“We love old homes with all the qualities that make them unique,” says the owner of this 1913 beauty. The owners already lived in a beloved older home nearby, but they wanted a larger kitchen and other upgrades in that house that would require an addition, a project that wasn’t feasible. They also wanted a pool and to stay within the Clayton neighborhood they adored.
A nearby charmer checked a lot of boxes on their list. “We saw this house as a blank canvas, rich with character and potential,” says the wife. “Its unique features, like the pool area and the original fountain and sage green marble floors in the solarium, captivated us immediately.”
And with a background in art therapy, the wife could envision the possibilities to create a bold, colorful space that would both inspire and soothe. “My husband and I are both visionaries,” the wife explains. “We immediately saw where we wanted to change or add things.” Taking inspiration from the solarium’s green floor and the Mediterranean blues and verdant greens observed on cherished trips to Greece and Italy, the couple identified those hues for their colorways.
In their previous home, the couple had enlisted Dana King Design Build Remodeling for several successful projects, including refinishing the master bath and an outdoor courtyard. “When that project was finished, it looked like it had always been there, and we wanted to recreate the same idea on the third floor of the new home,” says the wife. “We knew Dana could do the whole project.”
Dana says her award-winning firm has considerable experience remodeling older homes. In this home’s third floor, the placement of the dormers and doors as well as the angles of the room were typical of attics, she says. “It wasn’t meant to be an architecturally interesting space, so making our work look intentional was something we all had our eye on.”
The homeowner envisioned a hidden door to allow them to hang a TV without interrupting the flow of the space. A feature wall of slatted wood with a door that blends into the slats, rendering it nearly invisible, provides that punch of interest while keeping the area cohesive. “I’m really proud of how we installed the door,” says Dana, the owner, contractor and principal designer of her firm. Varying the width of the slats also takes the wall from looking prefabbed to truly custom. “It looks very intentional,” she says.
The owners also wanted a wet bar so they didn’t have to trek down two flights of stairs to the kitchen. “We had access to plumbing through a bathroom adjacent to this room,” says Dana. “It required moving some tile and fixtures, but the owners were dedicated to the investment of doing it.” Interior designer Michelle Banks coordinated with Dana’s team in creating the wet bar as art. “It’s a real feature of the room with gorgeous black stone,” says Dana. And capping off the room’s playful vibe, a marble-topped ping pong table set on a stainless steel base is the design-forward piece the wife envisioned for the space. Tied-in with the wife's carefully selected furnishings and light fixtures, the space encapsulates their initial vision.
With the third-floor renovation underway, the wife began implementing her many ideas in the rest of the home. In a first-floor room that held a piano when the couple first viewed the home, they began implementing their initial idea for a cozy, moody bar. It came to life thanks to the skill of Kyle Grimm of Grimm Woodworking. “He built the custom bar that he and I designed together,” says the wife, who chose Sherwin-Williams “Midnight Moscow” to drench the room in sophistication.
When she approached the design of the living room, however, the wife felt overwhelmed. After designing the dining room, bar and solarium, she had so many ideas she realized she needed help in bringing them together. Talking with friends and scouring social media accounts, the wife found Jessie D. Miller Design and contacted the award-winning designer.
Jessie immediately began helping the wife organize her ideas, particularly the layout of the living room. “She’d purchased two teal, curved sofas, mirrors of each other,” Jessie says of the wife. “And while she was completely fine with starting over in the living room, the investment of those pieces wasn’t something she wanted to forego.” Although beautiful, the pieces weren’t compatible with the shape and size of the room, Jessie thought.
“I identified areas where those sofas could live much more comfortably and be enjoyed so much more within the main floor,” Jessie explains. One found a home in the window area of the dining room, a vast space even with a large dining table. The other sofa provides a conversation spot in the bar area adjacent to the living room.
To design the living room, Jessie started with the layout. “They like to entertain, so circulation and traffic flow is something I’m very mindful of,” says Jessie. “And for this family, we did a lot of mobile seating like little stools or benches that you can pull up and then put back in place.”
Jessie was also tasked with furnishing the foyer, sourcing the furniture while the wife selected the art pieces. “What a treat to be able to decorate something that’s already architecturally interesting,” says Jessie. “The foyer is so fabulous with that original molding.” For such a large space with low ceilings, she felt there wasn’t an opportunity to enhance the ceiling with a wallpaper application or dramatic chandelier that would visually lower the ceiling even more. “Instead, I thought a fabulous piece of furniture would work best, and I love a round center table in an entry,” the designer explains. Sculptural stools can double as little side tables. The teal hue adds a shot of color to the calming palette and provides a connection to the teal used throughout the dining room.
With the help of skilled artisans, designers and craftspeople, the couple wove a tapestry of colorful creativity and comfort to project their personalities and tastes on the home’s blank canvas. “In our home, creativity and comfort intertwine, creating a legacy for our family and a haven for the soul,” says the wife.
Resources:
Builder/Remodeler: Next Project Studio/Dana King (3rd floor rec room)
Cabinetry: Grimm Woodworking Co.
Rugs: CB2, ZGallery
Closet: St. Louis Closet Company
Interior furniture: Anthropologie, CB2, Homary, Hickory Chair
Interior design: Jessie D. Miller, Dana King
Floral design: Lucy Willis
Lighting: RH, Wayfair, West Elm, Arhaus
Landscape design: Sundown Landscaping
Pool: Suntan Pools
Water feature: Suntan Pools
Outdoor furniture: CB2 chairs and ottomans, Amini's, William-Sonoma
