The Rinfret Way:
A Mother-Daughter Duo Redefining Elegance in Design
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By Monica Vanover on May 22, 2025
In Every Beautiful Room Was A Woman Who Dreamed It First
Design, for Cindy Rinfret, begins with observation: the natural light, the cadence of arches or windows, the way a room opens into the next. This way of seeing, honed over decades, is the foundation of Rinfret, Ltd., the award-winning firm she leads with her daughter, Taylor Mattos.
Together, they bring an unmistakable signature to their work: a layered, livable elegance rooted in craftsmanship and custom detail. Each interior feels deliberately evolved—collected, not contrived—and finely attuned to the people who inhabit it.
“I feel blessed to be in this business and have a legacy for my daughter to carry on,” Rinfret says. “As designers, our work is our life. Design encompasses all we do, so having Taylor working with me is also my family time.”
The roots of this perspective run deep. Rinfret’s mother was a real estate agent who first showed her how homes become extensions of identity. Today, whether a project begins with a floorplan or a feeling, the firm’s goal is the same: to design spaces that endure—functionally, emotionally, and architecturally.
I feel blessed to be in this business and have a legacy for my daughter to carry on. As designers, our work is our life. Design encompasses all we do, so having Taylor working with me is also my family time.
—Cindy Rinfret, principal designer
Mattos brings her own design vocabulary to the firm. Named one of 13 rising star designers in the nation by House Beautiful, Mattos’ path includes leading international firms in New York, Paris, and London. With a perspective sharpened by city living, she brings a progressive style and precise intuition to Rinfret, Ltd., emphasizing clean tailoring, material restraint, and a sharp instinct for spatial tension.
The mother-daughter duo’s collaboration isn’t about contrast—it’s about balance. Rinfret might shape the bones of a space with limestone mantels, custom millwork, and classical symmetry, while Mattos refines the furnishings around it to highlight form and negative space. What results is a dialogue that respects tradition and craftsmanship, but leaves room to evolve.
Blending Heritage and Innovation in Luxury Design
It’s rare to find a design team fluent in both legacy and reinvention, yet this duality defines the Rinfret partnership. Rinfret’s style is rooted in history and discipline: shaped by her training at the Rhode Island School of Design, deepened through architectural study in Copenhagen, and refined during apprenticeships with storied New York decorators. Her sensibility has become synonymous with “Classic Greenwich Style”—a language of gracious proportions, rich textures, and refined comfort.
Architecture gives a home its structure. Rinfret design gives it soul. Discover interiors that evolve with how you live.
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The Rinfret portfolio spans some of the most desirable locations on the East Coast—from the shingled elegance of the Hamptons to the tropical polish of Palm Beach. But it isn’t geography that defines their work—it’s trust. Many clients return for second, third, even fourth homes. One family has commissioned Rinfret for 18 projects over the years. That kind of loyalty doesn’t come from style alone.
Designer Tommy Hilfiger—one of Rinfret’s earliest clients—has relied on the firm for decades, including the design of his iconic Plaza Hotel apartment in Manhattan. “Cindy Rinfret is the best decorator in Greenwich and the East Coast,” Hilfiger says. “Her ability to go from modern to classic, city to country, or American to European makes her a real star. She possesses a true talent in so many areas.”
From Greenwich to the Hamptons: A National Design Presence
—Tommy Hilfiger
Cindy Rinfret is the best decorator in Greenwich and the East Coast. Her ability to go from modern to classic, city to country, or American to European makes her a real star.
The Rinfret approach weaves elegance and practicality into a single discipline. From coffered ceilings that lend quiet order to window treatments calibrated to follow the geometry of a room, every decision supports how a space functions over time.
“My clients actually say they use every room in the house, including the living room, because our rooms are so inviting,” says Rinfret. That accessibility is by design. Whether a home is structured for formal entertaining or designed around the slow rituals of daily life, its bones reflect the habits it’s built to hold.
