It was a stupendous clean slate,” remembers Mary Douglas Drysdale, describing the austere inside of a modernist residence in Ashburn, Virginia, earlier than beginning work. With 10-foot ceilings and expanses of glass celebrating a picturesque panorama, the areas held promise. “However there was an vacancy in the home,” the designer continues, “and it did not replicate the hospitable and beneficiant spirit of the house owners.” Over the following two years, she curated a set of furnishings, fittings, arts and crafts to assist attain the house’s full potential.
Drysdale’s purchasers – he’s a CEO and she or he is a retired businessman – purchased the property model new in 2015. The girl acknowledges her Dutch heritage and says she was drawn to the “clear, modern and trendy European” mannequin that was conceived by the Netherlands-based Studio Piet Boon and developed by Okay. Hovnanian Houses. Their property borders protected woodland in Willowsford, a farm-to-table group or agriculture.
On the time, the couple had just lately married (a second marriage for every) and mixed households. Their blended furnishings and naked partitions left quite a bit to be desired. “Our area lacked character and did not really feel nicely used, and our furnishings wasn’t of the best scale or actually applicable for the home,” the lady says. “We needed an inside that may synergize with the design of the home itself and combine into each room.”
They known as in Drysdale after the lady seen her expertise at a showhouse in 2020. Early on, the designer determined to maintain the home’s black-painted door and window frames. “I began with the query, ‘What do we have now right here, what can we work with,'” she remembers. “The black trim was a place to begin for me.”
Utilizing that body, she remodeled the wall of the hearth in the lounge. The tv was once mounted above the linear firebox, the place it stood out sharply towards an expanse of whitewashed drywall. Drysdale clad the realm in dark-stained sawn oak and recessed the TV into it, creating an elegant, built-in look. “I take into consideration creating helpful magnificence,” reveals the design doyenne. “That wall is so dramatic now and grounds every thing.”
Drysdale then designed furnishings and ornamental plans with the purpose of making a “tender, trendy” aesthetic all through. She purchased transitional type furnishings and conjured up a number of customized items, together with a eating desk, for the mission. Ethereal glass lighting curves to the panorama exterior. The breakfast room and the kitchen, which connect with the lounge on the rear of the home, are examples of this.
A cohesive palette of black and white predominates. “I like that there are relationships between the rooms,” says the designer. “As you undergo these areas, you are still linked.”
That straightforward scheme permits the creativity of numerous artists and craftsmen to shine. And it ties in properly with the lady’s affinity for components that specific a tribal high quality. Take the eating room, for instance, the place a graphic rug woven in Afghanistan lays the muse. Black and white pottery by Oregon-based ceramist Sam Scott adorns the tabletop. Drysdale notes, “The primitive, the handmade are a robust subtext within the story instructed right here.”
Daring art work additionally delivers a convincing message; it was a part of the plan from the beginning. “As I explored the house, I instantly sensed that colourful trendy artwork on a big scale would deliver super curiosity and pleasure to the expertise of every room and the view from room to room,” says the designer. A visit together with her purchasers to Hemphill Artworks in Washington yielded the primary three items in what’s now a nice treasure trove.
These choices obtained outstanding placements. A portray by DC artist Steven Cushner dominates the huge hallway that connects the back and front of the home. An summary work by the late Jacob Kainen provides spice to the eating room and gives the spouse an inspiring view of the lobby from her workplace. Likewise, dinner visitors take pleasure in a transparent view of the colourful multimedia creation of one other native artist, Julie Wolfe, positioned behind the desk.
Later additions embody images by Anna Beeke and John Cole, which animate the main bedroom on the bottom ground. “I really feel like one in all a home’s nice obligations is to shock and interact the viewer,” Drysdale gives. “All over the place you flip or sit or stare, there’s something attention-grabbing to see on this home. It’s a dwelling museum, a stimulating however not overly stimulating visible expertise that’s comfy.”
The well-appointed areas usually are not solely pleasing to the attention, in addition they assist the couple’s relaxed but social life-style. For instance, the central corridor is not only a utilitarian passageway; it now features as “one other good room the place they take pleasure in themselves,” says Drysdale. “They use their residence in a greater and extra full method.”
The girl agrees and shares that the lined porch subsequent to the lounge has additionally grow to be a vacation spot. “This space was only a transition to the yard. With Mary’s redesign, the area is now used for intimate dinners with mates, as a gathering place for giant teams, or simply for a cool drink on a scorching summer season afternoon.”
Inside Design: Mary Douglas Drysdale, Drysdale Design Associates, Washington, DC.
