SIMPLY SERENE(2)

"For this blue-eyed blonde who prefers the beach to just about anything and any place, I developed a palette from an existing tapestry pillow with different blues, teals, and turquoises," explains Williams. The designer had more evidence than the threads of a single pillow, though, to convince her she wasn't randomly spinning the color wheel. "I noticed Kathryn's choice of clothing. She was always wearing things like faded jeans with a gorgeous blue cashmere sweater."

Blues abound in the design, many in the form of family art. "All of the pottery was designed by the triplets to go with our new decor," says Kathryn proudly. She finds the refreshed palette "relaxed and cheerful. The whites and creams are very relaxing, while the blues, yellows, and oranges lift my spirits."

In addition to reflecting her passion for clear sea colors, the decorating styles are trimmed down to suit Kathryn's petite frame. No more bulky sofa in the living room. The new de rigueur seating is a delicately proportioned 18th-century Gustavian settee. (Gustavian refers to Swedish furniture designed in the late-18th-century court style. An admirer of the fine furniture of his contemporary, Louis XVI, Sweden's King Gustav III commissioned pieces in the Louis XVI style, which the Swedish cabinetmakers greatly simplified.) "I fell in love with Swedish furniture because of its light color and classic design," Kathryn notes. She already owned the neoclassical side chairs, but they were in terrible shape. Re-covered in sexy turquoise leather and glitzed up with fresh silver gilt, they now exude envelope-pushing attitude.

Kathryn's favorite Swede is the family room's apothecary cabinet, but she also enjoys its kissing cousins-painted French and Italian antiques in similar scale and shape. A 19th-century French armoire and floor lamp contribute to the living room's multilingual conversation. "The Italian enfilade in the dining room has the same soft blues and yellows as the apothecary," Kathryn points out, and her early-19th-century painted Italian dining chairs display Louis XV flair. "The design reflects Kathryn: petite, sophisticated, sexy. And fun," says Williams.