Room of the Day: Elegant Transitional Style in a Traditional Setting
You’ll find lots of traditional architecture in New England, says Boston interior designer Leslie Fine. But that doesn’t mean you have to decorate in a traditional manner.
She put that theory to the test in a brownstone in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Although the building dates from the 19th century, Fine’s clients — a couple with three young children — wanted a more transitional look that would respect the architecture’s history but be light, bright and, most important, very family friendly.
Given the 12-foot ceilings and equally statuesque windows of this living room, Fine knew the draperies should take center stage. And when she discovered a sublimely supple silk and polyester sheer from Romo, she knew she’d found the star of her show.
Photography by Michael J. Lee
The aqua fabric was so delectable, Fine didn’t want to distract from it by introducing any other colors. “Using layers of the cream and the blue really worked beautifully and really made the blue stand out,” says the designer, who kept pattern to a minimum so her star wouldn’t be upstaged.
Echoes of the aqua speckle the carpet and are repeated in the benches and the throw pillows adorning the sofa, which was covered in a child-resistant indoor-outdoor fabric from Holly Hunt.
To brighten the space, Fine placed a creamy oversize ottoman in the center of the room, covered with a faux leather from Robert Allen. The piece doubles for both seating and serving. “It’s really stylish,” Fine says, “but you can wipe it with a sponge.”
Sofa: Dakota Jackson; painting: Michael Mazur; ottoman: A. Rudin
“I wanted to make the drapes substantial, so they respected the importance of the tall windows and the tall ceiling,” Fine says. “Normally, I would just do dead-hung drapery panels, but I wanted to do something that really made a statement.”
She and her client came up with this basket-weave treatment, which Fine’s drapery workroom painstakingly executed. The sheers are lined to block light and to give the curtains more substance. The crystal finials at the ends of the rods seem like fitting punctuations.
Wall paint: Seaspray, Benjamin Moore
The curtain color is echoed in the throw pillows and the subtle pattern adorning the slipper chairs. Since the room is used mostly for entertaining but isn’t especially big, Fine chose seating — like the slipper chairs — that is easily movable and doesn’t take up much space.
Chair: The Bright Group; chair fabric: Kravet; table: Arteriors; paintings: Paul Shakespear
Another space saver: these benches from Mattaliano, which can be moved around to follow the conversation in a party.
Although Fine avoided overt pattern in the room, it’s subtly present, in details such as the area rug, from Crescent Carpet.
The light fixture in the center of the ceiling is a custom piece crafted from polished nickel and embellished with 100 crystal rods. The design is a modified Greek key pattern.
Fixture: Wired Custom Lighting
Since there was already a large painting above the sofa and three more paintings between the windows, Fine put a mirror over the fireplace instead of a piece of art. The mirror, from Ballard Designs, echoes some of the motifs in the ceiling light and complements the crystal-wrapped sconces, adding a touch of twinkle.
Sconces: Wired Custom Lighting
