When clients of interior designer Ashley Shaw moved into a new home in Myers Park, they wanted their decor to augment the mid-century ranch style of the house. So Shaw accentuated its unique architectural details—like a circular vaulted ceiling in the dining room and crisscrossing mullions, or glass dividers, on custom French doors in an entryway.
“I just love how much light goes through the home,” Shaw says. “It still has a bit of a historical feel that it’s mid-century, but it also flows so well for a modern family.”
Shaw used a grayish grass cloth wallpaper with lavender undertones in the foyer that is durable, similar to vinyl. It accents the homeowners' chest Shaw had painted to go with a vintage rug.
The dining room features an oversized fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows with a set of doors opening to the backyard. The client had the perfect-sized round table and chairs already, so Shaw topped the chairs with cushions made of sage green striped fabric. She added a statement piece with a two-tiered chandelier by Julia Neill, who is an artist and designer from New Orleans.
“It’s visual comfort,” Shaw says. “It’s pretty and fun.”
She used colorful fabrics, furniture and periodic statement pieces to complement the homeowners' style.
Shaw incorporated their existing furniture pieces like the living room pattern sofa, which she had recovered in a brighter fabric, with newer pieces like an antique zebra side table. She added pops of pattern and color with new pillows to the sati. She added a Chinese table on one side of the sofa, opposite a chest of drawers that had been in the homeowners' family. Finally, she brought in a touch of whimsy with brightly-colored striped fabric on two circular ottomans.
“We wanted to bring a lot of color and happiness into the room but still keep it sophisticated,” Shaw says.
Her goal throughout the project was to make the home both beautiful and functional for their family.
“She's an amazing cook, so I know that they host dinner parties," Shaw says. "I wanted the home to be able to open itself up to having a very elegant dinner party for adults. But they have young children, so maybe earlier in the day, they would have had the soccer team over. Things needed to be durable, functional, but work just as well for all the various stages they are in.”
A can’t-miss element in the living room is the owners’ framed print of Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger. Shaw hung it on the wall next to a vintage game table she had re-leathered in a bright green and paired with painted white vintage chairs. Flanking the fireplace on that end of the room are milk brass sconces custom made by The Urban Electric Co.
In the family den, Shaw updated dark paneling with a fresh coat of Mouse’s Back gray from Farrow & Ball. She added a new sofa and chairs to the family's tufted ottoman and accented them with new draperies.
“It kind of just hugs you,” Shaw says. “The room feels so cozy.”