Houston Swedish Design

 

An antique Swedish Moro Clock sits in the hallway between the den and kitchen.

Last April, House Beautiful featured a Houston home that had been remodeled in true Swedish style.  The story made the cover and it was great fun for me because the owner is a friend of mine.  As is probably true of each story in a design magazine, there is always a more interesting tale that isn't told in its pages.  The home is located in Avalon, a section of River Oaks, Houston's toniest neighborhood.  But, this home isn't a mansion, it is a very livable 3,500 sq. ft.  The home is original to the neighborhood, so it is probably over 50 years old.  When the owners first moved in, they had just sold everything from their former house and they immediately got down to the business of amassing  an amazing collection of English antique furniture and paintings.  They spent years acquiring a house full of furniture - piece by piece.  Each purchase was deliberate and thoughtful, a process between the owners and their designer, Carol Glasser, one of Houston's finest.  It was a fascinating process to watch from the sidelines and one that could  cause great envy! Imagine the scenario - starting over completely from scratch and placing inside your home only that which you truly love -- no dreaded hand-me-downs and no make-do furniture.  This style of decorating is one at which Glasser excels.  She doesn't mind waiting years for just the "right" table or the "perfect" lamp to turn up.  This style might not be to everyone's liking, but these owners proved to be the perfect clients.  They embraced Glasser's style and, as a result, the finished project was perfect:  a cozy English, country-style home, filled with authentic antiques, Italian oil paintings, wall to wall seagrass, faux painted yellow and red walls, toile wallpapers, Bennison fabrics and Kenneth Turner candles.  It was an open, fun house - the site of many parties where people gathered around a roaring fire and lounged in the deep George Smith sofa, all the while remarking on how warm and inviting the home was.  So, it was a great surprise to many, including Glasser herself, when the wife declared she had changed.  She no longer loved her home's decor, she wanted a new look - a Swedish look - and not just a Swedish antique here and there, but a total, complete Swedish home.  And so, for the second time, everything in the house was either sold or was stored and they started the process of decorating their home, completely from scratch, again. 

On the sidelines, I looked on with amazement.  It was so exciting to watch - trips made to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana to visit an obscure, yet fabulous antique dealer from whom they purchased, amongst other things,  antique portraits of  unknown, serious Swedish citizens.  Piece after piece of beautiful peeling, gray painted Swedish antiques were procured from the ends of the earth.  The owners were ahead of the current Swedish trend and it worked to their advantage.  Glasser immediately enlisted the help of renown interior designer and author Katrin Cargill

from England.  Cargill's input in the project was formidable.  She had, after all, written a book on Swedish style. The house was taken down to it's studs and every single inch was changed - from the roof to the floors to the windows to the walls.  Nothing was usual or common, it was all custom and proved almost too difficult a job for the Houston builder who worked on the project. Cargill held to her guns and insisted on a certain degree of authenticity.  Their house is, without a doubt, the only house in Houston with limed, Canadian pine wood floors. 

Interestingly, the house had been a cover story before - the English interpretation was in  Country Living magazine several years prior.  Included here today are some of the pictures from that original story, although, unfortunately, there are a few missing.  Personally, I made out like a bandit in the switchover to the Swedish decor:  I now own a wonderful down-filled love seat in my bedroom that once lived in their sunroom, a glorious antique bulls-eye mirror from the French Quarter is now over my fireplace, my dining room chandelier once hung in their bedroom, and even some of my fabulous tortoiseshell blinds were once in their home!   What this couple did is something most of us will never be able to do:  to start over, with no baggage, and have only that which you absolutely love in your home, that is, until you change your style to - well, let's say something like - Indochine Chic.

 

The family room:  this half of the room is more dressy - antique French mantle, Swedish portrait to the right, antique Swedish table and chairs.

Family Room:  the other half with contemporary sofa upholstered in typical Swedish checks.  Authentic Swedish roll up shades, antique sofa faces "dressier" half.  For some unknown reason, no pictures were shown in the magazine of their beautiful living room.

Another view of family room from Cargill's web site.

Again, from Cargill's web site - blue family room with contemporary checked sofa.

The dining room:  Antique Swedish chandelier and sconces, buffet and mirror.  Chairs are reproduction Swedish.  Table is one of the only remaining pieces from the former English decor.  Moldings below are wood, above - painted.

From Cargill's web site:  dining room with antique faux Swedish stove on the left, view towards the family room.

