Art Deco Scandinavian
When I was first approached about this project, the client was downsizing from a lovely house into a small loft apartment in the city center of Winston-Salem, NC. His plan was to move into the Residences at the RJ Reynolds Building, which had been recently listed to the National Register of Historic Places. The Historic RJ Reynolds Building was built in 1929 as a 21-floor art deco predecessor to the Empire State Building in New York. It went under extensive renovations, opening this past spring with a boutique hotel, an upscale restaurant called the Katharine, and apartments on the upper floors. If you haven't been to Winston-Salem recently to check out the renovated space, I highly recommend it. This year's ASID Carolinas Chapter conference was held in the building and the interiors are fabulously well-appointed and well-designed, throughout the main levels.
Our client hired Catherine French Design to design a comfortable space for entertaining with the requirement that we needed to base the full design around a sectional. Upon first walking into the space, it is obvious that the views are unparalleled. The one-bedroom apartment has a stunning view of the old Reynolds tobacco warehouses that are now a part of Winston-Salem's Innovation Corridor. It was imperative to me that the furniture and lighting and other objects all worked together to frame that first view out of the window as you walk in the front door.
We played with pattern and texture in this space, to subtly pull from the art deco influences from the building, while allowing for the clean, low lines of Scandinavian inspired furniture that was more the the client's taste. The pattern of the fabric on the custom Wesley Hall swivel chair, and throw pillows in fabric from Century Furniture and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, is picked up in the texture on the front of the Caracole media console and the Feizy rug. This interplay of pattern and texture gives the neutral color palette depth and visual interest.
One of the major challenges of downsizing into a much smaller space (with only two closets!) is storage. We chose beautiful pieces with an excess of hidden storage - including this custom purple velvet tufted ottoman with hidden casters by Huntington House. Perfect for hiding extra throws or board games for visitors. This is one of my favorite spaces to date! Check out more images on our portfolio page here.