This design-through-use approach is shared by Mattos, who sees interiors as a dynamic interaction between the structure and its inhabitants. “It’s the small things that set apart a space and make you feel at home,” she explains. “I want clients to feel themselves and see themselves in the interiors we create.”
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Personal elements like archival textiles, travel-worn heirlooms, and family’s recurring color cues are not included as afterthoughts. Instead, they act as structural inputs, shaping spatial proportions and material hierarchy from the earliest sketches. This is where the firm’s experience matters: knowing when to maintain symmetry, when to soften it, and how to build homes that feel collected over time. It’s what makes a Rinfret interior feel composed from within, rather than styled from above.
This versatility is a hallmark of the firm, earning Rinfret, Ltd. consistent recognition from leading design publications including New England Home and Lux. But while the press may highlight the style, it’s the firm’s client-centered ethos that defines the work. Whether the result is coastal, neoclassical, or transitional, every space feels distinctly personal—a trust built project by project, one conversation at
a time.
Every Rinfret project begins the same way: with close attention. While no two commissions take the same shape, the foundation is always the client’s lived experience—the choreography of how they move through a space. Early conversations might uncover a pattern of north-facing morning light or a closet arranged like a seasonal narrative—linen and chambray edging forward with the spring. These cues, subtle as they are, become architectural directives.
“A home should feel comfortable yet luxurious, like the perfect cashmere sweater with your best-loved jeans,” Rinfret says. That balance is visible in Rinfret’s interiors: reading rooms that slip into use as guest suites, built-ins measured for everyday use, and textiles chosen as much for texture as appearance. It’s a traveler’s approach to design, drawn from instinct and observation.
Global sourcing has long played a central role in shaping that point of view. “My first store was based on my trips to London and the inspiration I found in the Pimlico Road shops, where the designer’s studio was located in the back of the shop,” Rinfret explains. That early exposure to the behind-the-scenes craftsmanship left an indelible imprint, and led to what Rinfret describes as “a perpetual treasure hunt.”
That search—for pieces with provenance, precision, and restraint—continues to inform the way Rinfret, Ltd. brings each home to life.
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Personal elements like archival textiles, travel-worn heirlooms, and family’s recurring color cues are not included as afterthoughts. Instead, they act as structural inputs, shaping spatial proportions and material hierarchy from the earliest sketches. This is where the firm’s experience matters: knowing when to maintain symmetry, when to soften it, and how to build homes that feel collected over time. It’s what makes a Rinfret interior feel composed from within, rather than styled from above.
Book a Call
Book a Call
Reach Out to Inquire
Where classical training meets contemporary insight, creating spaces built to evolve with their owners.
The Blueprints of Belonging
Design a Home That Reflects You—
with Rinfret, Ltd.
Rinfret interiors reveal themselves slowly. Subtle moldings, custom upholstery, and layered textures create the quiet confidence that defines the firm’s work. “You continually discover the details in our rooms, rather than showing it all off in one viewing,” Rinfret notes.
While the firm is often associated with a certain East Coast polish, their approach resists formulas. Some homes draw from neoclassical symmetry; others lean coastal or contemporary. What unites them is a clear sense of authorship and care. Each project is guided by the client's identity—and shaped to last, both aesthetically and emotionally.
The maternal legacy at Rinfret, Ltd. runs deeper than family ties. It’s embedded in the work itself. It appears in rooms designed to be lived in, passed down, and remembered. In homes where traditions evolve with each generation. In spaces where belonging is built into every carefully considered detail.
This is design as inheritance: spaces that improve with time, stories that deepen with telling, homes that become more themselves with every passing year.
Every great space begins with a conversation. Start yours with Rinfret, Ltd.
For bespoke design services, visit Rinfretltd.com or call (203) 622-0000.
See more like the Classic Style House in Rye, Jacobean Country House, Darien Waterfront Property, and Coral House in Rinfret Ltd.’s portfolio.