Small sunroom is a highlight of the home.  Gray and white botanicals were photocopied, pasted on the walls and then handpainted to glorious effect.  Antique Swedish sofa, chair, demilune tables, and chandelier.  Checks are used again as they are in every room in the house.

The breakfast room is charming:  antique Swedish chairs, table.  Banquette is covered in checks, French linen used for shades.  Wallpaper is a red and cream Swedish pattern.

The kitchen has Carrera marble countertops, Swedish shades, and a turquoise, contemporary pendant fixture.

From Cargill's web site - same view, unstyled.

Another shot of the kitchen with it's custom hood.  Close up of wood paneled walls used throughout the home.

Close up of Swedish portrait of a lady in the family room.

Set of white French dishes with owners' initial.

The entrance hall, from Cargill's web site.  Note the doggie door that leads to a secret hiding spot.  Cargill inserted touches like this throughout the home.

One of the daughter's bedroom with antique furniture and red checks.  Note how the rug is actually three separate pieces. 

The master bedroom:  House Beautiful did not show any pictures of this room.  It is captured here from Cargill's web site, unstyled.   The room has Chelsea Editions fabric wall covering along with Chelsea Editions curtain fabric and furniture.  To the left, you can barely make out an antique Swedish sofa.

Country Living Magazine:  From the first incantation - the English version of the blue family room with its wonderful slipcovered furniture.  Coffee table was a tufted ottoman atop false books.  Italian paintings, Oushak rug over wall to wall seagrass.  Walls were faux painted yellow.

The original kitchen:  antique center island, freestanding range, large hanging pot rack and red and cream toile wallpaper.  Floors were painted hardwoods.

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Unseen in House Beautiful, the original living room:  Originally there were faux painted red walls, antique mantel, center ottoman, antique sofa, Colefax and Fowler chintz draperies.  Bullseye mirror over fireplace lives over my fireplace now!!

Original dining room:  same table, Kenneth Turner center basket, antique tole chandelier, leather French chairs, Oushak carpet over seagrass, antique mirror and sconces.  In the new Swedish remodel, doors were removed for cleaner lines and in order to create enfilades.

Original front facade, covered in ivy.  Rose garden to the left.

New facade:  while windows are in the same place, they are new ones, new door color, ivy and shutters are long gone.  The biggest difference is the landscaping.  A landscape architect from England, brought to the project by Cargill, changed the center walkway.  Now an alee of clipped, square shaped trees creates a path up the center of the lawn.

The "official" walkway up to the house is now on the right side of the facade.

 

My family room with the antique bulls eye mirror now resides over my fireplace.

 

My dining room chandelier moved from the owners' bedroom.  Hi Sammie Jo!!!

And last, my bedroom with the love seat on the right under the tortoiseshell blinds moved from the owners previous sunroom.

 

Dining Rooms Serve up Eye Candy

This dining room by John Saladino is located in a New York highrise. It's a personal favorite of mine and has been for years. There's not one special piece of furniture in it, in fact, there isn't even a dining table, just a couple of linen tablecloths thrown over a nondescript piece of plywood. The chairs, though, are beautiful - but there are only four. The other four are probably scattered around the apartment, awaiting a dinner party. What sets this dining room above other more furnished ones, is the gorgeous mural painted on the back wall. It's a garden scene and a trellis can just be seen arching in the middle and along the bottom. The sparse display of flowering branches on the table sets off the mural perfectly. In his book, Style by Saladino, this entire apartment is featured and Saladino goes into great detail of how the mural came to be. The artist did further work for Saladino, but never, in my opinion, did he achieve the perfection he did in this dining room.


This dining room, by Cathy Kincaid, is another favorite of mine. It's a complete opposite of Saladino's in that the room is loaded with antiques, furniture, chairs, and accessories. Yet, somehow, the room remains light and airy looking, almost like icing on a white cake. The room just sparkles, helped along by the crystal lamps and Vaughan chandelier. The open back Patina chairs with short slip cover skirts exposing delicate thin chair legs add to the overall lightness of the room. Though the table is a dark stained over-sized antique, it is barely noticeable in the room. The french doors leading to the next room have mirrors instead of glass in the panes, further adding to the ambiance. Notably, the room's only color comes from the blue and white porcelain and the hydrangeas.



