By Elizabeth Yeager Cross
WV Design Team
This is it! A new year, a time to start fresh. What if you could start completely fresh?
One of my favorite clients recently had the chance to do just that. After having her home on Kanawha Avenue for sale for a few months, a local politician decided to purchase it and literally everything in it … right down to the bedding!
Patty and her husband were selling their large home because they currently spend most of their time in Florida, now that their children are grown and out of the house. She decided to purchase a one-story home in the South Hills area that was definitely a fixer-upper.
Their previous home was around 4,400 square feet. It had grand ceiling heights, a vivid color scheme and large-scale furniture. The new home would be considered more cottage-style and was only 2,100 square feet with eight-foot ceiling height and smaller-scale rooms.
After months of remodeling work — putting in a new kitchen, restoring the wood floors and renovating various features of the home — it finally came time to choose all of her new furniture and finishes.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Patty for several years and I have to say, as her designer, I was sometimes surprised at some of the choices that she made for the new house. In years past, her choices were geared toward larger and more traditional finishes and fabrics, formal frames and dramatic, bright colors. This time around, the cottage had inspired her to choose somewhat vintage-chic, comfortable yet tailored pieces.
The very first piece chosen for the house was her sofa. She had always wanted an almost-white sofa. But being a realistic mother of boys, that dream never came to fruition.
A plush and and inviting off-white sofa sets the tone for Patty’s living room. Accents of red show a glimpse into the bold colors she had used in her previous home. Using lighter colors and soft wood tones allow for this cottage home to feel relaxing but still sophisticated
The sofa we designed was an off-white, quilted fabric, bench seat cushion that sat 46 inches deep.
It has clean lines but remains traditional/transitional … and you don’t just sit in this sofa — you dive into it. Plush feather filled cushions surround you and create the ultimate sofa sitting experience.
To accompany the sofa, an upholstered red chair with turned wooden arms and feet accented with brass casters was tucked in the corner with a detailed gold kidney pillow. A warm tufted leather bench with black distressed carved wooden legs frames the bottom of the picture window that looks out onto the backyard. This view is what sold the house for Patty and served as the driving inspiration for the new, romantic and intimate feel she wanted to achieve with this new home.
Perhaps the most intriguing choices that Patty made were the unique touches of reclaimed wood we purchased and installed in intimate spaces throughout the home; vintage French panels behind the nightstands in the master bedroom, cathedral corbels mounted behind the sofa, and louvered shutters in the wine room, just to name a few.
This wine room just begs for you to curl up in one of the leather chairs. An electric fireplace makes the space feel extra cozy, but by layering textures in the other furniture and finishes this once cold and stark addition to the home has turned in to one of Patty’s favorite spots
And speaking of the wine room, this was the most fun room of all to design. It also overlooks the magnificent view of the backyard like the family room, but is more of an intimate small space that is romantic, sophisticated and cozy all at the same time. This one-time add-on room is adorned with a rope-trimmed chandelier that hangs from the grass cloth and wood beamed ceiling that gives a soft glow to the furnishings below.
The tile floor was covered with a custom shag rug that accents the brown leather studded chairs and Hopsack brown wall paint perfectly. Baskets of wine corks from their vast wine collection are tucked into each corner and fill the air with the smell of various wines beside an electric fireplace cabinet that gives off heat while serving as the perfect bar top.
Just off from the wine room, the dining room, covered in pearlescent wallpaper, is offset by a French vintage table and chairs.
An elegant and intimate dining room is created by playing reclaimed wood and distressed black painted furniture pieces off of more polished finishes like the chandelier and wallpaper
The 51-inch round dining table features a reclaimed wooden top with a custom chipped paint finish on its intricately carved pedestal base. Touches of gold on the porthole mirror and Spanish candlestick played perfect accents against a gorgeous three-drawer chest that provided Patty with great storage for large platters and her collection of Fostoria. The Henna rug chosen to warm the room creates a non-pattern pattern and instantly becomes the tie that binds the soft color scape together.
The master bedroom is off to the back of the home and features a lovely sitting area with a vaulted ceiling just perfect for a dramatic white washed chandelier. French linen chairs sit on each side of a 72-inch medallion mounted to wall that serves as the attention grabber of the entire space.
Teal and turquoise have been huge accent colors this year, but sometimes all you need is a very light shade to make an impact. Especially in your bedroom, a little color can go a long way if you love a neutral palette
We chose soft, luxurious white bedding and exquisite beaded Euro Shams to create a peaceful romantic bedding oasis that would make anyone want to crawl into bed for a little escape.
This master suite is truly an oasis, with touches of metallics to accent the soft white bedding and linen arm chairs. Patty wanted to incorporate soft touches of teal in the sitting room, so we folded that accent color into the space through the art, rug and pottery
We custom finished a pine armoire with chalk paint by Annie Sloan that would provide extra storage and a truly unique look to her furniture collection. Puddled linen window panels topped with gold foil trim out the bedroom window and pull the gold accents up to the ceiling height.
Not everyone gets the chance to start completely fresh with their home and furnishings. Perhaps this new year you would find the time to go through your closets, your piles, your old furnishings, finishes and accents and choose to donate and downsize some of your things. I’ve had many a client who has had luck in selling some of their pieces on Facebook Yardsale and even eBay.
As we all know, it is hard to part with things you’ve held on to for a long time because of sentiment or a once expensive price tag. But sometimes less is more.
If you find yourself in a home design rut consider hiring a designer to help you go through your spaces and find what truly brings you joy and what gives you feelings of stress. Together you can work on formulating a plan that will make you proud of your space and feel nothing but bliss when you walk through your home. When I asked Patty what her favorite thing about her new home was, she responded that she loved walking from room to room and feeling the connection of the peaceful color scheme and the relaxed cottage feel we had created for her. It is our goal at Yeager Design to make sure at the end of every installation that our client feels that bliss and is ready to take on a new future without clutter, stress and mess.
– To see more pictures of the projects featured in this article: Miller Home
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