It hasn't been that long ago that I Maggie and I had our first meeting with Ashley Seshul. Hickory girl with the cutest house on a beautiful corner lot. We loved the meandering yard with it's paths and walkways, water feature and patio. The interior wandered as well which I loved. I am a big fan of older houses with smaller, cozy rooms and this house had all of that. Ashley needed help with her basement. I would like to call it first floor, because it's not your typical basement. This space walks out to a gorgeous patio and yard. The entertaining hub of this house. The Seshul's created a floor plan for gathering, TV watching, sitting by the fire with a nice glass of wine and overall just hanging out. It has a beautiful, small kitchen as well. We joked with Ashley about just moving down there and never coming up.
This space needed a little coordinated style though, and Derby weekend was our deadline. We decided to work with her large stone fireplace, stained concrete floors and existing chocolate brown sofa as oppose to changing any of that out. It allowed a bigger budget for fabrics, wall papers, accessories and new key pieces of special furniture. I love that she was game more than one wall paper. With several different zones, we could do that as long as they all related to each other. Take a look at all the patterns, textures and materials we chose to incorporate.
The stone fireplace was never a big favorite of Ashley's but I embraced it in this design, by neutralizing all the walls, trim and doors around it. We painted everything a light grey, yet chose to change the white built in in wine cabinet a deep teal, so it seemed more like a unique piece rather than it matching all the kitchen cabinets opposite it. Maggie found this one special fabric for two new fireplace ottomans which pulled everything together !
The fabrics each had different textures, but also all related.
This space now is much more coordinated, with zones for different "activities." Art played a major roll in the space as well. We pulled all our colors from the one piece she had over the sofa, yet we added four additional pieces, three of which Keith created for me !
I really aimed to mix up the furniture in this eclectic space. I found these amazing chairs and table base at Slate Interiors here in Charlotte. I had the chairs recovered in a dark teal croc and the table top was created for me by Chris Havey - he's so good.
The table and chairs were a much better size and feel from the previous square she had which was just too large for the space. We dropped three pendant lights over the space and added a large art piece. Painting the storage room door the same as the wall simply made it "go away" as oppose to the bright what trim color it was that just made that corner too visually busy.
I love the wine cabinet now. Rather that typical white, it's now a dark teal, much more interesting !
Her existing brown barrel chairs now sit on a new grey hide with a vintage chrome accent table I was hoarding, but gave up for Ashley, as I loved her so much.
Creating two new pieces of art was in the plan as well. Keith used mixed media for these two pieces. Silver leaf, wax and even packing tape ! Love the large scale and simple, modern abstract lines !
art by keith keim
We had fun in the back hallway, mixing a horizontal stripe down the hall and a vertical stripe in the bath !
Another piece I was hoarding, but it was perfect for the space. The mint lucite frame was the exact color in the ottoman fabric so I let it go as well. Luckily I'm married to the artist and have ordered myself another !
art by keith keim
art by keith keim
This entire space opens up to a patio to die for. I am sure this coming Derby Day, their guests will wander around and enjoy a day with the Seshuls !
all photos by mekenzie france
It was such fun Ashley, and looking forward to heading upstairs for a tweak or two.
Stay tuned.