Wow, I love this dining room. Fiona Newell Weeks designed it for her own home and it's stunning. The walls are covered in a blue and white Farrow and Ball damask and the wallpaper is the focal point of the room. Without it, the room would not be half as striking. It takes guts to use a paper like this in a dining room, but Fiona is known for her bold strokes. The whimsical boat chandelier plays up the room's youthful feeling. Is there any doubt that the owners are fun loving people? I love how the khaki color plays against the blue and white and how skillfully Weeks repeats the color - in the chair's wood stain, the leather upholstery, the frames' mats. The unusual oval shape of the mirror further sets off the young, adventurous feel of the room.

This dining room features Swedish antique furniture and elegant Niermann Weeks chairs. Simple seagrass keeps the quiet, simple tone going. That is, until you look up at the lighting fixture. An absolute stunner, it was commissioned by the designer, Jacqueline Segura, especially for this family's beachside home. The artist who makes the fixture was challenged to expand on the size of the glass blown ball. Little bits of round crystal attached to the iron, gives it subtle sparkle. Again, the chandelier gives off hints that this family is young and full of life.

This dining room's draperies become it's focal point. The designer, in dealing with tricky arched windows, uses square top valances to solve that problem. The quiet two toned stripe is matched by the softness of the linen material. Large blue and white porcelain vases on the mantel play up the room's height. The chandelier all curvy, matches the round table.

Fabulous French detail makes this room a stunner. The gorgeous antique gilt and wood chandelier matches the rustic feel of the table and the buffet. Simple, oversized white plates rest on the wood shelves. Dreamy blue and white toile slipcovers - what could be more French?

Young, hot designer Windsor Smith showcases her own dining room. I love the wallpaper, an aqua handpainted design. Gorgeous. Simple sisal matting on the floor and mismatched chairs and benches lend more informality to the room. Silver pitchers filled with leaves are an unusual centerpiece. Domino's current issue showcases this room if you want to see more of it.

Ah, I know this room well. The house was on the cover of House Beautiful this year and it belongs to a good friend of mine! Houston designer Carol Glasser and the famous English designer and author Katrin Cargill turned a traditional English house into an authentic Swedish home. Each piece in this room, and the entire house for that matter, was bought especially for it. The chairs are reproductions, but it's hard to tell that. The chandelier is a Swedish period antique. The walls are soft pink with traditional Swedish handpainted flowers not visible in the picture. There's no rug to cover the difficult to achieve limed floors. Once inside the house, it's hard to believe you are in Houston, not Sweden, so faithful to the design were Glasser and Cargill.

Symmetry and silk drapes become the focal point in this room designed by Birmingham designer Mary McKee. Luscious silk drapes paired with bamboo blinds is a favorite of many designers today. Choosing short skirts instead of upholstered seats brings the formality down a notch. Impossible to overlook, highlighted in the middle of all the symmetry, is the drop dead gorgeous double, crystal chandelier.

I've saved this picture for years and have no idea who the designer was, but I've always loved the romantic French screen on the wall. It's an unusual place for a screen, but somehow it works here.

Pam Pierce, Houston great, uses linen as her focal point. The tailoring of the skirted table is unusual, but so effective! A few bold antiques - a large trumeau with attached sconces, a French chandelier, period arm chairs, oversized bowl - is all that is needed to make a simple dining room special.

Here the shades become the focal point, along with the large, gorgeous French chairs. The only color - a purple hydrangea.

The room is beautiful, the walls are lacquer perfection, but I show it to highlight a design that puzzles me. I absolutely never understand two tables, the same size, in one dining room. Here, the designer, Markham Roberts, tackles the issue by using two different tablecloths. Somehow, he pulls a quirky design off.

Stalking Houston Real Estate

Whenever I'm bored (well, before I discovered design blogs) I search the MSL for Houston homes. I always start with the most exclusive neighborhoods: River Oaks, Memorial Villages, West University, or Tanglewood. It is so fascinating to me to take a glimpse inside a stranger's house. Mostly, though, I am searching for interiors that speak to me.





The biggest "find" is to see a house decorated by a designer whose work I recognize. If the designer is locally well known, they will be mentioned by name. A successful search yields an interior by Carol Glasser, Babs Watkins, Ginger Barber, or Pam Pierce, to name a few of my personal favorites. I've even spotted a few of their personal homes on the web site. Some of the houses for sale have been featured in national design magazines and finding one of these is a special high for me. I save the pictures of the homes that attract me. Here are a few of my favorites pictures from this year. Looking at the ones I picked, I realized - gee I LOVE seagrass!