This is an easygoing, musical family: two teenage boys, a puppy, a guitar and piano that rarely sit idle, and a collection of vintage books passed down through generations that they love to display. Their house began as a late 1940s ranch and was recently reborn as a two-story modern farmhouse, with a new addition on the back holding the living and dining rooms. Under a tall cathedral ceiling, the furniture floated, undersized for the space, and the room felt massive and impersonal. The fireplace sat on a foundation that could not move, which left an awkward ledge the length of the wall with no purpose and made the fireplace and the flimsy white built-ins look dwarfed. The clients knew they wanted warm and inviting. They did not know what to do about that wall.
So I made warmth the whole assignment. New walnut built-ins wrap the fireplace wall and the wall beside it, turning that dead ledge into real storage and a dry bar, and pulling the walls inward so an open plan finally feels intimate. Floating shelves keep it airy, and fluted door fronts answer the pattern on the walls. Above them, a raised navy velvet wallcovering brings all that height down a level and, printed on a paper with a soft sheen, catches the accent lighting and glows. A custom stone facade and surround give the fireplace the weight to hold its own. The velvet is the controlled drama here, with a new chandelier over the dark wood table and grey chairs for the sparkle a dining room should have. I styled the bar and the family’s antique books by hand, for the layered, lived-in look that makes a room feel true.
The family room asked a different question. A cathedral ceiling, a long wall, and a built-in bench left too many empty white planes, and color alone would have read flat across them. Instead I covered the walls in a textured vinyl that recalls the thin horizontal tile of the 1970s, structured yet free in its repeat. It gives the eye a place to rest and puts the architecture forward. I took down the sconces that hung too high, added brass ones and a brass and wood chandelier, cushioned the bench into far more seating, and layered in an area rug and a pile of throw pillows. That last part, the pattern and the softness, is what made the room comfortable.
Now both rooms carry the family’s easy, unhurried personality. The living and dining read formal when the moment calls for it, and relaxed every other day. It is refined, with a clear point of view, and never pretentious. The kind of space where the guitar comes out, the books stay stacked, and everyone lingers.
