The power of refreshing finishes - Larchmont Project Before & Afters

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This home was stunning from the start, the previous and original owner had decorated it with wonderful chinoiserie, lacquered wood, and faux bamboo. To bring it up to date and make it feel like home to a young and growing family that was eager to move in, we focused on: paint, wallpaper, refinished wood floors, updated lighting (my favorite part of this project!), countertops, backsplashes, sinks, faucets, and new toilets. Not to be overlooked are also key details like new doorknobs, light switches, dimmers, and outlet covers.

We wrapped this project during the height of 2020 COVID, so I masked up and tiptoed around the family of 5+ to capture basic cell-phone snaps of the updates that were made, before the kiddos woke from their naps. While informal and unstyled, I thought these photos were a good lesson in just how effective more "minor" updates and finishing touches can be in curating a home's overall aesthetic.

Foyer & Upstairs Landing

Throughout the house, we refinished the floors to highlight the natural beauty of the wood. In the foyer and upstairs landing, we brought focus to the handrail, doorways, and upstairs molding with a bold black from Benjamin Moore appropriately named Onyx. We carried a cohesive white throughout the house on any walls that were not designated to be a color or wallpaper. My go-to white is Benjamin Moores Distant Gray, despite its name it is a lovely cool tone white that plays well with both warm and cool tone decore. Hung a classic bistro style globe chandelier that throws a good amount of light when needed and round natural brass wall sconces by Peter Bristol for beautiful accent lighting downstairs and sculptural Nellcote Studio wall sconces upstairs.

Main Bedroom

In the main bedroom, we eliminated the chunky molding to draw the eye up making it airy and less formal. Removed the wall-to-wall carpeting and added a cozy Moroccan style wool rug. For the window treatments, we added a continuous track to unite the three small windows on a rather long wall. Making sure the lighting from the upstairs landing and foyer all spoke to each other we selected this wonderful 12 light chandelier, by Nellcote Studio. These decisions made for a great foundation to layer upon.

Dining Room

The dining room had wonderful wainscotting millwork that we wanted to highlight but bring the overall look into a more modern vibe. We choose to go with a dramatic and moody blue gray scale using the darker tone on the wainscotting and trim. The dining room was decorated for a kid's birthday when I was there, so I do not have any overall photos of this space finished. I have included some fun in-progress shots to showcase its process. Again the lighting in this room needed to continue the conversation throughout the house. The client had her heart set on a globe branch light before she even purchased the home. So I made sure that was the first thing we purchased for the entire project. To add a little sophistication to this room's lighting compilation I added two alabaster wall sconces and a bronze and brass art light to illuminate a James Nares piece (not pictured).

Powder Room

I loved the powder rooms original look, I mean it was monkey themed! How could this wonderful little room not make you smile? But it was extremely specific. To better fit the cool fashion-forward client we went big by using Graffito wallpaper by Kelly Wearstler. Here we kept the fabulous black marble floors and replaced the black toilet with another colored throne, Kohlers cashmere color was even better in person than expected. I am in love with this toilet and hope to use it again on another project. My client had her heart set on the bathroom vanity that she found at Pottery Barn and we selected a brass faucet from RH to give it some upscale bling. The uber-modern Tom Dixon globe light is one of my favorites and really gives this room a little unique spin.

A quirky little addition

I found this primitive stool while out antiquing and fell in love with the primitive hand-carved details. This little stool showed a lot of age and wear. I stripped the top cushion added some supports to the corners and gave it a good cleaning without taking off all the character of the natural patina. Gave it a new cushion and brushstroke fabric with brass nail heads to finish it off. It felt perfect for a place to set your bag while visiting the powder room.

Den

This room was originally used as a formal office/library. For this actively growing family, they wanted to use this space as a tv room. We took out a built-in desk and continued the wainscotting on the new open wall and reconfigured the center of the bookshelves to house their tv. Ripped up the wall-to-wall carpeting and gave it a lovely fresh paint job. This client enjoyed western design but also appreciated and was drawn to Hollywood regency glam. I wanted this space to be much more casual for their kids to have a little freedom from dodging precious items so I let those western existing pieces from their previous home find a new purpose in this space. We selected an oversized globe light to fill the vaulted ceiling.

Kitchen

The kitchen was beautiful but dated, Designed by coveted Christopher Peacock. We kept the high-quality cabinetry and layout as-is and painted it a lovely mid-tone gray by Benjamin More called Gray Horse. Because they had little ones but loved the look of marble we choose a performance quality quartz and had custom Calacatta marble tiles made for the backsplash. We chose unlacquered brass faucets for an extra luxurious and custom look that's not too fussy to go with the porcelain sinks.

Butler's Pantry

I always get a little extra excited when I get to do a butler's pantry. I mean this is the headquarters for a cocktail party. My favorite party to throw! This room got a fresh paint job to the cabinets to continue the kitchen color into the pantry as well as the quartz countertops and on the backsplash. We got a wonderful small hammered brass sink from Morocco and used the same RH faucet as in the powder room to keep a cohesive connection to the bathroom guests would use when visiting. I was thrilled to get to add this wallpaper by Drop it Modern that had a continuous brushstroke that carries your eye around the room. The last item we installed was this entangled chandelier.