The subsequent time you stroll by way of a pal’s house, do a fast visible sweep. Is it monochromatic, accomplished in various shades of beige, white, or blue? Houston-based inside designer Lucinda Loya believes that after you’re conscious, you’ll discover the ubiquity of uniformity. “You’ll begin to see that plenty of initiatives lack distinction,” the decorator insists. “So I at all times put some black and a few white in each room to supply a visible level of reference—from no coloration to absolute coloration. I name it the ‘equilibrium of interiors.’”
For a profitable Houston tech government and a jewellery designer, plus their three youngsters, Loya took that continuum of coloration to the intense. Anchoring each room in black and white—maybe a curtain, a trim, or a tile sample—the designer then layered on patterns and wealthy hues that stay heat and dense with out overpowering any area. “Every part that went in had one thing of curiosity, just like the irregular form of the rug in the lounge or the decoupage lamps by Houston artist Liz Marsh,” she says.
“Once you stroll into the home, you see the eating room and the lounge, in order that they wanted to speak to at least one one other,” says Loya. She added a mirror to the moist bar to make the room seem extra spacious (“I really like mirrors. I feel they’re miracle staff!”), a geometrical rug by Carol Piper as a nod to the lounge, and silk customized drapes from Brentano and Designers Guild. The recessed ceiling is papered in a black leather-look Elitis wall protecting to provide the room extra texture and depth.
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Guests coming into the red-brick house within the Memorial space of Houston received’t be shocked by the structure: Conventional Colonial with a lounge to at least one aspect, the eating room to the opposite, and the kitchen and household room on the again. What they don’t count on is the drama. The house, designed for 5 people and three cats, is an train in imaginative reconfigurations of standard areas. The staircase main upstairs to the bed room wraps round a chandelier that Loya painted black, for instance; the lounge hearth is clad in book-matched marble that resembles an animal cover (or an alien insect, relying in your mindset). Each area is welcoming and practical to go well with the household’s way of life, but elevated with small options that attraction to a discerning eye eager for some new approaches to decor.
“I’m an ‘consideration to element’ individual, so each sew, each edge issues to me—and it mattered to this shopper,” explains Loya. “They gave me the chance to essentially go for it.” In the long run, says the designer, the black and white with which she anchors each room amplifies the design selections that solely a assured shopper (and decorator) may make. Monotony? You received’t discover it right here.
“I prefer to have every little thing subtly work collectively, so there’s continuity, however no themes,” says Loya. “If I’ve one coloration in a room, I’m going to convey it into the subsequent room, whether or not it’s a trim on a pillow or a lacquered wall. I consider continuity retains a house feeling safe and heat.” The house workplace, which one enters from the lounge by way of French doorways, has coffered ceilings lined in Holland & Sherry wallpaper and Roman shades by Jim Thompson that Loya trimmed with gold-toned taffeta to mirror the metals of the adjoining lounge. (The Antelope AX rug by Stark Carpet that she enhanced with a gold-bound sew additionally enhances the gold accents seen all through the house.) The desk by Excessive Style Dwelling and chair from Design Inside Attain are consistent with the retro lighting fixture, which the proprietor discovered at a flea market. “It’s a classic working room gentle that we polished and stuck up,” Loya confides.
