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OCTOBER | PAGE 42 | 2014 First on McFarlain's list was to open up the 5,000-square-foot house by raising the ceilings and knocking down interior walls in the living area to create multiple seating possibilities. "It's not a totally open floor plan, but it's much more open than it was and works really well for entertaining, because they host a lot of functions," he says. A wall was also removed in the entry to create ample space for a big sculpture. When it came to walls that would display art, Lindsey thought way out of the white box. "We used an almost lavender-gray-hued paint from Sherwin Williams [Alpaca SW7002]," McFarlain says. "Most art collectors want museum-white walls, but Lindsey doesn't like typical." For the more intimate spaces, Lindsey bucked expectations again, insisting on the warmth of grasscloth for their bedroom and encouraging her designer to use bold wallpaper in the adjoining music room that doubles as her study. In the library — Patrick's favorite room — walls are elegantly swathed in blue Venetian plaster. Such patterns and textures are anathema to serious art collectors who rotate art frequently, since nail holes can ruin surfaces, but Lindsey was determined their house would feel more like a home than an art gallery, McFarlain says. To Lindsey's delight, the designer came up with a solution that also helped carry out the layered look she was aiming for: brass rail systems with chains, such as those used in England for centuries to hang art in manor homes and palaces. The brass railings not only give the contemporary paintings gravitas but tie into the brass detailing from furnishings Patrick inherited from his grandmother, including a large wood buffet from Neiman Marcus, circa 1940, and two small French lacquered tables. Ironically for a minimalist at heart who shuns color, McFarlain calls the music room his favorite. "It's so sexy. The rest of the house is so light, and it's dark, with the intense green sofa, Moroccan rug and wallpaper [flocked Persian Tulip by Zoffany from Culp Associates]," he says. "It's the first time I'd ever done something like that, taking off the neutral palette and going dark." But good clients bring out the best in their designers, and Lindsey pushed McFarlain to also experiment with pattern. "We took traditional elements and interpreted them in a new way through pattern," he says. "We used Moroccan tile for the backsplash in the kitchen and herringbone floors in a continuous pattern throughout, which we hand- scraped and bleached. I got to play with pattern and texture in a way I hadn't before." On the other hand, McFarlain urged Lindsey to be braver about using textiles. "He had some silk velvet he wanted to do pillows in," she recalls, "and I thought it was a horrible idea with a child on the way. But they turned out to be really sturdy, and even after a few years, they've never gotten a stain on them." Lindsey and Ford Collins, reclining on Bruno Mathsson's 1936 Paris daybed in a room off the veranda. The two acrylic-on-canvas paintings, which belonged to Patrick's parents, are by Alexander Liberman, art director for Vogue in the '40s through '60s: Open Triad XII and Open Triad XIII, both 1973.