For this year’s
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Showhouse and Gardens, I was delighted to be the designer for the Son’s Retreat
– an upstairs suite complete with “Juliette” balcony overlooking
the gardens and terrace. Last year, our
Butler’s Pantry was an absolute blast of a time, and this
year was notwithstanding.
My inspiration for this room’s schematic came from
a real life situation – you return home to your parents’
home but you return home with maybe a wife or even a wife and family!
Well, not a situation for me actually, but a situation many folks are
finding as they marry and return home for a visit. For my
BFF Maggie, she was challenged with this scenario – do you
bring your spouse into your room chocked full of pompoms, pink ribbons
and dried prom flowers? Or, from the husband’s standpoint, do you
bring your wife home to your Legos, first buck and pheasant and bass
on the wall or your baseball cards?
Maggie did a terrific job at her parents’ home
transforming a bedroom into a suite suitable for her and husband as
well as her brother and his bride. I thought about this for the Showhouse
– what would a son want for a retreat for not only himself but for
his family too? Well, I thought to myself, “Self, you are a son too,
and you would love to retreat to a comfortable room with great lighting,
handsome accessories, a calming color palette, reminders of childhood,
reflections from nature and somewhere else besides the bed to sit and
relax. Put my thoughts and some “manpower” from the gals at James
Farmer Inc, and our dream was made into reality! NOTE: I don’t make
the gals from my office do
all the heavy lifting –
Martin Hunt with McCorquedale Transfer does give
the girls a helping hand if the armoire is too heavy! Ha!
I love blues and greens. Muddle their tints and tones
and my love for everything from indigo to aqua comes to fruition with
my designs. I also love a mix of high and low; textures and tactile
elements; and varying art mediums to achieve an overall “look”
– an overall feel and thus accomplishment of a dream, inspiration
and vision.
I like to tell me clients, one of the best ways to
address a room’s use is its title. This room is a bedroom – a retreat
too, but a bedroom. A bed should thus serve as the cornerstone. What
does a bed need? A mattress and box springs of course, but is this bed
for one person, two people, a couple of dogs or a cat too? Linens and
lighting – will the bed’s occupant merely sleep in bed or will they
read too? Will they have a glass of water to take to bed? If so, what
type of surface will suffice to place this drink?
I love balance and symmetry. A pair of lamps on matching
stands, chests or tables make a bed feel anchored. So with the headboard
in place (a pine design I loved for its simplicity and, well, because
its pine), I kept the feel of its makeup by using two pine and mountain
laurel round tables that have the feel of an English cricket table too.
Sea glass hued wine bottles turned into lamps afforded the bed some
light too. As for the linens proper, I kept with my motto of simple
is best for bed linens. Everything from a traditional buffalo check
from
Ikea, to a lovely
matelasse from my friends at
Heery’s Too and some custom monograms from my friends at
Initial Reaction in
downtown Perry
made the bed akin to a good gentleman’s outfit – khaki and white,
handsome and classic for just about any occasion.
The windows too were dressed like the bed –
very simply yet tailored and elegant. An aqua ikat check (ikat and check
– does it get any better?) as panels framed the doorway that let out
to the sweet Juliette balcony. A custom built cornice heralded the window
treatments for a topper and added some architecture as well.
The Showhouse had gorgeous dark, stained oak flooring
throughout, so a simple jute rug that is luxuriously soft underfoot
was our foundation. A zebra hide angled under the pine coffee table
gave a nod to the “wild side” but grounded further our color scheme
of soft blues, creams, sepia browns, aqua and greens. Aside from the
bed, the other major piece to anchor the room was my cherished aqua
velvet
canapé
from France. The velvet is original and the dark stained legs complement
the color so well. The nailheads and curves play along harmoniously
and of course, fabulous pillows are a must! Chevrons in my colors and
a couple ocelot patterns too gave this antique some rejuvenation and
pizzazz!
Of course too, birds, turtle shells and bamboo factored
into this room’s schematic. There is no denying that I love birds
in artwork, painted on plates or mounted after a hunt, thus, a bird
print or two, bird tapestries and a mounted pheasant too found their
way into the room – or onto the walls more so. A grouping of
turtle shells arrayed over
the head board are a nod to a classic fauna-style décor.
Bamboo too in the form of a side chair, mirrors, bathroom
shelf and even on a chest further supported my moxy of always using
your favorite things in your designs. With the bamboo chest also
made of pine, well, how could one go wrong? A chunky, duck/robin’s
egg hued framed mirror reigned over the chest with a finial of antlers
to keep my love for nature in check.
Further enhancing my color scheme and design aesthetic
was the absolutely fabulous oil painting I found in a friend’s booth
at
Peachtree Battle Antiques. This monumental painting depicts a scene off the coast of
Maine, and the gilded frame highlights the deep blues, greens, browns
and muddied colors in between. This painting also added maturity to
the room too, but further attained the mix of “high and low” that
I so love – especially since the chandelier (a
PBA find too) was simply
an antler chandelier painted white yet ever so chic too.
Another Farmer fave – a blue painted ceiling! Such
a statement is reminiscent of porch ceiling across the South and I tend
to use blue as my ceiling color choice.
Benjamin Moore has two colors in particular I love to use, Ice Cap and Palladian Blue
or watered down shades in between – depending on how blue or gray
or green I wish the ceiling’s treatment to be. Wall color ended up
being a watered down (usually by cutting the paint down with Benjamin
Moore’s Linen White) version of Coastal Fog. Ice Cap and this Coastal
Fog reduction are a terrific pair for just about any room.
From birds to blues, turtles to tables, aquas and
accents galore, this year’s room at the ASO Showhouse was so much
fun. I cannot thank this organization enough for their hard work and
dedication, and I hopefully look back to more ASO Showhouses to come.
From this Farmer’s retreat to yours, happy decorating ya’ll!
