Casual elegance
RECLAIMED ROOMS
Sometimes, as a designer, you are called into a home to address a situation or room and then, serendipitously, it turns into a whole other thing. This is exactly the case with Gary and Lisa Love when we were called to their Pierremont-area home.
Our mutual friend, Kevin Bryan, had recommended us, and I was excited to get started. The Loves were wanting a complete kitchen redo including removing a wall to the adjacent dining room. After consulting with them, I recommended an alternate use of the budget. The kitchen was perfectly fine aside from having dated paint colors and barstools. That was an easy fix. The rest of the home was what really needed attention. It hadn’t been updated since the early ’90s and was showing its age. Filled with antiques and a lot of “fussy” furnishings and window treatments, it did not reflect the thoroughly modern couple before me.
We decided to address the living room, dining room and foyer, and the results turned out to be some of my favorites! A calming palette of grey, ivory and light blue was used to update the living area. Most of the older furniture was donated or given to family members, and we refilled the room with transitional furnishings from around the Ark-La-Tex. The room is now anchored by a gracefully curved, dusty blue Bernhardt sofa from Briggs & Co. We paired it with four new chairs arranged in a less formal way. The new layout takes better advantage of the large room and introduces new vantage points within it. The large bay window, previously filled by an oversized desk, is now occupied by two graphic print chairs from Designer Showroom and framed by the backyard garden.
The huge custom rug was replaced with three smaller rugs to delineate more intimate spaces. We gave the room an understated Louisiana vibe by introducing an oversized Audubon print of a blue heron above the fireplace, an expressionist waterscape and contemporary triptych of flaked paint (which reminded us of a French Quarter wall). The dining room was bathed in a beautiful rose-quartz color called “Imagination” with a smoky grey ceiling. We kept the majority of the heirloom furnishings and mixed with more transitional elements such as new captain chairs, lamps, rug and art by local artist Casey David.
The foyer was given new life with a fresh coat of light-green, new art (Nader’s), lamps (Paul Michael), rug (Tuesday Morning) and chandelier from House of Carpet and Lighting.
The home now has a more liveable, casually elegant feel which better suits its owners. “We actually use the rooms now!” says Lisa. What was once an underused living area has become their favorite spot in the home. They absolutely “Love” it – pun intended!
Myron Griffing is the owner of Space: interiors. Contact him at 464-6254.
