Colorful and relaxed family home
When I first stepped in to this new house I noticed a bold architectural style with lots of contrast. Hard flooring was used throughout and there was a lot of gray and white. In general, this was a striking, crisply edged interior. They were using furniture from a previous house, primarily covered in beige neutrals. I was asked to help them make things look more "finished”.
I had worked with the client before on school projects and knew her to be a person with a lovely warm personality. When we talked about their family life I learned that while she and her husband were technically “empty nesters” they had children and grandchildren in the house on a daily basis. So I started thinking about how to select things that would better reflect the people that lived and visited there.
In the main floor living room I selected large, comfy furniture upholstered in warm, fresh colors (aqua, springy green, summer wheat, peony pink, tangerine). We reupholstered a set of oversized classic wing chairs in a combination of fabrics to keep it casual . All of the tables are sturdy and pre-distressed (think dance party on the coffee table!), light in color, and accented in warm metal tones. We chose large soft rugs with big, cheery patterns to tie the colors together. I worked all of the colors through the main floor including a new “old” blue bench for all of the action in the foyer, painting kitchen bar stools tangerine, and adding a big, kid friendly distressed rug in the dining area that fit the large family table.
On the lower level we really had a clean slate. This level is the site of giant family dinners with extended family (often more than 40 people). The tv area is now home to a 14’ long sectional in a teal performance fabric, two really sassy club chairs, and another great distressed coffee table.
Two rattan ottomans can be stored under a sofa table or pulled up to the coffee table for seating or used by the chairs for feet up action. I love this area’s color scheme too: teal, red, and burnt orange inspired by the slate tile on the fireplace.
The play area is home to the kids’ toys on a daily basis. We talked about how this space was put into use for the family dinners and brainstormed about how to make it easier to get tables in the space. It seemed like the wall was a really long expanse that needed some type of three dimensional relief. I thought of how a Murphy style bed is able to change a room’s function so quickly and came up with this style for the tables. I sketched this out and showed TJ at Bowood my idea. He was able to find real red barn wood for the exterior, and put a lot of thought in to making the tables drop down easily. I love that in this design we could combine needed lighting, architectural interest, and functional table seating (with bonus chalk boards) all into one element.
What I loved the most about this project (other than the great client) is how we were able to make a gray box in to a warm, comfortable family home that is really friendly. The client I worked with was especially open to ideas and pretty fearless about using color.
A side note, we used a variety of rugs from the Surya company. The ones by the front door are polypropylene so are inexpensive and could be literally hose off to clean. The larger ones in the living room and dining room are of higher quality. I like that everything was in a price range appropriate for how they were used.
I like that we could re-purpose several things that they already had (bar stools, dining room furniture, big wind chairs) and combine them seamlessly with new furnishings.