A grand house plays against type with a mix-and-match approach for which the only prerequisite is beauty.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
1Media Platforms Design Team
Subtle Surprises
"It's a joy to work with a client who's so adventuresome," says Suellen Gregory, the interior designer responsible for this lively reimagining of a classic Georgian grande dame. Subtle surprises behind every arched doorway are the result of a refreshing open-mindedness to all things of beauty—unencumbered by importance or provenance—shared by the Richmond-based designer and her longtime client.
Contemporary art and a flaking architectural fragment balance gilt touches. Custom sofas in Bergamo fabric, with pillow in Dedar stripe. Custom coffee table. Antique fragment, David Bell Antiques. Art, Richard Carlyon (left); Robert De Niro, Sr. (right, top); Hans Hofmann (right, bottom). 18th-c. console and lamps, Parc Monceau. Flowers throughout, Tommy's Garden.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
2Media Platforms Design Team
Refreshing Open-Mindedness
Like any intuitive professional who has collaborated with the same family over a span of years, Gregory has learned to channel her client's taste. "I don't know how it all comes together," says the wife, who shares the house with her husband, three children, and cockapoo. "It feels like Sue and I never hash the project out--we spend half the time talking about kids and weddings and funerals. It just kind of happens."
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
3Media Platforms Design Team
Softened Damask
The majestic 1921 manor was designed by one of the classical masters, W. Duncan Lee, a leading residential architect of his day. In this house the homeowners found Lee's original floor-to-ceiling windows, columns, pilasters, and elegant mantles with gold-trimmed marble fireplace surrounds, all gloriously unaltered. Envisioning additional room for everything from a get-together for a gang of teenagers to a festive dinner party for a crowd of grown-ups, the client commissioned Raleigh architect Carter Skinner to create a pool cabana with almost 2,000 square feet of entertaining space. Down to the red brick facade and slate roof, the cabana is a careful mini-me copy of the main house.
A bright damask is softened when used on the reverse. Antique chairs, David Bell Antiques, in Mulberry fabric. Table, Beeline Home. Floor lamp, Parc Monceau.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
4Media Platforms Design Team
Crisp but Comfortable
Charged with decorating both structures, Gregory wanted interiors that would be "crisp, but comfortable; sophisticated, but welcoming," using pops of color against a palette of cream, gold, and gray. In the dining room, she introduced drama by filling in panels on existing millwork with mirrors. Throughout the house the designer upholstered with cottons, avoiding fabrics that would look "dressy," especially for antique pieces. Animal prints are used as accents on furniture, floors, and walls—inspired by a zebra-skin rug the client inherited from her grandmother, who nabbed it decades ago on safari.
19th-c. wallpaper panels, Linda Horsely Antiques. Antique French chairs in Vervain silk.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
5Media Platforms Design Team
Global Antiques
Among the fine French, English, and Swedish antiques that the two discovered on numerous shopping trips, they've also peppered elements of whimsy. Both designer and client are self-confident—why not mount this architectural fragment we've been carrying around Atlanta's Peachtree Hills all day next to that 18th-century French bust in the family room? The native Southerners also deliberately tossed out the traditional art timelines that one would typically find in a stately Virginia home.
Chairs, Niermann Weeks, in Manuel Canovas fabric. Chandelier, Caroline Faison Antiques. Sconces, Vaughan.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
6Media Platforms Design Team
Georgian Contemporary
Forget ancestral portraits and sporting paintings. Here hang photographs by Oberto Gili and Sally Mann; drawings by Richard Tuttle, Hans Hofmann, and Robert De Niro, Sr.; paintings by Alex Katz; and contemporary abstracts by the late Richard Carlyon, a noted local artist. "Georgian architecture is so classic, and so easy to live with, it really allows you to do what you want," says Gregory. "We set out to mix antiques with contemporary art."
19th-c. table and antique chandelier, Parc Moncreau. Chairs, Niermann Weeks. Range, Viking.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
7Media Platforms Design Team
Happy House
"It is very serendipitous the way Sue and I find things and the way they work in the house, but all of the different spaces relate," says the wife. "This is a happy house with a lot of good family stuff going on—and it remains true to itself."
Chairs, Niermann Weeks, in Manuel Canovas fabric. Chandelier, Caroline Faison Antiques. Sconces, Vaughan.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
99 Living Room Ideas for a Beautiful Home
90 Designer Dining Rooms That Make Us Swoon
A Modernist Lakeside Playground
60 Spectacular Swimming Pool Designs
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below