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The console and mirror were custom made for the sunroom by Bradley, an Atlanta-based, to-the-trade luxury furnishings company that also represents Cowles’ collections. The ceramic lamp is by Entler Studio.
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Cowles chose Jamie Beckwith’s white oak parquet flooring. Offered with different stains, the wood can be arranged in a variety of patterns. “It took me eight or 10 times to get the pattern I wanted in the mudroom,” the designer says with a laugh. The walls and ceiling are covered with her own 13021 Flamands grasscloth.
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In order to let the light in and have an unobstructed view, Cowles replaced four small kitchen windows with two large, light-filtering windows with very large panes and very small muntins.
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In the foyer, Cowles used a neutral but textured background, adding color through the art and furnishings including the funky sofa by Mr. Brown that she upholstered in a Kelly Wearstler fabric used right side and on the reverse.
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In the dining room, an original Boombox photograph by Lyle Owerko hangs above a Milo Baughman sideboard flanked by a pair of lamps by Mr. Brown.
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“My husband wanted the den to feel like a cozy lounge, and that’s what we ended up creating,” Cowles says. Farrow & Ball’s Green Smoke paint adds to the ambiance.
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The powder room is a master class in layered pattern and texture, anchored by Cowles’ 41018 Odette Alta on the walls and mosaic floor tiles by Kelly Wearstler for Ann Sacks.
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Cowles’ dog Margot is ensconced on the bed. The nightstands are custom, the square pillows are Cowles’ 12024 Lake fabric, and the room is drenched in Farrow & Ball Inchyra Blue paint.
Richmond native and contemporary artist Lindsay Cowles sits at the bespoke kitchen island in the home she shares with her husband and two young sons in the Windsor Farms neighborhood. With her hands in almost constant motion, Cowles enthusiastically discusses how her works have transcended the canvases that gave them life.
“Finishing a painting is not the end of the art,” she explains, “it’s the beginning. That’s the starting point for everything. I think so many people look at a piece of art and say, ‘It’s done,’ but there are so many other things you can do with it. I mean, you can say it’s finished and frame it and hang it on the wall, but what are the other possibilities?”
“I like to have a touch of my work in every room, says artist and textile designer Lindsay Cowles. The painting, entitled “Odette,” is by Cowles. The rug is by Art & Loom, the sofa — covered in performance fabric — is by Verellen, the sconces are by Barbara Barrie for Arteriors and the pillows are from Cowles’ new collection.
Cowles’ home answers that question definitively and with aplomb. Rich with the colors, patterns, and textures, her abstract art and its iterations as fabrics, wallpapers, pillows and rugs play starring roles in the decor. She has deftly created spaces that employ her own luxurious pieces along with those of other renowned artisans and designers. The result is a home that is at once sophisticated and irresistible.
Purchased by Cowles and her husband, Thomas Arrington, in late summer 2020, the Colonial-style brick house was built by Louis Ballou in 1937. Formerly owned by Barbara and Jack Clark, the house was famously a favorite place for the couple’s close friend, tennis legend Billie Jean King, to visit. King first stayed there over 50 years ago when she was competing in the Virginia Slims Invitational at Richmond’s Westwood Club.
“We found her signature dated 1978 in the closet in our son’s room,” Cowles says with a laugh. “And not long after we moved here, I walked out of my door one day, and Billie Jean King was standing in my front yard, and she goes, ‘Hey, are you the owner of this house?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am,’ and walked up to her, and we talked. We still sometimes get fan mail for her.”
The home’s brick exterior remains true to Ballou’s design, and inside, Cowles has been careful to respect the home’s original millwork, including dentil moldings and rich paneling. However, the artist and decorative arts designer has used the classical spaces as her canvas, too, playing with layers of high-style treatments and furnishings that transcend design norms.
The kitchen, expanded from its original two-room footprint with butler’s pantry to a single space, explodes with Calacatta Viola marble that splashes the large island and rises from counters to ceiling. The glamorous, striking marble rests comfortably among warm wood-tone cabinets, reeded glass panes and a dark marble floor, offering visual voids that build balance. A linear light fixture, that’s a blend of brass and black accents from Visual Comfort, pairs perfectly with the kitchen’s elegant marble finishes.
An arched doorway leads to a wet bar tucked between the kitchen and the home library. The deep, moody hues of the bar play off the shelves of glassware and bottles, evoking a jewel box-like feel in the space.
For help tackling the kitchen renovation, Cowles turned to Jill White, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based interior designer who, since they met through Instagram several years ago, has collaborated with Cowles on other home projects and on work with shared clients. “She helps me space plan,” Cowles says. “We work really well together and know how to push each other’s boundaries.”
White says, “Lindsay knows how to make sense of design. She uses materials in different ways. Everything has depth and interest. She understands scale, and it makes it so easy to work with her.”
Adjacent to the kitchen, Cowles has seized opportunities for artistic play in the pantry and mudroom, where modern elements including sculptural furnishings and contemporary artwork fill functional roles. Both rooms feature a contemporary take on parquet flooring with white oak surfaces from the Nashville, Tennessee-based Jamie Beckwith Collection. Custom-made cabinets for storing coats and shoes line one wall, the routed holes in the doors add texture and allow for airflow. A curvy modern saddle bench sourced at Bradley provides a counterpoint to the angular lines of the abstract wallcovering and balances the room.
It’s a technique also employed in the dining room, where Cowles installed her Taos sisal grasscloth mural above the formal wainscoting. The mural’s sharp lines are offset by the round midcentury dining table from London-based Mr. Brown. A round artwork of concentric circles (not shown) dubbed “The Pizza” and designed by Cowles satisfies her desire for pattern balance. “I needed something that was dimensional. I also really love the juxtaposition between the traditional dentil moldings and the modernism,” she says.
A comfortable, neutral sunroom with a raked limestone floor, slatted walls, custom gray stone marble fireplace and soft seating adjoins the dining room and offers views of the home’s extensive gardens. The gardens were originally designed by noted Southern landscape designer, Charles Gillette and updated with advice from Richmond-based landscape designer Marcia Fryer.
A stunning Luke Lamp Co. lighting fixture immediately draws the eye skyward in the living room, where Cowles has subtly pitted present-day patterns against the exquisite original wood paneling. Her own Faded Plaster checked grasscloth covers the ceiling in an unexpected pairing. A Bradley-sourced black-and-white coffee table commands the center of the room, where other standouts include a sculpture by Richmond artist Vivian Chiu and a pair of garden stools once owned by American designer Kelly Wearstler.
“I feel like I am influenced so much by what is going on in the design world,” Cowles says. “What I really resonate with is geometric shapes, linear objects all in a painterly manner so that there are imperfections. I don’t want to see perfection. I want my designs to be perfectly imperfect.”
