Room of the Day: As Comfy As a Favorite Pair of Jeans
http://www.decor-ideas.org 03/24/2014 22:24 Decor Ideas
Having worked on a number of movie sets over the years (My Cousin Vinny and The Legend of Bagger Vance, to name two), designer Julia Starr Sanford knows something about mastering the art of illusion.
That’s what she’s done with the family room of her Amelia Island, Florida, home. Bleached and sun drenched, like linens left on the clothesline too long, the interior marries farmhouse informality with a dollop of coastal cool for a soft, timeworn look that invites instant relaxation.
“Everyone loves that room,” Sanford says. “It’s like your favorite pair of faded blue jeans.”
Photography by Wally Sears
An architect, an interior designer, a scenic artist and the owner of Pearl Home in Jacksonville, Sanford bought the 1860s sea captain’s house a decade ago. Like many homes of the period, this one had a detached kitchen to prevent house fires. Sometime in the early 20th century, she figures, a room was built to join the two structures; that’s the current family room.
She removed fake wood paneling and plasterboard from the walls, revealing tongue and groove pine covered with primer. She stripped off the paint, then applied a diluted gray stain she calls a denim wash; she learned this technique for instilling instant age on a movie set.
The room was very dark and had a flat ceiling, so Sanford worked with contractor Rod Armanino to open the interior to the roofline, adding collar ties for stability. Then she inserted four skylights, flooding the room with brilliant light.
She kept the 10-foot ceiling in the old kitchen (now an office), but used the space above for a sleeping loft, accessed by a custom ladder. “It’s really great sleeping under the skylights,” she says.
Sanford’s boyfriend, Wally Sears, contributed the surfboard, a vintage, hand-shaped wooden Velzy that looms over the room like some wave-riding deity.
She replaced the linoleum floors with tongue and groove pine, which she sandblasted to raise the grain and instill a sense of age. Instead of going for contrast, she placed a solid gray cowhide on top so the surface looks continuous. “It feels a lot like a cocoon when you’re in there,” she says.
The mother of a teenage son, Noah, Sanford is used to being bombarded with kids, so she chose downy-soft seating topped with a white linen slipcover, “so we can wash it easily,” she says. “I’ll toss a soft throw over it when there’s a bunch of kids in there.”
She likes using old camp stools in lieu of a coffee table, so no one has to hesitate about putting their feet up.
Sofa, chairs, cowhide, block side table: Pearl Home
The wood at the bottom of the walls was in rougher shape, so Sanford salvaged some to patch the upper walls, then replaced the rest with tongue and groove wainscoting treated to a denim wash.
A portrait of her late mother, by Stan Topol, hangs on the wall.
Lamp: West Elm
Sanford covered the window with a vintage Venetian blind. “It fit with the feeling of the room,” she says. The haunting, sepia-toned horse photos were a gift from the artist, Thomas Hager, who probably appreciated the way their serenity and Old West aesthetic complemented the room.
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