The arched opening of the living room directly faces the arched opening of the family’s media room across a wide hallway. It was important for us to create a color palette that was distinct in each but also analogous because of the open sight lines between the two rooms. We opted for a warm neutral wall color in each space and expressed the differences on the fifth wall: the ceilings. In the living room we papered the ceiling in a thickly textured, basket weave grass cloth. Brilliant shades of coral, lime, sunny yellow, plum, and turquoise accent fabrics contrast the otherwise neutral space.
This is a second home for our clients and their family. They had requested a work space for computer work and also had requested a bar setup for entertaining. There was no room we could dedicate to a home office function so we placed a desk behind the sofa in the living room instead of a console table --- our homeowner mainly needed a place to work on her laptop. For the bar, we designed an armoire with real birch bark veneered doors. Closed, the bar cabinet adds drama, height, and texture to an otherwise unused corner of the living room. When opened, the mirrors, glasses, and liquor bottles dazzle and tempt.
In the media room we repeated our neutral colored walls and some of the accent colors from the living room. A brilliant coral dresses a modern swivel chair; coral orange embroidered throw pillows accent the plum and natural linen sofa. On the ottoman table, outdoor fabric builds the color theme in a fresh woven windowpane plaid. The ceiling is coated in a rich plum brown.
Our clients’ existing kitchen was beautifully installed, in terrific shape and highly functional. How lucky for them! We added a softer paint color and a sitting area for our client couple to have coffee or a glass of wine while waiting for something good to come out of the oven. We placed two settees facing a centered ottoman anchoring the furniture within the footprint of the triple sash windows.
Our goal for the dining room was to make a relatively small room feel larger by keeping the color palette light and airy. The combination of upholstery fabric on our custom chairs is playful but still sophisticated. Our client requested that our color scheme work with many different kinds of “holiday” table settings. By keeping the room neutral with an accent of spring green, our palette works beautifully with a wide variety of other colors, as in a garden. For the dining room window shades, we reversed the position of the damask to the solid linen in contrast to the kitchen. The repetition of color and materials link the two rooms without repeating.
