Hey all! I thought I’d pop into your in-boxes today with an iPhone peek at a project installation from over the summer — Project HGD Tudor Elegance, a tasteful 1920s brick “maison” (as opposed to McMansion!) in Manchester, NH’s historic North End.

This phase entailed overhauling the master bedroom. We are moving on to the grand foyer/stairs, halls after the New Year.

 

Project HGD Tudor Elegance

 

The homeowners had wanted a house in this coveted neighborhood for many years. When their particular property came on the market 5-6 years earlier — complete with sweeping views, formal gardens, and beautiful trees — they jumped at the chance to be the next generation of caretakers of the historical home.

The husband and wife are definitely collectors! Their taste in art is exceptional and eclectic (as you will see!) ranging from plein air landscapes to pop art. Many furnishings from their prior home — a number of them “brown” antiques or vintage heirlooms — transferred easily to the ground floor. But they had never spent much energy on their bedroom, and left it as-is from the time they moved in.

 

Read this post on the benefits of “brown” furniture!

 

Both of them loved the interior design portfolio of Thomas Jayne (I mean, who doesn’t?!), and requested a serene & sophisticated elegance with a subtle chinoiserie bent for their new master bedroom that would be in keeping with the architectural style of the home.

 

Below was a major inspiration image selected by the clients.

The project came with 2 major “givens” — an enormous 60″x 66″ painting (which would ONLY fit on a particular wall in this particular room) …

 

 

And a settee with beautiful curved lines from the wife’s family. It had definitely seen better days!

 

 

Now, a piece of art that size really had to dictate the color direction of the room. In order to achieve the “serene” ambiance the homeowners wanted, we were going to have to make it more of a team player — rather than the star quarterback!

Let’s see how we did!

 

Before Pics

 

 

The queen size bed definitely didn’t fill out the large room the way the bed needed to do. That comes down to optimizing space planning.

 

 

These beautiful bay windows have a broad view to the hills beyond & overlook the formal gardens. While the homeowners loved having the settee in this location, I thought we could create a restful respite in a more multi-functional way.

 

(In The Home Glow Method®, my interior design course specifically for homeowners, we talk A LOT about planning & prioritizing the functions you want your room to serve!)

 

 

The above image shows the homeowners’ original painting on the wall where it had to stay. You can also see a little nook to the right of the painting, where the wife had a reading chair.

 

 

The above view shows the wife’s bathroom & walk-in closet entries.

 

In addition to redecorating, we recommended the following more renovation-type changes:

1. Clean up the electrical outlets & ceiling cans. The ceiling is low — just 8 feet — and low ceilings in large rooms seem even lower than they do in smaller rooms. (Check out this project, that also showcases a large room with a low ceiling.) We recommended relegating can lights to the corners, with a spotlight on the painting. We also proposed a semi-flush light for the center of the room to create a central focus. Lastly, there were a lot of outdated AV outlets that we recommended boxing up.
2. Replace the carpet. This is the only space in the home where there wasn’t wood flooring. We created 2 proposals, one that included keeping the carpet for budgetary reasons, and another option to have the wood flooring beneath refurbished.

 

The Proposal

 

Color scheme-wise, we proposed wrapping the room in a similar blue to the background of the painting. This more monochromatic envelop would help create that “serene” feeling the homeowners wanted. However, we couldn’t ignore the vibrant coral of the swimmers’ suits! So we varied the value of that coral color and splashed it in small ways elsewhere in the room.

 

 

Space planning-wise, we recommended turning the bay-window area into a coffee & reading area, with a center table for beverages, an ottoman, and swivel arms chairs that could face the view, the table, or toward the room for putting your feet up on the ottoman & reading.

We also thought the nook would make a beautiful setting for a kidney-shaped writing desk, for the wife’s journaling & letter.

Lastly, we moved the settee to under the painting, where it could easily cover the very bottom portion without obstructing the main focus of the canvas, but could also serve as a place for the wife to lay out her outfits directly from her walk-in closet.

 

 

 

Our renderings are courtesy of Annilee Waterman.

 

 

 

 

 

Renderings are CLUTCH when it comes to helping homeowners have confidence in the design direction of their homes! In this case, it helped the homeowners decide to go for the wood floor refurbishment.

 

Read this post on the many ways renderings help in interior design & LOTS of inspo!

 

After Pics

 

Remember, these are iPhone pics and the light was going CRAZY!

Again, we wanted subtle elegance with a little 1920s chinoiserie glamor. What do you think????

 

The bedding all has a very soft sheen to it.

 

 

 

Isn’t the writing nook pretty? I LOVE the ottoman!

 

BTW — talk about HEADACHES! Every project since the pandemic seems to have at least one if not more cursed piece to the puzzle. In this project, that ottoman was cursed. The vendor lost it, sent us the wrong one, found it, then sent it to West Virginia…. When it finally got it us, it had brass nail heads around the bottom instead of nickel … and we had to have our local upholsterer change them out!

 

 

Here you can see how the wood floors really add warmth. The homeowners were really on board with restoring them — all a part of their view as the most recent “caretakers” of this lovely little estate.

However, we soon saw why carpet had been laid down! While the edges of the room teased us — showing us planks below — once we pulled everything up, 75% of the floor was plywood! There must have been damage at some point. Anywho! Renovations of old homes are NEVER straightforward….

 

BTW — we used this design trick, because we needed a seriously huge rug to cover this space. 

 

 

I wanted to complement the homeowners’ art without overwhelming the choices they already had. Hand-made porcelain flower sculptures in the writing nook (gold painted!) were the perfect non-matchy, non-clashy choice and only add to their art collection!

 

 

 

A faux bamboo writing chair is another chinoiserie reference without being over-the-top.

 

 

We covered the settee in this stunning Brunschwig & Fils woven damask. So elegant & understated!

 

 

The custom dresser has a brushed champagne finish for a little glamor. The mirror was hand-painted. I LOVE the beautiful crystal candlestick lamp & silk shade.

 

 

 

Obviously, I LOVE doing full-service design for my clients. But not everyone can or wants to employ a designer … but they still want their Forever Homes to stand the test of time!

 

Want to learn The Home Glow Method®

for YOUR Forever Home?

Learn to transform your forever house like a designer would!

(I.e. Without Fear of Making EXPENSIVE Mistakes OR Being Boring!)

 

I’ll be opening another session sometime in spring 2023!

What do YOU struggle with in YOUR forever home? Is is color? Is it pattern? Sourcing? Creating a solid style? If so, you’re not alone (as you can see!) Let me know in the comments.

Happy holidays, everyone!

-Amy