From Sept. 17 to Oct. 14, visitors toured the Richmond Symphony Orchestra League 2018 Designer House to see the latest in home ideas and inspiration created by talented local designers. In case you missed it — or even if you didn’t — we offer a closer look at some of the tour’s highlights.
DINING ROOM
David Barden, David Barden Interior Design
Asking David Barden if the wallpaper in Holly Lawn’s dining room is original to the house is high flattery: The wallpaper he chose recalls the home’s original era while bringing in new freshness. “I wanted to create a formal dining room using a rich, bold color,” he says, noting how its bright green contrasts with the room’s existing wood and moldings. With this wallpaper, “It’s so easy to mix color back in,” he says — in accessories, table settings, flowers and a blue interior in the gray china cabinet. A gray table and chairs add a contemporary touch, making it a space that, while formal, is also comfortable and easy to use.
LIVING ROOM
Patti Ryan, Patti Ryan Interior Design, and Tracy deShazo, Tracy deShazo Interiors
Using layers of textured fabrics, cool metals and organic elements, designers Patti Ryan and Tracy deShazo teamed up to create a living room that is “mod with a touch of traditional, with big tropical and global influences,” says Ryan. “It’s a space that wraps itself around you,” she says. Corners draped ceiling to floor in rich blue curtains further soften the space, panels of wallpaper add graphic interest, and a custom-framed, dried natural seed pod provides organic artwork. “We created a space that is timeless,” says deShazo. “Because it’s a collected look, you’ll never get tired of it.”
LIBRARY
Kenneth Byrd, Kenneth Byrd Design
A recent trip to Morocco proved influential for Kenneth Byrd; one place it manifests is the library at Holly Lawn. “My goal for the space was to bring a Moroccan vibe but make it accessible for everyday living,” says Byrd. He says that his Moroccan travels — the sights and craftsmanship he saw — awakened in him a desire to use “lots of layering like never before: a mixing of brands, styles, shapes, materials.” Graphic wallpaper makes a bold statement, while layers of furnishings and accessories create a storied space. A spiky, modern chandelier casts soft light on the Old World desk below, while a painting of a Moroccan man above the fireplace, done by Byrd himself, adds to the room’s worldly, collected feel.
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POWDER ROOM, FOYER
Kathy Corbet, Kathy Corbet Interiors
The muse behind designer Kathy Corbet’s transformation of the entry to Holly Lawn is “a young urban professional woman in blue jeans, heels and T-shirt — feminine without being totally exaggerated,” she says. A grand staircase, with song lyrics to “Stairway to Heaven” painted on the risers, leads to a second-floor landing with a vintage wing chair reupholstered in an edgy floral. Corbet also designed the powder room tucked under the stairs; bubbles painted on the walls mimic the feeling of being inside a bottle of champagne, while faces of four friends having fun gaze down from the ceiling in a custom wallpaper treatment. Corbet says, “If you’re going to have fun, do it in the powder room.”
SUNROOM
Kelly Brown, Kelly Brown Interiors
Kelly Brown of Kelly Brown Interiors transformed a dark, dingy enclosed porch into a bright and airy sunroom with a built-in daybed, custom sconces, cascading plants and two seating areas for reading or relaxing. “The view is the artwork, so I wanted to keep the palette subtle, with texture and sculptural elements to counterbalance it,” says Brown. Vintage chairs with swans carved in the arms and covered in an electric cobalt blue velvet add a dash of the unexpected — a signature element Brown says she likes to include in her designs. To cover the floors in this long, narrow room, seven 3-by-5-foot jute rugs were stitched together with leather cording.
BEDROOM
Melissa Mathe, Melissa Mathe Interior Design LLC
“I wanted to demonstrate how you can make an impact with black and white,” says Melissa Mathe of her bedroom space in Holly Lawn. Designed with an intentional lack of color, the room features twin beds, crisp white bedding, textured rugs and custom black-and-white upholstered headboards. Embodying a gender-neutral vibe with traditionally feminine touches for items such as the dressing table, mirror and chair, the room works for tweens, teens, young adults and visiting grandchildren alike. “The question is not ‘Who would love calling this room their own?’ but ‘Who wouldn’t?,’ ” says Mathe. Local art, also in black and white with metallic touches, punctuates the space.
BEDROOM
Sara Hillery, Sara Hillery Interior Design
Sara Hillery says she designed the bedroom at Holly Lawn for her muse, her 7-year-old daughter, whom she describes as an inquisitive nature lover. “I wanted the room to show this side of girls, embracing creativity and exploration,” she says. Outdoor elements, including the nature scene on the window treatments, bamboo detailing on furnishings, and drawer pulls featuring natural items such as bone, brass and gems, are used throughout. For art, Hillery says she sought “something big but modern, but with an outdoor feel,” shown in the preserved fern artwork above the fireplace. An alcove transformed into a white linen tent captures the essence of a young explorer out on campaign.
HALL BATH
Stephanie Theofanos, Modern Traditions Interior Design LLC
Designing a hall bathroom calls for flexibility. “I wanted it to be able to serve [the homeowners’] grandkids as well as several house guests at once,” says Stephanie Theofanos. “And since it’s for the grandkids, we wanted something that would grow with them.” With deep blue walls and textiles with botanicals and dragonflies, it’s a design that Theofanos calls whimsical but not juvenile. Patterned cement floor tiles are durable and imitate designs from the home’s original era. The radiator cover is custom-made with pieces salvaged from the home after the tree damage it sustained in 2016.
GUEST BEDROOM
Will Chambers, U-Fab Interiors
The guest bedroom designed by U-Fab’s Will Chambers is “a fresh take on the blue-and-white classic,” he says. Starting with richly patterned blue drapery fabric as an inspiration point, Chambers channeled Moroccan vibes to create a space with a worldly, well-traveled feel. A custom upholstered headboard and plush white bedding is topped with mounds of pillows in silks, linens and cotton blends. Accessories in the space are a mix of rustic and glamorous, to create a collected look. “I wanted to make it a little bit whimsical, but clean and fresh,” he says.
MASTER SUITE
Moyanne Harding, Interiors by Moyanne
“My goal was to create a calm but elegant space for the architectural style of the home,” says Moyanne Harding of Interiors by Moyanne. The color palette for the suite, which includes a bathroom, a sitting room and a bedroom, was inspired by existing architectural elements, including a stained-glass window in the bathroom and tiled surrounds on the suite’s two fireplaces. Soft pink, gold, terra cotta and hints of blue create an oasis for rest, while the chandelier gives the space an “upbeat vibe, a modern touch with a fun feel,” Harding says. Custom radiator covers have marble tops that will emanate heat.
Holly Lawn’s current owners, Leslie Stack and Frank Rizzo, brought the home back to working order after it sustained massive damage from a fallen tree in a June 2016 storm and generously opened it for tours to benefit RSOL.
