago, I decided to paint our kitchen black and at the time Matt was unsure about it but when it was done he said it was his favorite thing ever. Since then, we’ve probably had six people say they think want a black kitchen!
Any design mistakes you’ve made?
When we had our first ever home—almost 15 years ago—I had a dressing room that I wanted to make a bright, high gloss coral. The first color I painted it was like literally standing inside a tan- gerine. It was so bright that it was shocking and uncomfortable to be around. That lasted for about two days before it was painted to a more mellow coral.
What’s your advice for couples working together?
It’s really important that there are boundaries so that when you’re at home you’re really at home and not constantly talking about work. Having a work/life balance in the world we all live in is hard enough and when you’re already working with somebody that you live with you need to be really mindful of the separation of church and state.
Do you have creative differences?
We’re pretty simpatico when it comes to aesthetics. We have more trouble deciding what we’re going to have for dinner than we do with what projects should look like. In that regard we’re very much aligned.
What is the best and worst part of living in an old home?
The best part is the feeling that you are the steward of some- thing that has been there before you and will be there after you’re gone. Our home had not been updated and lived in by a family in many years, so it was exciting to see what the possibilities were for respecting the history but bringing it back to a place where it didn’t feel like a museum. The worst part is that, as my wallpaper person has been telling me, there is not a single right angle in our home! That is the less joyful part of living in a home that is 290 years old.
What excites you about Palm Beach?
Designing in a warm weather climate is almost like its own ver- nacular. I’m able to translate my overall aesthetic into something that feels fresh—like wearing a tuxedo, but with your pants rolled up so you can walk in the sand. The indoor/outdoor living in Palm Beach is amazing in the sense that a client will love a traditional English roll arm sofa but will recover it in a performance fabric so their grandchildren can sit on it in wet bathing suits.
Small changes that can make a huge difference in the home?
The quickest and fastest way to make a room feel considered is usually a wall covering. It does so much for the space and you can change almost nothing else and it will feel fresh. It’s a quick game changer.
In your opinion: What to spend vs save on in the home?
Spend the money on upholstery because a good sofa or chair should be something that lasts you a lifetime. It can be recovered as often as you want to reflect your current aesthetic. Save by find- ing vintage pieces and objects in antique stores that speak to who you are and make a space feel finished rather than walking into a major retailer and picking out pricier pieces that don’t have quite as much personal interest for you.
Favorite local source?
I always find tons of stuff at my favorite Antique and Artisan in Stamford, CT.
In the Garden with Matthew
How do you bring the outside in?
I often design perennial cutting gardens for clients as a way for them to bring the outside in with abundant seasonal flower arrangements. Potager or kitchen gardens are another wonderful way to bring the garden to the table and allow the entire family to participate in the harvest of fresh herbs and vegetables. I am intentional about bringing the inside out in many of my designs. We achieve this transition by creating outdoor ‘rooms’—spaces for entertaining, reflection and of course family—that are layered with plants, garden antiques and accessories in such a way that one feels like they are in a home in the outdoors.
Favorite “weed” you’re happy to have in your garden?
A weed by name only, I love our Joe Pye Weed. (Eutrochium Maculatum). It is hard not be a fan of the sweet vanilla scent and heavy purple blooms that reach upwards of six feet tall by late summer.
What is one small change that can make a huge difference in the garden?
Oversized planters. Finding large unique planters and using them to define a patio, pathway or planting bed can really set off these areas.
In your opinion: What to spend vs save on in landscape design?
Slow down, put real thought into what you want from your outdoor spaces. More is not always better. Save on the flashy instant gratification, but know when it is time to spend on the bones of your garden. High quality mature hedging, really special shade trees and custom fencing are always going to be worth the investment because the rest of your landscape design will be built on these core elements.
Favorite local sources?
Anthony Bellomo’s chic garden shop and plant nursery Orangerie Garden + Home in Millbrook, NY is a favorite spot for finding charming garden objects and unique plants. And Perennial Gardens in Bedford, NY is my local go-to for plants. If I want it, they’ve got it.
Photographed by Fabrice Trombert in Bedford, NY
Styled by Jennifer Greene Styles
Hair by SajahYanes at Camoro Salon
Makeup by Rosemarie Bernardo
