Photograph by David Burroughs
Put up four walls and you have certainly created the base for a house or shelter; but it’s how you treat these structures and their corresponding floors and ceilings that separates a home with character and true form from just a roof over your head.
Fortunately, most homeowners aren’t content to live within that basic, four-wall construct and they get creative or hire someone to be creative so their home excels to the level of a dwelling—a space and a place to be and live, surrounded by aesthetics that are the most pleasing and practical for you.
Such was the case with this month’s feature home, an interior design project creatively driven by the team at Annapolis-based Purple Cherry Architects. This project provides an excellent example of the ancillary services the firm can provide even if they aren’t the architect of record for the home.
Communicating on the Creative
Firm principal Cathy Purple Cherry explains they entered the project at a fortuitous time, with most of the aspects of the interior design for the classic Queen Anne-style home still on the table for discussion. This included wall coverings, paint colors, tile patterns, countertop selections, light fixtures, and even furnishings.
While some may consider this to be “all the fun stuff” about appointing a new home, the process can get very involved. Communication with the homeowner is key, explains Purple Cherry.
“The wife was very involved and definitely knew her taste, which was great.” Purple Cherry says the wife’s prior experience with a whole home’s interiors was evident in their conversations. “She knew what she liked and was able to communicate very well.”
After those preliminary discussions, it became clear that while the homeowners had discerning taste, they also had an active family with three children, pre-teen through high school age, that would require the home to provide the ultimate balancing act of style and substance.
Let’s take a peek at some of the rooms we loved to see how that ultimate balancing act was achieved.
Making a Living
Talk about a home where “everyone” is comfortable. It is clear that this living room is truly for just that—living. It works exceptionally well because beautiful furnishings are paired with smart fabric and texture choices. Supple leather, rich upholstered denim, and durable accent chair fabrics enable this room to actually be lived in. How many times have you walked in—and then right out of—a formal living room because it looked unapproachable? This room employs high-end finishes such as its luxe coffered beam ceiling treatment and custom built-ins to make the room welcoming and warm.
Another aspect of the design that makes the room approachable—the purposefully fun fabric pattern used for the window treatments.
“[The homeowner] wanted playful, bold patterns,” says Purple Cherry, of the Tinta starburst pattern by Robert Allan Duralee chosen for the blinds and drapes.
Photographs by David Burroughs
Gather Round
A complementary denim was used to cover the chairs in the home’s sunny breakfast room. Again, the right fabric choice can make all the difference when it comes to a real-life residence where kids and pets roam. A spacious Gallery Trestle dining table from Century was a requirement for this family of five.
Dining In
Nothing too fussy, just lovely, thoughtful design and clean lines in the dining room. A convivial, round dining table is paired with comfy Brinley-style tufted side chairs from Vanguard. This understated approach to furnishings allows the focal points of the room to take center stage.
The room is accentuated with two, custom bronze and glass wine refrigeration units; one with the specific temperature for white wine and the other for red— a stunning comment to the homeowners’ exceptional taste and sensible, real-life design approach. After all, wine cellars are nice, but they are rarely convenient.
“The old way was, build a wine cellar down the basement and pretend you might dine down there and it never gets used,” Purple Cherry says, adding that the new approach of creating wine storage where it is most often used can work well with this eye-catching “china cabinet” approach.
A Place to Dream
Transitioning a young boy’s bedroom to a young man’s bedroom was keenly accomplished with this custom interior treatment that reflects the young man’s love of the outdoors, camping, and exploring. The symmetry of rustic tree trunks and branches on wall coverings is well balanced with the warm coffered and bead board ceiling treatment, warm woodsy furnishings, and the ember-like glow of two perfectly poised geometric sconces overhead.
Photographs by David Burroughs
The Thoughtful Use of Wallcoverings
Throughout this home interior project, you’ll notice that subtle wall covering choices were used to enhance certain areas. In the home’s entry and hallway guests are greeted to a large-scale pebble leaf tone-on-tone pattern that lends visual interest without overwhelming the eye. In the powder room, a smaller leaflet pattern, one of Cathy’s all-time personal favorites, was used and provides just the right backdrop against all-white porcelain. “I love wallcoverings,” Purple Cherry says. “A wallpaper to me is like artwork and I think it can help humanize the scale of a room. I love tone-on-tone wallpapers that bring texture to the wall, but not necessarily at pattern—at times—to elevate it for sophistication.” Cathy also suggests using wallpaper in unexpected places like the ceiling of a smaller area like the powder room and “I love to use wallpaper at times behind the back of built-ins.” ™
A Master’s Retreat
At the end of the day, we all know that laying our busy heads upon the pillow is what’s most rewarding, and often our gaze then looks upward. A smart interiors professional can make this a special moment. The inhabitants of this master suite aren’t even dreaming yet when they see this coffered ceiling treatment of gray-stained raked poplar. It beautifully coordinates with all the calming shades of gray chosen for the room’s soft goods and its sleek, contemporary choice of overhead lighting fixture.
Photographs by David Burroughs
All Together Now
Seasons change, but good taste is perennial. Reflected here is good taste combined with good sense in the form of indoor/outdoor furnishings with practical fabric choices that are stain-resistant and reject odors and bacteria. The room does a wonderful job of welcoming in the outdoors, but when needed it can also warm the air with the help of strategically place space heaters.
This show-stopping seasonal gathering space has everything a family needs to create comforting quality time and that all-important sense of “dwelling” that make your four walls a home of character and true form.
