Jennifer Wagner Schmidt clothes a household’s new Bethesda dwelling in an ethereal, natural fashion
DReam jobs are available in all styles and sizes. For Jennifer Wagner Schmidt, the best inside design venture was a $3 million fashionable Bethesda residence, simply constructed and ready to be adorned, and a consumer in search of a contemporary begin.
“Every thing was over again,” Schmidt recollects. “The consumer’s solely caveat to me was ‘do your magic.’”
The three-story home of stucco, glass and brick has a dramatic presence on the half-acre nook lot. There are six bedrooms, 5 and a half baths, a multi-function recreation room on the decrease stage, and a rooftop deck. The lobby and master suite are double-height areas enhanced by floating staircases with glass balustrades.
Designed and constructed to Prime Options Group specs, the 7,000-square-foot dwelling was bought within the spring of 2021 by a New York-based CEO and his spouse, who’ve two younger youngsters. In search of assist deciding on furnishings and artwork for the principle stage and bedrooms, the house owners found the Ashburn, Virginia, designer behind JWS Interiors by way of social media.
“The husband acquired in contact,” explains Schmidt, whose Instagram follower quantity is within the six digits. Her on-line posts present a penchant for creamy textiles on gentle sofas, monumental marble espresso tables, sparse architectural lighting, and a contact of humanizing handicraft, whether or not it is a picket stool, a woven rush seat, or a coal-black ceramic bowl. It is the nice and cozy aspect of modernism, however completely trendy. Schmidt’s tasks show a penchant for artwork that stands out, together with a cheeky picture of Marilyn Monroe blowing an enormous bubble of pink bubble gum — although it is not revealed if her Miami consumer jumped for the $30,000 restricted version or the $15 replica poster .
The truth is, the designer’s success with the Bethesda venture rested equally on her potential to mix excessive and low parts. “I mixed excessive and medium finish with customized to create a totally customized look,” she says. “That approach I stayed inside funds.”
The Bethesda home had been put up on the market as a glamorous singles pad — not for a pair with two youngsters and a canine in tow. Schmidt, who has two teenage daughters, understood that the household would worth consolation over cool steel and glass. “I needed it to really feel naturally fashionable and comfy,” says the designer, who aimed to create clear, ethereal interiors that evoke a way of serenity. “I began with a white canvas so it might all circulation.”
She went for drama within the lobby. A glossy marble console of her personal design rests beneath a daring digital photograph collage by Australian artist Dina Broadhurst.
In the principle stage residing areas, the present envelope of white partitions and European white oak flooring is enlivened by strategically positioned home windows. Schmidt softened the floor-to-ceiling glass with easy linen panels over sheer curtains in the lounge. “The home will get nice gentle,” she says. “I needed to take pure daylight and play with the furnishings.” Nubby textile seems to be tactile and it’s: it’s professionally sprayed to stop staining.
Considerably, the designer outlined the first residing space not as formal residing and eating areas, however as a laid-back household room and eat-in kitchen. For optimum performance, the household room is organized into two dialog teams: one by the fireside, the opposite dealing with the alternative wall. In line with Schmidt’s extra relaxed idea, she scouted widespread retailers reminiscent of CB2, West Elm, and RH for informal but trendy furnishings; decisions have been guided by availability, usability and its particular aesthetic. She elevated the look with customized designs, together with a placing marble espresso desk, a chair that evokes a nomadic previous, and an outsized, upholstered ottoman. “I needed the home to be so naturally fashionable and comfy, actually only a clear, ethereal really feel,” she says.
To the left of the lobby is the person’s dwelling workplace. Schmidt wallpapered one wall with Kelly Wearstler’s Crescent, an outsized geometric sample in an ebony shade scheme. A portray by David Carlson hangs behind the desk; a second work by the Arlington artist and neighborhood activist was commissioned for the house owners’ bed room, furnished with a customized upholstered mattress and classic chairs. A loft accessed by a floating staircase in the main bedroom is ready up as a tranquil retreat and yoga studio. A sauna was added to an current rest room, which Schmidt designed in black marble. She additionally utilized her aesthetic in two youngsters’s rooms upstairs and a serene visitor room.
The house owners have been capable of transfer in after a remarkably quick 10-month ornament course of. “My purchasers have been very simple to work with,” says the designer. “This angle was, ‘Simply present me your designs; you’re the professional.’ It was a dream venture for me.”
