Decorating With A Cause

Thuyen Nguyen is world renowned as a top skin and body care specialist. His exclusive La Don Spa in Wainscott is frequented by the most beautiful, glamorous people ever to tread the red carpet.

But Mr. Nguyen’s heart was stolen by one of the ugliest mugs around.

Wally, his French bulldog, had been breeding stock in a Pennsylvania puppy mill when the now best friends first laid eyes on each other. The connection was instant, and it led to a larger, local connection—Mr. Nguyen decorated his new, empty home in Springs almost entirely with furniture and décor from the ARF Thrift & Treasure Shop, spending upward of $20,000—and all for charity.

“I literally had to furnish the whole thing,” said Mr. Nguyen, who’d moved into the empty house last summer.

Born in Vietnam, he has been living in the Hamptons since the 1990s, and had occasionally visited the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons’ adoption facility in Wainscott as well as its thrift store in Sagaponack. “But I never really connected the dots,” Mr. Nguyen said. “Things turned for me after I got Wally.”

The sturdy white Frenchie, who is clearly the real homeowner, was a mess when he was rescued from a cage at the back of a darkened barn in Amish country. “He was born with genetic skin diseases from overbreeding,” Mr. Nguyen said. “He had to wear a cone for the first year I had him.

“It made me empathize and sympathize in a way I hadn’t before,” Mr. Nguyen continued. “I wanted to get involved and help stop the cycle of these animals which are bred or dumped.” Wally snorted with an air of approval.

And so, what Mr. Nguyen has termed “decorating with a cause” was born.

“It’s not something I’d ever heard of before,” he said. “I guess I sort of initiated it.” The idea is simple: Find a cause you believe in, go to its thrift store, and basically buy everything.

“It’s a way to give back through humanitarian efforts, and it’s fun,” Mr. Nguyen said. He relayed his intentions to the shop’s manager, Phyllis Landi, “the heart and soul of the ARF store,” and the two of them got to work.

“He just came in as a regular customer, and we really hit it off,” said Ms. Landi. “He was so sweet and gentle and appreciative, and wanted to see how he could contribute to the animals’ welfare.”

Mr. Nguyen would come to the store weekly to look for new treasures, but “if something came in that I thought he would like, I would email him a photo,” Ms. Landi said. “I got to know his taste after a while.”

His intention and purpose were “amazing,” she continued. “Honestly, everyone knows the money goes for a cause, but he seemed to really embrace it. He saw the good in it, that the getting is in the giving.”

“It was like a treasure hunt,” Mr. Nguyen said. “I couldn’t care less about shopping for clothes, but I love shopping for home décor.” He looked around his own home as if to make a point, then smiled. “And I’m not a minimalist, as you can tell.”

His home is not cluttered, but the decorative touches are many and varied. “It was a completely empty house when I moved in in July,” he said. “I kept two things in mind from the beginning; funneling my design budget into the ARF store, and also the feel in each room.”

The guest rooms are themed, based on the homeowner’s love of travel. One has an African theme, with masks, wild animal motifs, and colorful paintings. Another is Southeast Asian, with dark carved wood and exotic designs. Walls throughout the home offer displays of mounted mirrors and Persian-style perfume bottles, along with miniature portraits and other accents. An antique Indonesian sideboard dominates one wall of the living room, a conversation piece in its own right. And his bedroom is pure Hollywood, or what he calls “Asian glam,” complete with a mirrored four-poster bed.

“I was going for an airy, ethereal feel.” Mr. Nguyen nodded toward the mostly white and gold master bedroom. “When I went to bed, I wanted to lay down like a royal,” he said with a laugh.

Ms. Landi recalled the day the bed came in. “It was gorgeous. I knew it was perfect for the mood Thuyen wanted to evoke in his bedroom. Then he saw it in person and just went bananas,” she said with a laugh.

“I’m in homes, multimillion-dollar homes, all the time,” Mr. Nguyen said. “Things can look intentionally made and designed, but I like the odd things put together. I guess my taste is more eclectic.”

It wasn’t always that way. As a younger man, Mr. Nguyen acknowledged, everything needed to be “new, new, new.

“But as we mature,” he smiled, “we learn to appreciate older items. And every item has a story.”

Even today, he said, he is “not looking for junk. I’m looking for high-end items. I needed to get past the second-hand stigma, and really embrace it.”

Thuyen Nguyen recalls his own roots in Asian and Buddhist philosophy. “The Asian way is that everything comes with a consciousness. I believe things have souls. I live and breathe spirituality—it’s in my work, it’s how I relate to clients. I wanted my home to exude energy and spirituality through the design.”

Mr. Nguyen looked around his home. Wally looked at Mr. Nguyen, who absentmindedly stroked the dog’s head. “This dog saved my life,” Mr. Nguyen said quietly. “He got me to focus on the things that are important. I’ve designed other houses before, even with things that were custom-made for me, but I didn’t feel anything beyond the superficial.

“In this home, I feel surrounded by the spirits of the items, and of the dogs and cats of ARF,” he said.