Frances Merrill likes a challenge. So when her clients, a couple with four children, purchased a three-bedroom, 1929 Tudor-style home in the Silicon Valley enclave of Woodside, California, that sorely needed an overhaul, she couldn't resist. For Merrill-the Los Angeles-based founder of Reath Design who is known for her predilection for vibrant colors and for mixing patterns-it helped that her clients' purchase had charming, redwood-beamed ceilings and an enchanting cedar shake roof, among other details, and wasn't one of the soulless, newly built McMansions endemic to the area.
"I love the idea that they bought something impractical that had an innate history because they found it more interesting," says Merrill. The family wanted a house with authentic character and quirks that reflected the joyful chaos of their family life. Merrill compares her work to cooking, and for a project that required lots of reconfigurations, she went about gathering the ingredients for a family-friendly recipe with an elegant, muted palette inspired by the lovingly tended garden left behind by the previous owners. Merrill set out to bring that magic inside: "The blues, watery greens, and pale purples of the garden felt fresh, especially with all the browns of the wood in the house."
Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin October 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin October 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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CURTAIN RAISER
ELLE DECOR partners with designers Christine and John Gachot to refresh an iconic lounge at a New York institution, the Metropolitan Opera House.
The Empire Strikes Back - A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Is it possible to simultaneously go back in time and leap forward? This was the challenge a couple set for themselves upon purchasing a salmon-pink 1869 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from Longfellow House, the National Historic Site that served as George Washington's headquarters during the revolution. We loved all the beautiful old details of this house, the homeowner says.
Just Like That, But Cheaper. -One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
It was all about the green curtains. In 2008, to my great surprise, I was offered a ninemonth fellowship based in New York City. I had lived there twice before, both times unsuccessfully, meaning I had failed to create any kind of significant social life, and so this was a chance not only to do research for my new novel, but also an opportunity to get things right. I swore I wouldn't let the city break me a third time.
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
