Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1195863
Opposite page: View into the upstairs guest bedroom. Phillip Jeffries green grasscloth on walls. Custom iron staircase railing and hand-stenciled floor designed by J. Randall Powers. 59 styles and periods and people. English is straightforward — you may get a French chair thrown in occasionally, but for the most part it's English. Americans decorate like they dress, and it's gutsier." This beautiful old Colonial in River Oaks is as American as it gets, with sophisticated interiors that combine old with new and dashes of the strong details Powers likes to use. Because the couple spent so many years on the East Coast, they gravitate to a style found in gracious homes throughout the eastern seaboard — one akin to the classic American country interiors popularized by New York society designer Sister Parish. "How we grew up and lived certainly drives our aesthetic," the wife says. "We bring that background with our family pieces and things we have collected together to make this a warm, well-lived and loved home." When clients are this savvy and stylish, sometimes it's better to step out of the way and let them lead. "My client would give us an idea and a direction, and we would make it happen," Powers says. "She's not one to want an instant house — it was a two-year project, and things have come together over time." For instance, when Powers suggested that a Venetian-glass chandelier might be ideal over the dining-room table, the couple waited to buy it until they were traveling in Italy, where they found the perfect vintage opalescent chandelier. Palm Beach is a favorite haunt of the couple, and during one trip, she discovered a rare pair of earthenware cabbages made by late society artist Dodie Thayer, which are now on a dining- room sideboard. It took more than a year before Powers discovered the ideal rug for the living room: a pink- and-white Indian dhurrie from Carol Piper Rugs that ties into the room's color scheme. The homeowners are fearless about color and pattern, and each room has a distinct palette. The wife wanted a green dining room, so the walls are covered in green grasscloth by Phillip Jeffries, a color that's repeated in the Rose Tarlow dining chair upholstery. On the ceiling, silver-leaf tea paper reflects the walls with a faint green tint. The family room's preppy pink- and-orange combination is made more gutsy with paisleys and stripes, velvets and fringe. The breakfast room's cheerful patterns and red and blue hues make it one of the family's favorite spaces in the house. It also references classic American decorating in a big way, Powers says. The walls and ceiling are covered in Scalamandré's Billy Baldwin bamboo pattern, and four John Saladino armchairs are slipcovered in Brunschwig et Fils' iconic animal-pattern Les Touches fabric. A pair of lamps designed by Powers for Visual Comfort have custom red-lacquered shades, and a sisal rug trimmed in a red border add punch. Custom cabinets are painted in Farrow & Ball Hague Blue, an oft-used color by Powers' design firm. The designer has also made some unexpected moves that subtly amp up the drama, such as upholstering the living-room ceiling in chocolate silk. At the windows, bright pink taffeta is edged in chocolate and cream rickrack and lined in leopard-print silk. The entryway floor is hand- stenciled with an oversize geometric pattern, for an updated approach to the revered Early American art form. In the master bedroom, a boggling 400 yards of blue and white silk envelop walls, windows, and furniture. The fabric, Bouton by Michael S. Smith, took a year to weave. "To get that many yards in the same dye lot, they literally had to shut down the mill for us and continually weave the same fabric for months and months and months," Powers explains. "Silk is the most difficult to work with, and it was a very tricky project." The most used room in the house is the library, so Powers kept it comfortable with an overstuffed sofa, In the breakfast room, Scalamandré wallpaper by Billy Baldwin. John Saladino armchairs in Brunschwig et Fils Les Touches fabric. Wall lamps by J. Randall Powers for Visual Comfort with custom red-lacquered shades. Custom cabinets in Farrow & Ball Hague Blue. (continued)