I thought it would be fun to give you a behind the scenes look at one of my design projects. Many of you have seen some of the photos of this project at Cote De Texas, but I think that this post – a very long one, I’m afraid – would give you a much better flavor for the hows, wheres, and whys of the project. One of my friends, the lovely and sophisticated Mrs. H., asked me to work for her professionally a few years ago. She was my first real client. We redecorated her dining room, and I am happy to say that she really liked the result. Enough so that when she and Mr. H. bought a new and much larger house, my opinion was sought after and my services retained.
My design brief was very straightforward. The Hs wanted a cleaner, less cluttered look than they had in their previous home. Edited, modern, and clean lined were words I heard often during those first conversations. So far, so good. But there was a kicker – isn’t there always?- and that was that we needed to reuse pretty much every piece of furniture that they owned, along with a very diverse art collection. How difficult can that be, you might ask yourself? Well, Victorian antiques are not your go-to antique when you are thinking of clean lines and a modern vibe. And those antiques are family heirlooms, so getting too funky with them was NOT an option. Oh, and one more thing. Mrs. H does not like the look of an 8 ft ceiling. She was raised in London, where they know better about such things and most ceilings are a good bit higher. And now for the punch line, badadadada, the new house had 8 ft. ceilings pretty much everywhere. That we needed to make look taller. So.
Without further ado, here are some shots of furniture that we needed to re-imagine and repurpose: ( sorry for the quality, these were taken with my iphone)
One of FOUR similar tables
Here’s another
One more…
And the last one. These pictures were all taken in Mrs. H’s previous home.
Nice lines, no?
Again, some great lines. Not really seeing the lean, edited thing, though, are we?
Vintage chesterfield sofa. Truly, as in stuffed with horsehair vintage. Look, he has a friend…
I loved the idea of re-purposing these, but they needed major help. When you sat down in them, you pretty much sank right down to the springs – hand-tied, as my upholsterer assured us.
So, this is a small sampling of the furniture we needed to re-use. When I take pictures of the other rooms in Mrs. H’s new home, I’ll show you those other pieces. So, my task was to re-imagine and re-purpose these pieces to work with a more modern aesthetic. You can see some of Mrs. H’s art in the photos above and those pieces really drove the design decisions that we made – color, form, and texture. Here are some before shots of the house, before paint and modification:
The stairs in the entry way.
So sorry for the terrible shot, but you can see the floors and stairwell, with the kitchen in the distance.
This is a shot of the former living room, now the family room.
A close up of the hardboard valances we found. Not doing the clean-lined thing for us, were they?
The sun room. Very colorful and charming in its own way, but not exactly a haven of tranquility.
This is what I nicknamed the Martini room. There was so much olive green that you felt like the pimento in the middle! This photo gives you no idea how dark it was in this room.
So we set to work renovating and redecorating the house as well as re-purposing all that furniture. One of the first things that we did in the family room was to take down the valances and pull down the dowdy crown moulding. We still needed a moulding as the ceilings in this older house are too uneven to pull off a clean-no moulding look, and we also weren’t ready to get that contemporary. We designed and had milled a new, substantial moulding that came off of the ceiling by a mere two inches with the bulk of it resting on the ceiling. It made a very big difference in the feeling of the height of the ceiling. It wasn’t the ten foot ceiling that Mrs H. really covets, but it was still a real transformation. Next, we got rid of the hulking black mantel and replaced it with a clean lined ( that phrase again!) wood mantelface and stunning pewter limestone tiles from Ann Sacks, and painted all the mouldings and trim a warm white. Last, the oak floors here and throughout the house were stained a bitter chocolate brown.
We had a really difficult time deciding on the color scheme for the family room and the other rooms leading off of it. Mrs. H was in love with the soft sea glass greens, blues and greiges that were just beginning to peak in popularity at the time. We found beautiful and dreamy fabrics in this scheme, but, the fact of the matter is that we were trying to build the room around this:
I just could not see those soft ethereal colors working with this piece of very dramatic, very strong, and very valuable art. I argued strongly for a neutral palette. I’ll leave you to look at the “after” photos to see who prevailed…
On the soft furnishings front, we wallpapered the family room in a Phillip Jeffries grasscloth, put in simple Euro-pleat draw draperies in Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis, and ordered a faux sisal rug custom cut for the room. Yes, it is a faux sisal. The H’s have two male dogs and they had already tried very hard to “mark” the sisal from their previous dining room. So, we decided to go with a polyester fiber that looks so much like sisal, but is much softer underfoot and easier to clean by leaps and bounds. Let’s talk furniture, shall we? I was inspired by a French canape ( loveseat ) that Suzanne Kasler had upholstered in two different fabrics. I took that idea and applied it to the vintage Chesterfield loveseats – newly remade by my genius upholsterer. Remember those tables? Stained the darkest brown we could come up with, they make a great statement in the room. Especially with the Restoration Hardware mirrors hanging over them. Ditto for the wood-framed vintage chairs shown above. These get upholstered in white linen. with a raffia look-alike fabric on the backs. We ordered a beautiful low slung Baker sofa and upholstered it in a wonderful wool. In order to pull the seating area closer to the fireplace, where the TV will hang, we placed a custom made iron bookshelf behind the sofa. The hewn planks that serve as shelves are salvaged from scaffolding and were sanded lightly and waxed to give them depth.
