soothing style… I have admired the overhauled look of Restoration Hardware and blogs like Velvet and Linen for a long time. The serene hues and character brought in from the antiques is so lovely. Thus, it was so fun to meet my client and now dear friend, Sanka (yes, like the coffee). Sanka is a beautiful, Greek woman with a passion for decorating and specifically focused (at the moment) that style. For me there is so much joy in decorating houses because each one is entirely different and the personality of that owner. This is the second house completed by the studio, completely different from the first one and entirely different from Judy’s house which you will see next week (yay!). This is part one of two. Once we completed the living/dining area inside she asked us to tackle her outdoor living. Stay tuned. I’m hoping to post later today but it may be first thing in the morning! Busy day!! Hope you enjoy!

beautiful images by Chris Plavidal and myself

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before

She told me she grew up on the water and now lives near a lake in Dallas. Not exactly coastal living in the middle of Texas but we can pretend right? Absolutely!

For the record, this is a beautiful new home for Sanka, her wonderful husband, Brett and their two young daughters, Dillon and Alex. It’s a full and active house hold so taking into account things like slip covers and durability were a must. Sanka had some beautiful things to start with but it didn’t capture the look she loves which is sort of rustic french country meets coastal living (think Aidan Gray meets Wisteria). The house is large in scale and so is everything in it (see fireplace mantel) so that was a huge challenge because you could put a huge piece there that would typically dominate any other mantel and it would look like a matchbox. The initial color palette of the house was mostly brown with a few pops of dark red. I hope the before and afters are helpful for you to see the changes. See below for solutions and our lovely finds…

after

First thing that took some convincing was painting the back wall gray to highlight the mantel and convincing Sanka to embrace some gray. It wasn’t a huge color commitment but she was nervous. I mentioned the mammoth mantel earlier… This is about the best detail of the mantel I can show you but basically those urns are HUGE and heavy, heavy. Sanka is Greek so that also played a huge part in our selection of urns, the bust of the greek goddess, etc. The photo in the frame is of her father’s restaurant in Greece that we had blown up (detail below), very sweet. I painted the art on the right for her. We saw a tryptic of distressed type that we loved but really wanted it to be in Greek. It reads “from your mouth to God’s ear.”

I incorporated some of my folded books and aged books… it was really important to get things throughout this house that looked aged and bring some character in to this new home. Throughout you’ll see old books, old letters, antique chairs, a vintage biscuit stand…all things that bring a little warmth and love into this space.

I had a great time with the builtins. Bookshelves are super challenging but I love to do them. I have to point out a few of my favorite moments on the shelves. These HUGE gray books. I found for $25 at a garage sale. Such a great find…more gray! Also, texture in bookshelves… a big solution for me when there are lots of shelves is to avoid clutter, lived in yes, clutter no. So one way to help dissipate the sheer number of lots of shelves is to break them up with texture thus the old books and firewood. (You’ve seen this from me before, yes?)

Easy breakfast eating area, we made new slip covers for the chairs but kept her existing table and this is an old stool she had. I really quickly dry brushed it with gray and covered in burlap to give it a new life in this space. We loved the way it turned out.

Everyday dining table… we found TONS of stuff at Ballard and Blakely on Lovers. Both the table and the wire urn were found there (and the Biscuit stand too!)

Wrapping around into the kitchen a little…

I didn’t design this room for Sanka but they are so lovely I had to throw these in. Her formal living, formal dining, bedroom and laundry room (loved the wallpaper).

last but not least loved these photos and had to share them of Sanka’s father at his restaurant.

I’m so excited and thankful to Chris Plavidal for shooting beautiful images so I could share it with you.