Avant-Garde Living
The Revival of Traditional Living
Decades ago when one considered formal living and dining rooms, they would universally be dark heavy wood with overly ornate carvings. Today, formal design has ventured into an avant-garde realm, where we have skillfully converted the once dim spaces into vibrant and energetic areas, turning the elaborate details into lavish and rich elements of beauty.
Revamping a living space can breathe new life into a home, particularly when high-end furniture is reupholstered and refinished. The fabric selection process is crucial. It involves considering durability, texture, color, and patterns that introduce a fresh aesthetic. Here, the new fabrics dramatically altered the room’s ambiance, adding vibrant elegance and harmony to the whole space.
Floor-to-ceiling drapery accentuates the ceiling height.
Challenge Accepted:
Mismatched window designs found on the same elevation were noticeably disrupting the room's overall sense of harmony and cohesion. The disparate styles and sizes of the windows clashed, drawing attention away from the otherwise well-appointed space.
Solution: The newly installed custom-designed window treatments elegantly emphasize the impressive ceiling height by establishing a sense of verticality. These treatments skillfully guide the gaze upwards and lead it smoothly across the room with a seamless visual transition. The meticulous professional installation guarantees a perfect fit for the draperies, allowing them to drape beautifully and enhance the home's magnificent charm.
See “before” image below.
This "before" image strikingly showcases the lack of uniformity in moulding designs above the windows, creating a disorganized look. Additionally, the placement of outdated drapery hardware below further detracts from the windows’ perceived height, impacting the overall visual appeal of the room.
Elegance Revitalized!
The classic fauteuil is a French armchair with open sides and exposed wood arms and legs.
This chair was reupholstered in a solid velvet platinum fabric and accented with a vivid indigo pillow highlighting an exotic bird pattern.
Reupholstering furniture offers a sustainable and cost-effective way to refresh a room without compromising on quality.
Formal Dining
The adjacent sunroom, designated for formal dining, features an exquisite Chippendale-style dining set adorned with a classic mahogany finish. In response to the clients' desire to retain the set, our suggestion was to refurbish the chairs with a sleek black paint and fresh, lively upholstery that harmonizes elegantly with the surrounding wall color. Extending the rejuvenation process, the table's top, apron, and legs were meticulously refinished, resulting in a comprehensive transformation that breathes new vitality into this beloved set.
Reusing the existing furniture was a crucial decision made during the redesign process to maintain a harmonious blend of familiar pieces alongside new additions. It was essential to keep the essence of the space intact while elevating its aesthetic appeal. Consequently, although much of the furniture remained unchanged, updating the area rug was seen as vital to infuse a vibrant touch of color and contemporary patterns to enhance the overall atmosphere and style of the room.
The new area rug, featuring elaborate traditional patterns that harmoniously merge with rich, deep colors, introduces a bold contrast to the modernized dining room furniture set.
Photo credit: Peggy Cormary Photography
