Bold Hues Infuse This Chattanooga Home With Personality
Walls coated in Benjamin Moore’s Exotic Lime lend a vibrant backdrop to the living room arrangement. Hickory Chair’s Shea swivel seats, upholstered in Clarence House velvet, rest near a Wildwood side table and a Thomas O’Brien acrylic-legged coffee table for Century Furniture.
In decorating, as in life, fear can sometimes hold us back—from making bold moves, from bucking the status quo, from pursuing what we truly love. Chattanooga resident Elizabeth Carriger was no exception to this notion. Although a career in public art administration had filled her days with the kaleidoscopic colors of large-scale art projects, she had been cautious about bringing all of that vibrance into her previous homes. “I always tend to have neutral walls and just let my art pop,” she says.
But when Elizabeth and her husband, Peter Erwin, turned to designer Ryan Kirk Kopet to help them renovate and decorate their newly purchased 1926 Colonial Revival house in the city’s coveted Ridgeside enclave, they nipped that habit in the bud.
“This couple seems reserved, but they’re not,” shares the designer, who quickly caught on to her clients’ capacity for richer color. One clue came from their meticulously organized file of design ideas, which included a daring, floral-on-black wallpaper inspired by Diana Vreeland’s flamboyant “Garden in Hell” living room. The term “twisted traditional,” which Elizabeth used to convey her vision for the abode, provided another tell. But final confirmation came from Elizabeth’s description of her wedding shoes, which she had dyed one of her favorite hues: a striking shade of chartreuse.
Home Details
Interior Design:
Ryan Kirk Kopet, Miles and Kirk Design
Home Builder:
Art Johnson, Mountain City Construction
Styling:
Ginny Branch
“I instantly knew what direction to go,” recounts Kopet, who then made a beeline for samples of similar citron-colored paints. She brushed several swatches on a living room wall, then chose the zestiest shade in a semigloss finish—“to liven it up, because it’s the darkest room in the home,” she adds.
In the dining room, Kopet removed the existing wainscoting to maximize space for a dramatic floral wallcovering her clients favored, then painted the remaining trim a deep burgundy shade. “Suddenly, we had this incredibly vibrant wallpaper right across the hall from chartreuse walls, and I’m wondering, ‘How do we build a bridge between the two?’ ” the designer recalls. The answer was to bring the intrepid shade into the dining room via the draperies. In this house, it actually “helped to keep adding color to make everything feel more serene.”
Visual Comfort & Co.’s Cristol chandelier draws attention toward the dining room, which is swathed in House of Hackney’s floral Artemis wallcovering. Vintage Milo Baughman chairs surround the Highland House table near a Fares Micue self-portrait from Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design.
A 19th-century Louis XVI-style chair from Case Antiques sits beside a door shrouded in Benjamin Moore’s River Blue, which leads to the adjacent sitting room. The vintage street scene was painted by homeowner Peter Erwin’s mother, Fay. A zigzag-pattern wool Forte rug by Fibreworks runs underfoot.
Visual Comfort & Co.’s Cristol chandelier draws attention toward the dining room, which is swathed in House of Hackney’s floral Artemis wallcovering. Vintage Milo Baughman chairs surround the Highland House table near a Fares Micue self-portrait from Liz Lidgett Gallery and Design.
Sherwin-Williams’ Retreat covers the kitchen’s custom cabinets by Scarlett’s Cabinetry. Visual Comfort & Co. globe lights shine above white quartz countertops from The Tile Store. The bentwood Thonet Era stools are from Design Within Reach.
An Aria table by Room & Board sidles up to the kitchen’s custom banquette, fabricated by Scarlett’s Cabinetry and topped with cushions and pillows in Scalamandré and Pierre Frey fabrics. The woodcut at right is by South Carolina artist Kent Ambler.
In the daughter’s bedroom, a Divine Savages wallpaper from Atlanta Textile Club displays a pretty tangle of blooms and serpents. The latter’s green hues complement custom built-ins by Scarlett’s Cabinetry and the Fermoie shade on Visual Comfort & Co.’s Hackney floor lamp.
Two vintage drawings from GoodWood and a dress collage by Chattanooga artist Lisa Norris frame the entry to the daughter’s bathroom. Le Café floor tiles from The Tile Store abut an original tub refinished by general contractor Art Johnson.
Porcelain pinwheel mosaic floor tiles and Pristine quartz countertops from The Tile Store team with custom cabinetry in the son’s bathroom. An Arteriors sconce adds a sophisticated mix of brass and bronze.
House of Hackney’s Dinosauria wallcovering spans the son’s bedroom. Kopet pulled its greens into the millwork—painted Sherwin-Williams’ Rosemary—and its golds into the velvet wrapping a Room & Board swivel chair.
In the daughter’s bedroom, a Divine Savages wallpaper from Atlanta Textile Club displays a pretty tangle of blooms and serpents. The latter’s green hues complement custom built-ins by Scarlett’s Cabinetry and the Fermoie shade on Visual Comfort & Co.’s Hackney floor lamp.
Two vintage drawings from GoodWood and a dress collage by Chattanooga artist Lisa Norris frame the entry to the daughter’s bathroom. Le Café floor tiles from The Tile Store abut an original tub refinished by general contractor Art Johnson.
On the second floor, that acidic tint mutes to a warm ochre, seen in a dinosaur-patterned wallcovering and velvet-swathed swivel chair in the son’s bedroom. For his sister’s suite, carnation-pink walls set off a new window seat and built-ins painted a soothing sage green.
Custom cabinetry in a similarly verdant shade improves the function of the freshly expanded kitchen, where general contractor Art Johnson borrowed square footage from a pantry and hall closet to create a more spacious, family-oriented flow. Kopet also wove fresh green into the renovated en suite bathrooms, where fern-colored millwork pairs with classic tile patterns befitting the abode’s 1920s origins. The latter, she notes, were impeccably executed under the watchful eye of Johnson. Continues Kopet: “The success of this house comes from the tiny details you don’t notice because it all feels simple and clean.”
That easygoing aesthetic likewise unites the home’s antique, vintage and modern furnishings, which range from an heirloom chinoiserie bar cabinet to the midcentury Milo Baughman dining chairs Elizabeth had previously reupholstered in child-friendly performance fabric. “I want families to be able to easily use their spaces and their pieces,” the designer explains. “They need to be able to grab chairs from other rooms when there are 20 people over.”
Especially welcoming during such occasions are the living room’s eclectic seats, which include antique French chairs with ornate gilding and punchy floral upholstery, a three-piece turquoise leather bench, and curved lounge chairs dressed in black-and-gold cut velvet. Unexpected artworks introduce further character: a watercolor-and-ink piece by local artist Kate Roebuck in the entryway, a vivid street scene painted by Peter’s mother in the living room, a self-portrait by Spanish photographer Fares Micue in the dining room. “The design feels alive,” Kopet comments. “To present this mix of pieces they’ve lived with for their whole lives in a fresh new light was really exciting.”
With Elizabeth and Peter so invested in retaining the charms of their vintage home, Kopet’s solution provided the perfect fusion of preservation and personal expression. “Everything just feels right,” Elizabeth concludes. “I’m thrilled we found Ryan because she helped push me where I needed to be pushed, to finally do what I wanted to do. This house is different than the expected, but this house is truly us.”
An Aria table by Room & Board sidles up to the kitchen’s custom banquette, fabricated by Scarlett’s Cabinetry and topped with cushions and pillows in Scalamandré and Pierre Frey fabrics. The woodcut at right is by South Carolina artist Kent Ambler.