1 of 2
“[Music] really resets me,” says interior designer Kenneth Byrd, who plays cello, violin and the viola, and is currently teaching himself the piano.
2 of 2
“I wanted the house to feel neutral, but really kind of organic,” says Byrd, who chose furnishings crafted from natural materials, like this travertine dining table.
Seeking change in summer 2020, Richmond interior designer Kenneth Byrd sold his Fan neighborhood home, fully furnished no less, due in part to COVID-19 claustrophobia and issues surrounding ongoing protests in the city. For the next year, he stayed with a friend in Church Hill and spent time at his Palm Beach home, but Byrd hated feeling unsettled. Realizing that he wanted to be in Richmond with family and friends, in July 2021 he bought a home that, as it turns out, is also in the Fan. “Home in Richmond is the Fan,” Byrd says.
Renovations on the 1908 row house began posthaste, including gutting the kitchen and baths, redoing floors, top-to-bottom paint and new lighting. Byrd did a lot of the work himself, hanging wallpaper, cabinetry and light fixtures and even replastering the fireplace — something he says he’ll never do again after sustaining hand injuries in the process. Still, Byrd will tell you he has a thing for plaster; you’ll find it throughout his home, not only in the obvious places, but also in furnishings and accessories.
1 of 5
“Here I wanted to use not only tactile texture but also visual texture,” Byrd says of the chairs. “I don’t do a lot of patterns. This is my foray into that.”
2 of 5
Byrd, who says he always wanted a koi pond and is learning to care for the fish and plantings, expanded an existing pond by adding a second level and a waterfall.
3 of 5
The palette gets a little darker in the guest room. “While everything is the same color,” says Byrd, “each and every piece has a totally different texture.”
4 of 5
Byrd mixed patterns and scale in the primary bedroom. He says that while each piece is kind of a loud look on its own, when put together, they subdue each other.
5 of 5
To balance the large space in the primary bedroom, Byrd played with scale. The lamps are huge, the headboard is enormous and the mirrors are oversize.
“I designed my home the way I’m designing clients’ homes — open and airy, with a clean palette, white walls with a whole lot of texture,” Byrd says. In fact, “every single thing” has texture — from grass cloth on the walls to raised threading in the drapes. Neutrals infused with texture are Byrd’s signature style, a design strategy that keeps a monochromatic palette interesting. In his new home, all the shades of white and gray with occasional notes of blue create a comfortable, casual but sophisticated cool that is quintessential Byrd.
True to a Fan railroad-style floor plan, the foyer opens into the formal living and dining room and then leads to the family room, kitchen and home office just beyond. Out back is a courtyard with waterfalls and a koi pond that Byrd calls his “pride and joy.” He professes that he’s not much of a gardener but enjoys this space and the new serenity it brings. Upstairs, you’ll find the primary bedroom done in shades of warm white, with a gray patterned wallcovering by York, as well as a cozy guest room and a den where Byrd works and watches TV, all done in quiet neutrals with lots of texture.
1 of 4
Byrd played with texture and shape, juxtaposing a block-like Arteriors console table with the organic lines of the Noir plaster side table, a jute-wrapped mirror and a sculptural Kelly Wearstler lamp.
2 of 4
Byrd makes his own wine and ages most of it in bottles on the rack. To test the flavor, he’s aging some in the French oak cask.
3 of 4
Byrd designed the wood range hood. The waterfall island top is Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold; the perimeter counters are black soapstone.
4 of 4
Byrd modernized the sitting area off the kitchen, replacing an ornate fireplace with a simple plaster surround and bringing in the same Kravet wallpaper used in the living room bookcases.
While Byrd says he designs clients’ homes with sure and speedy ease, designing his own residence is typically another story. “I tend to overthink things,” he says. In this case, however, he didn’t give himself the luxury of time. He was eager to get back to living, calling on “every trick in the book” to complete the renovation and fully furnish his home during a continuing supply chain crisis. He moved in December 2021.
Partly because of the project’s urgency and partly because of the designer’s second nature, Byrd is still editing spaces. “Even now I walk around and think, ‘That’s going to get switched out,’ ” he says with a laugh. Though pieces will change, Byrd will tell you one thing’s certain: The neutral palette is here to stay.
