JSI Faves: Before and After Westham Renovation Part 3
Explore more of the interior transformations in part 3 of our series featuring the whole house renovation of a home in Richmond's Westham neighborhood. We share the dramatic changes to the entry, the dining room and the living room, along with some images of the wonderful work of our landscape designer.
I hope you've had a chance to enjoy Parts 1 and 2 of this series where we shared some of the background of this whole house renovation project and some of the dramatic before and after photos of the front elevation of the house and the kitchen. The kitchen transformation was incredible! Today, I'm sharing some of the additional interior spaces and closing with some images of the wonderful work of our landscape designer.
The original foyer was a small unassuming entry with the formal dining room off to the side. We raised the ceiling to create a vaulted area with a loft overlook from the newly added living space on the second floor. We added a classic white wainscoting treatment to the walls for added drama and opened up the views to the back of the house. Figuring out the spacing of that wainscoting was a math challenge. We included a hidden paneled section in the hallway for luggage storage.
The original dining room was adorned with a vintage chinoiserie wallpaper. I've been trying to research the pattern to discern it's age. It's reminiscent of the early de Gournay papers, but the condition of the paper led me to believe that it was older, since de Gournay was started in the late 1980s.
Unfortunately, the wallpaper was not in great shape and also not in keeping with my clients' taste. So, we removed the paper in favor of a nice coat of fresh paint. We also removed an adjoining powder room and added a lovely butler's pantry which is evident through the widened case opening at the back of the room.
The soaring ceilings of new homes were not common in ranch style homes of the fifties, so the entire first floor has 8'3" high ceilings. My clients had enjoyed nice coffered 10' ceilings in their previous home and were hoping to achieve the same look in this house, but the lower ceilings presented a challenge. Instead, we opted to create a more unique geometric design on the ceiling with a shallow 1" deep trim detail.
The original living room was a nice open entertaining space with terrific potential. We removed that Dutch door at the back of the room and re-purposed it for our side-door entrance. We replaced all of the hardwood flooring throughout the house when we discovered how much water damage there was from the drenched foundation.
We restored the original fireplace and created new custom cabinetry to display my clients large sculpture collection.
Having traveled to every continent over the years, my clients have collected some wonderful treasures along the way. They've also enjoyed collecting artwork from local artists during their travels and that artwork fits beautifully on the walls of their new home.
One of the early decisions in this renovation process was that the windows all needed to be replaced. The new windows all have less dividers allowing a more open view to their surrounding property which is wonderful. Another valuable member of our Conception to Completion team was landscape designer, Peggy Ford of Glorious Gardens. When my clients purchased this home, it was overgrown with trees and shrubbery that had been sorely neglected for years. Peggy created beautiful paths, small garden corners and a beautiful pond with a trailing fountain. It's absolutely perfect and will only improve with a little love and age.
I truly enjoyed working on this project because of the combined talents of everyone on our team and because I couldn't ask for better clients. It's very gratifying to breath life back into this neglected home and see it come to life with the energy and happiness of its new family.
JSI Raves: Romo's Black Edition Spring Launch
Explore one of our favorite fabric and wallpaper collections to launch this season from Romo's Black Edition. It's a poetic blend of romantic prints, luxurious textures and contemporary weaves.
The new Spring launch from Romo of their Black Edition collection is breath taking and so in line with the current fashion trends. Our last blog highlighted the latest bohemian trend that has been popular in fashion and now in interior design. As we come out of years of economic stagnation, fashion and interior design are embracing bolder and more optimistic design directions. This Black Edition collection blends historic and romantic influences with contemporary moments. It's a poetic blend of brilliant colors, imaginative patterns and lush textures! There are three fabric collections - Herbaria, Zkara and Kaleido which include boldly colored patterns and stripes, luxurious textures and contemporary weaves.
The collection also includes Herbaria Wallcoverings. Romo describes this collection as "modern design with a sense of history". I'm dying to find a great project to use one of these beautiful papers!
If you just want to infuse a small pop of this bold look into your space, consider one of their ready-made pillows from the collection. There are multiple patterns and sizes available by special order. They're all down filled with solid backs and they can be ordered through us.
Romo has long been one of my favorite fabric and wallpaper lines, but this season they've really outdone themselves. I'll be sure to share photos if I can find the perfect project to incorporate one (or several) of these beautiful patterns!
