The Main Living Room
Two styles blend together for a cozy artsy space highlighting the workmanship and beauty of this historic home.
Let’s start from the beginning of the design process. When working with couples, we create a venn diagram of both unique styles. The sweet spot is the middle where we find their shared interests. That’s the starting ground and It's from there I want a majority of the design to come from. Then I add pops of style that would just be for the unique interests of each individual person.
What we found in that sweet middle of the venn diagram were words and images of warmth, cozy, and a little lodgey. In all of these, texture was the common theme. So we went heavy on the texture in the design.
Getting more into the details, leather was added into the design to speak more to Jim, who likes a more rugged feel. The pops of pink in the reupholstered chairs and in the rug are for Cara, who loves the color pink and is drawn to a more classic feminine style. It's completely possible to blend different styles and lives together into one shared design that honors and appeals to both.
My second inspiration was this house itself! It’s such an old historic home, that when I work on houses that have a story in themselves, it's just about honoring the house.
I wanted to highlight, as best as we could, the original mill work. Before our design, the trim was white, so I chose to do contrast trim by painting the trim a darker color to make it more noticeable. To keep highlighting the original beauty of the home, I wanted the original fireplace and hearth to stand out more. These both got an update with a finish that was a little more “old world” looking.
We finished up the design with some personal art and sculptural lighting. First getting to know couples, I ask what are some places that are significant to them. The art piece on the mantle is an original painting of a sunset out in the Wallows, where they like to go camping and one of the first places they went as a couple. The rest is all their own art mixed in from their previous lives.
For lighting, since the room doesn’t have overhead lighting, I wanted the floor lighting to also look really cool and function as a sculptural art piece. This amazing geometric floor lamp is a sculptural art piece crafted from an artist in Australia that came just in time.
The Dining Room
Inspired by a love of wine and the Southern Italian Countryside. This Dining Room is like an escape to an Italian winery.
The main inspiration behind the design was all about wine! The couple wanted this room to feel like an escape, as if they were in beautiful scenery off vine tasting. More inspiration came from wanting to room to feel like they were in Southern Italy. A place where Cara and I both share family roots!
Flowing from the living room, we continued with a contrast trim and added Jim’s style flare with leather on the lighting. More texture and wood tones from the chairs were brought in to bring a rustic feel. The mural wallpaper really brought in an “old world” Southern Italy countryside feeling.
The room also needed to serve some functional needs along with the beauty. We added a large cabinet for wine storage and glass display.
