The client always loved Marie Antoinette, and she knew exactly what she wanted her home to become.

She interviewed a string of antique specialists before Tiffani. What won her over: Tiffani came back to the second meeting with a full stack of curated inspiration, tabbed fabric swatches, and a point of view built specifically around her. "You're the only one out of all of these experts that has put this much love and care into trying to understand me and what I wanted. So you've got the job."

What followed was a two-and-a-half-year, museum-level renovation. The living room moldings are vintage — reclaimed from a historic-restoration specialist's collection, then personally cut, spliced, and reassembled by Tiffani into entirely new patterns nobody had made before (the specialist was horrified at first, then admitted after seeing it finished that he'd never go back to doing it the traditional way again). The fireplace mantel was sourced from a castle in Sweden, found through a dealer in Germany, and paired with newly cut marble to complete it. Fortuny fabrics — hard to source at the time in colors that weren't currently trending — hand-painted murals, custom hardware made in France.

In the primary bathroom, a sink basin dating to 1312 sits on an iron base Tiffani hand-drew and had custom-forged; the walls are airbrushed in a peach ombre with hand-painted birds in flight, a concept the client was nervous about right up until it was finished — it's now one of her favorite rooms in the house. One of the bedroom fabrics came from a shop Tiffani found while in Venice; she called the client on the spot to ask permission to buy the whole bolt.