hous su17
by Beth S. Buxbaum
In soft, soothing tones of gray and cream, the first floor interior of this traditional center hall Colonial was recently refreshed and reinvented by Donna Hoffman, of Interiors by Donna Hoffman. After living in their home for 10 years, her clients were interested in a fresh look. Not too drastic, no bulldozing or gutting, but a complete facelift was in order.
This semi-custom home, on a large lot in Titusville, was built to the specifications of the owners. Ten years later, they were looking for a change. After working with another designer, they were disappointed because they felt the designer did not give them what they wanted. Donna was commissioned to redo the interior of their first floor. “They saw my portfolio, were impressed with my work and felt we were a good fit,” Donna explains.
Redefining and accenting the living space with elements the owners both enjoyed and embraced was paramount to Donna’s plan. Her approach to identifying their individual design preferences is multi-leveled. First, there is the initial interview to get a feel for their likes and dislikes. “I actually have a questionnaire to start the process,” she adds, “and in conversations I listen to what they want to identify and understand their cravings.” She asks them to clip pictures of spaces they enjoy and find attractive. Donna explains that she could clearly see themes in the images they presented. Understanding her client’s design fingerprint is essential to any interior design. “The design fingerprint is how one relates to the elements of design; including the shape, color, pattern, texture, space, placement, light and shadow.” Once she has established their finger print, Donna creates presentation boards to delineate their options. “Most clients are overwhelmed with too many choices,” Donna continues, “so this process is an efficient and enjoyable way of narrowing down their options.” One other part of the process is to ask about the budget. “The scope of work is commensurate with their budget,” she adds, “so it is essential to establish those parameters before beginning any project.”
Donna’s talent is blending their tastes, preferences and design requests. “I create interiors that fit a client like a glove,” Donna remarks. Weaving in the wife’s love of the color red and the husband’s appreciation for linear, clear simple lines, was the challenge. To satisfy those preferences, Donna started with the use of muted tones of gray and cream as the dominant tones in wall colors, fabric and window treatments. With this neutral, soothing palette Donna was able to accent and embellish the living spaces. She enhanced each room’s decor with selected elements from her client’s wish lists. Her vision was to create a relaxed, yet sophisticated tone. Donna explains that the interior she created has a fairly tailored, but comfortable presence, with an approachable elegance.
With a sizable square footage and an airy footprint, the home had a lot of redesign potential. Donna was commissioned for a complete redo of the living room, dining room, family room and kitchen. To start all the wood floors were re-stained. Next the walls were given fresh coats of paint with soft muted tones of gray and cream. Donna chose this color palette to create a flow from room-to-room. “These colors maximize the sense of spaciousness in the home,” she continues, “because when you cut up the color palette you shrink the square footage of the house tremendously.” Donna explains how she works with ratios of the color palette to introduce accent colors in one room that may become the predominant color in another.
Her goal throughout was to honor the requests of each client’s preferences. For the wife, who wanted some graphic patterns and loved splashes of color, Donna used the color and patterns in the pillow accents, rugs, wall art and window treatments. To satisfy the husband’s appreciation for subtle, linear accents, Donna applied simple repetitive, yet tailored, patterning in the window treatments and rugs. A creative touch was repeating just a pattern in a rug, furniture fabric or pillow, establishing a tone-on-tone finish. One way to add the accents is to embellish the existing furniture. Donna applied most of accent colors and patterning to those pieces. For other accents, she was able to weave accent colors and patterns into the newer furniture pieces and room accents, like the draperies and accent rugs. “All these elements, along with honoring the architectural cues, can create a pleasing rhythm in a room,” she notes.
Donna refreshed the center hall in an elegant, understated palette. As the opening statement of this home, Donna maintained a tone of sophistication. Done in muted gray tones, the center hall was redone with subtle, sophisticated touches. The floors were re-stained and the staircase was disassembled and recreated with new spindles, banister and balustrade. Complimenting the existing table that holds the family Bible, are two added pieces flanking each side of the entry. On the right wall is a mid-century modern chest, with a wrapped white faux leather front, that sits below a folk art painting by the homeowner. On the opposite wall she added a custom bench. “This piece needed to be much smaller than a traditional bench,” Donna adds. Sitting above the bench is an oversized mirror with a black lacquer frame for a touch of drama. Accenting the center of the hall is a 19th century classic English table with rosewood inlays, for an added touch of elegance. To finish the space, Donna placed orange pillows on the bench for a splash of color and added a custom carpet runner to the staircase and a hand carved rug at the entranceway.
From this dramatic and spacious entry, the first floor is revealed. Behind the staircase, the dining room sits to the left and the family room is on the right. An important factor for Donna to consider was that this house is a popular gathering and entertaining spot. “They love to entertain, from small to large crowds,” explains Donna, “and when this family entertains, the crowd grows quickly.” For example, in the family room/media room her top priority was to maximize seating for watching the game. This room was her greatest challenge because of the architectural element of two diagonally positioned walls. “This room was deceptively long and narrow,” Donna continues, “so my goal was to make the room look larger and also house the many family photos.” Her solution was a controlled color palette in gray and sand.
“I added strategic pops of red to keep the space vibrant,” she adds. To work with the diagonal wall element and find a suitable way to display all the family photos, Donna created twin custom family photo walls on each side of the atrium-styled staircase landing. They re-colored the family photos and reframed them in black with a variety of black and white mats. Other alterations included resizing a custom David Iatesta light fixture to better fit the space. The flat screen TV was built into the base of the staircase landing. Donna added a sleek custom TV cabinet that floats just beneath the TV. To finish this space, Donna explains how she added custom draperies with gray banding to lift and move the eye through the room.
