Homeowners may not realize how much a sojourn at the Four Seasons can teach them about decorating a spare room. Jacksonville, Fla.-based interior designer Phoebe Howard, though, knew to heed the lessons of luxury hotels when she set up a guest room for a couple in Madison, Ga. This Wall Street Journal article from Kelly Marages provides the details.
The farmhouse cottage, featured in her book “Mrs. Howard, Room by Room,” comprises just three chambers – one living space and two bedrooms – so the guest room had to be as hospitable to a couple and their children as to a septuagenarian uncle and his terrier. Much like a hotel room, this called for two queen beds and a décor that chafes neither masculine nor feminine sensibilities.
Mrs. Howard executed these practicalities without sacrificing the old-fashioned Southern charm one expects from a farm property. Rather than evoking an airport hotel, the room stirs a faint memory, albeit a naive one, of a genteel era when couples kept separate beds.
Here, how Mrs. Howard transformed a rustic space into an oasis of updated coziness. (See the photos of the actual room in the accompanying article.)
Manage the sun. So that early-morning light never disturbs a weekend chill seeker, the easy-to-operate custom bamboo shade includes blackout lining.
Strike a balance. A pair of the clients’ 19th-century Black Forest Anamalier-style carved-wood lamps serve the room’s soothing symmetry. At night, their glow illuminates both beds’ pillows.
Let there be white. Mrs. Howard brightened the room by painting the unfinished horizontal shiplap a flat white and whitewashing ceiling boards. The reclaimed-pine ceiling joist and lower-wall panel add rugged beauty.
Warm the floor. Besides having inspired the room’s russet accents, the clients’ Persian flat-weave rug saves toes from traversing bare heart-pine floorboards. An Indian-inspired, artisan woven rug will do the same, its pattern also camouflaging dirt tracked in by visiting hikers and puppies alike.
Unite and conquer. Because a side table for each of the queen-size beds would hog precious floor space, guests share the clients’ French country walnut writing desk, from the mid-19th century. A slim hardwood table with high-quality walnut veneer can similarly conserve turf and service two bedsides.
