Room Makeover | June 2009
By Kymberly Taylor
Welcome to our monthly column, Room Makeover. Have a tricky decor problem you just can’t solve? No challenge is too great. Submit a high-resolution photo of one room only and a brief description of your “design dilemma” to
Ktaylor@Whatsupmag.com and
Nmaril@Whatsupmag.com. Upon approval, we will submit your room to a local interior designer who will diagnose your problem and suggest solutions and products. Whats Up? will publish the results in this column and/or on our web site. Designers who want to get in on the action, please contact
Ktaylor@WhatsUpMag.com and
Nmaril@WhatsUpMag.com.
A Dining Room’s Low Ceiling Gets a Lift
The Problem:
Richard and Diane Kalter were tired of the cluttered look in their small, dark dining room in their traditional Cape Cod situated on the Chester River. They wanted it to exude a contemporary ambience and to “flow” with the rest of the interior. They wanted a lighter, brighter space and to keep using their family’s one-of-a-kind dining room table, which seats fourteen. The table was a challenge to incorporate into the room because of its size and unappealing finish.
The Solution:
Without delay, designer Lauren Ames hired faux artist Syrta Yvonne to paint the family’s cherished table “distressed black,” shattering a seminal décor rule: using the color black in an enclosed space. “I like to break the rules,” says Ames, who chose black because it added “contrast and drama.” Diane and Lauren chose new chairs, replacing camel-back curves with rectangles accentuated by tapered legs. To further distinguish the room’s clean, modern lines, Lauren upholstered them in “a barely off-white” sheer fabric stitched with vines. These also complement the subtle white hues in drapery and shades. Instead of painting walls white (which many people rely on to make rooms bright), she broke again with tradition and painted them “iceberg blue” while preserving the light trim. She hung cream-toned window treatments far above the windows’ frames, elevating them almost to the ceiling. “This creates the illusion that the room is bigger,” says Lauren. To add color and intrigue, they chose a vibrant painting to hang over the fireplace by Chestertown artist Marc Dunn Ramsey. They liked the “light, airy feeling it exuded.” In fact, says Ames, “We designed the whole room around the feel of this painting….now this small, dark, low-ceiling room looks larger, brighter, and welcoming. It will flow with the rest of the home and not look like a little cave, ” says Ames.
The Designer
Lauren Ames, Lauren Ames Interiors
www.laurenamesinteriors.com
443.282.0558
Right: L to R, The fabric for the new dining room drapery is by Kravet. Wall paint is Iceberg Blue by Benjamin Moore.
Right: "In the Pines" by Macy Dunn Ramsey of the Carla Massoni Gallery in Chestertown.
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