A departure from the muted tones is evident in the redesigned kitchen. Now a sea of white with splashes of red, the cabinets were removed and repainted white. All the granite counter tops were maintained. A new center island was custom built to replace a smaller island and create a better use of the space. The new center island was built for a new cook top stove, add enhanced storage and enclose a trash receptacle. Another addition was a custom cabinet to accommodate the new subzero refrigerator. “For eye candy, we added new gray and cream window coverings and some restrained bling in the new light fixtures,” Donna explains. To add a classic note, a honed stone basket weave backsplash updated the space. A new custom table and chairs brought this kitchen into its sleek new form. “We did this without a total rip-out kitchen renovation,” she adds, “everything old is new again.”
Repurposing pieces in the dining room was accomplished with strategic placements of color and accent pieces. “The home owners wanted to reinvent their traditional dining room furnishings and lighting,” describes Donna. Her solution was to add splashes of color, eye-catching fabrics on a few new pieces and new drapery to transform the space. Two large white columns frame the entry into this room. Illuminating this space is a crystal chandelier and wall sconces. To enhance and compliment the dining room setting and furnishings, a few new elements were added. Along the right wall, custom red cabinetry serving stations were designed, flanking each side of the entrance to the kitchen. In a bright cherry red, to pop against the soft French vanilla walls, these cabinets were designed with framed-out, mirrored backs to add depth to the space. To update and embellish the late 19th century English mahogany dining set, Donna added new custom lead chairs in a large scale fabric from Kravet. On each side of the china cabinet she placed two custom Charles Stewart chairs, in gray, with added oversized button detail for extra pop. Pulling this space together are custom silk draperies with dressmaker button detailing on the header. Blending the old and new to enliven the room was the ultimate goal in the dining room. Donna and her clients were pleased with the results.
A simpler challenge was ahead in the living room. The only furniture there was a lonely ebony piano. Donna had a clean slate to work with in this room. For the entrance, she added two white columns from a salvage yard. Donna chose to maintain the sophisticated palette of grays and cream with splashes of red. She describes how the room’s inspiration started with the graphic red and cream fabric that the owner just loved. “First we were thinking of using the fabrics on throw pillows,” Donna adds, “but then we went bold and used it for the drapes, the eye candy of the room.” Filled with a mix of ’30s, ’40s and ’50s traditional and transitional furnishings including the Hollywood glam sofa and barrel chairs, this room presents with a calm, subtle tone. Pops of red are in the pillows and a modern graphic art piece. “I added a custom tufted tone-on-tone cream rug done in the same pattern as the window fabric, just oversized for some punch,” she continues. All the design elements were pulled together with a gallery wall vignette above the sofa of the homeowner’s favorite Bible verses finished in black lacquer frames.
With her eye for design elements and skillful use of color, Donna refreshed and connected the first floor space. An added project for her to tackle was transforming the basement into a home gym. This space was an unfinished section of the basement that was oddly cut up by load-bearing columns with a “faux” a tray ceiling. “I used a splashy teal accent color, added abstract artwork and detailing along the back wall to make this gym feel luxurious.” In addition, Donna added rubber flooring to keep the space functional and mirrors to augment the sense of spaciousness.
Now that this facelift project was completed, Donna was commissioned to refresh the in-law suite where the homeowner’s mother resides. As she describes, the mother-in-law wanted to redo her living space with bright colors. Her colors of choice were a bold raspberry and red. This in-law suite took first place in the ASID Design award. As described by Donna, the suite redesign was elegant and vibrant with its signature and enticing color palette. “The space is young and fresh with raspberry splashes to indulge the mother in-laws love of color and add a fresh pop,” says Donna. With high ceilings and walls of windows, this suite consisted of a living room and dining room space, a bedroom alcove and a bathroom. Donna describes how, with limited space, they filled the suite with several double-duty pieces. The custom raspberry cabinetry was positioned in one corner to conceal a mini-fridge, pantry, printer and microwave. A white cabinet along another wall functions as a walk-in closet for clothing and shoe storage, as well as a home for a hat collection. Furnished with a mix of color, seating ensembles range from red chairs in the dining area, to raspberry chairs in the living room area. To tie all the color tones together, Donna added tall drapery panels to leverage the vaulted ceiling and create an excellent rhythm in the space. “By owner request, the bedroom alcove is a burst of color, with a raspberry accent wall, custom privacy screen and custom red and raspberry bench and upholstered headboard,” Donna describes.
In the bathroom redesign, there were limited options without gutting. In all white tile, bringing in accent colors and new patterns was the route taken. During an excursion to Joann Hudson tile showroom, Donna speaks about how the mother-in-law admired only one tile in the entire extensive Philadelphia showroom. “It was a too-large glass tulip tile in the wrong color,” she describes. “We reduced its size to act as a border, re-colored it to work with her color scheme and the entire bath sprung up from that one tulip.” She applied a red floor-tile border as a sightline safety detail that looks more like a rich design element. Finishing touch was the red Murano glass light fixture. An orchestrated re-design to suit the fancy and function of the space and the aging mother-in-law was complete. Donna created a design for an aging in place resident while satisfying her passion for color and style.
As Donna completed the first floor facelift she reflects on the process. What is most important to her is capturing the essence of the homeowner’s vision, wants and needs. “The interiors that I create not only speak to the owner’s tastes and lifestyle, they are evergreen. I design interiors that people do not outgrow or get tired of and love living in for years.”
Beth S. Buxbaum is a freelance writer from the Philadelphia area.