Ok, I am going to show you after photos and after after photos. What?!! Here is the story. I took some scouting photos of the room after we had done all the furnishing and renovation. Those are the afters, and they were taken with my little point and shoot camera. After looking at them, I decided that I really needed to style the rooms in order to take shots for my portfolio, in much the same way that magazine shots are styled. My wonderful friend Mrs. H was all for the adventure and so one rainy day we unloaded my Expedition full of goodies and got to work. As it happens, she ended up keeping many of the pieces that you’ll see in the photos. I’ll leave it to you to guess which ones, just let me know what you think, ok? The after after photos are after I styled the rooms and after I purchased my wonderful camera. So, you’ll see some differences, both in the level of detail and style in the room, as well as the quality of the images themselves. Here we go:
Remember these vintage Chesterfields? Don’t they look happier and more sprightly now? Mrs. H really wanted a zebra rug – and I do love a zebra rug – and it anchors the seating area. Obviously, I prevailed on the color palette, but the H’s are very, very happy with the way this feels. Ok, so are you ready to see the after after?
The shelves looks so much more full and interesting, to my eye. We added Indian woodcut panels, woodcut textile blocks, books, carvings and wonderful turquoise suede boxes. There is a detail below. The throw pillows are vintage embroideries and the silk ikat on the arm is vintage, too. The camera is amazing, no? Here is another angle:
Here you see two of those Victorian tables, stained the deepest brown, the new mantel and the new mouldings. Beyond the loveseats, you can see into the Martini room. That room is still unfinished, but when it’s done, you’ll be the first to see. You can also see the sides of those two fun chairs that we reupholstered. What a transformation. Below is the after after.
I love how the pop of the Bells of Ireland flowers in the vintage wooden Indian containers reads in this photo. It really draws your eye to the painting as well as the throw pillows. Great carved circles sit on the hearth to give it some interest for the photo.
A close up of the bookcase and sofa. The painting is really amazing, isn’t it? I love it hanging on the face of the bookshelf. It really gives it such great presence. You’ll recognize Mrs. H’s turquoise Fu dogs from previous photos, too. While this is certainly “edited” it perhaps is a bit too bare, don’t you think?
More dramatic lighting – courtesy of the rare rainy day in Dallas-but also just a very different look for the bookcase, sofa, and endtables. There are glass fishing floats, turtle shells, Indian temple carvings, and moss covered balls all living in harmony here. I tried very hard to make sure that the new pieces on display were complimentary to the artwork and allowed it to have center stage. I love how the pillows relate to the artwork – a design marriage, for sure.
This is an after after, as I didn’t have this shot in my scout photos. But notice how fun the chairs turned out to look and how the kente cloth pillows really make them pop. These were so reasonably priced at $75 each that we overlooked the fact that they are darned scratchy! This artwork was part of Mrs. H’s collection, too. It was framed in bleached oak. We spray painted the frames! Yes, we did. My framer is now keeling over in agony, I know. But the proportions were good, the frames relatively new, the color was the only issue. We saved a LOT of money doing this. I love that! You are also getting a peek at the entryway. Here is one last closeup of a chair.
This trunk side table was a find from Pottery Barn! You get a great detail view of the newly refurbished chair, and that great but scratchy pillow.
In the entry way, we created panels for the creamy linen inserts that are anchored with nickel nailheads. We lacquered the stair rail a glossy black for drama and contrast. I wanted to furnish the entry in a way that spoke to Mr. and Mrs. H’s visitors about who they are. Consequently, family photos have been printed in black and white and nestled in simple black frames. Immediately, you get a sense of family but in a presentation which is chic and artistic. Mrs. H in her next life will wallpaper a room in Gracie wallpaper in a pattern of trees and leaves. The forms of trees, trunks, and leaves really speaks to her and it is a common theme in many of the inspiration photos she has shown me over the years. We decided to incorporate trees and branches in different – and less expensive!- ways throughout the house. Notice the tree trunk side table above. Now look below:
My old camera and a view which I did not shoot for my after after. But you can see the branches supporting the table near the stairs and the gorgeous silver knotty branch of the sconce. Here is another view of the table.
Mrs. H’s favorite photo – her wedding day and her grandmother. I love it.
An after after. The wonderful sculpture is by a local artist whose work I love, Larry Whitely. See how we kept the feeling of branches, nature, and black and white photos pulled together? Here is an overall of the hallway.
This piece of art next to the front door is an abstract pen and ink with which we also used the spray paint trick. The dining room is behind the stairs and not quite finished just yet. Here is one of the other Victorian tables that we refinished. I love how it looks in this space.
Different lighting, different angle. You will have seen the urns and finger sponges before. I found the urns in a local consignment store and they were so reasonably priced- $75 for the pair! I filled them with finger sponges for a fun take on a floral arrangement. You can see the photos of the H’s lining the walls. Lovely family.
This was a wonderful challenge for me. I hope that we did the art collection justice and I know that we reused EVERYTHING! I also feel that by changing the colors and finishes on family heirlooms that we freshened and lightened them up enough to bring them into the 21st century. Unfortunately, I do not have magical powers to raise 8 foot ceilings, but the design style that we used – a sort of vintage modern – lent itself to the mid-century provenance of the house. I am thrilled to have been part of this project as it stretched me creatively in so many ways.
If you have gotten this far in the post, I apologize for going on and on. I obviously love what I do and I love to share how different design decisions get made. I feel that if I can take you behind the scenes that it may spark new inspirations and creative ideas for you and for your home. I look forward to taking more pictures of this unique and sophisticated home and sharing them with you. It has been a treasured project for me and I hope that you’ve enjoyed a peek into this wonderful family’s home.
Kristin
