Text by Charlotte Safavi
When a semiretired couple decided to downsize from a 2,745-square-foot row house to a 1,450-square-foot single-level home in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, they decided they needed some professional help. Interior designer Anne Marie Hauer of Choux Designs was up for the challenge.
“I often share with clients that one of my favorite things to do is shop their homes,” Anne Marie shares. “Whether I am designing a single room or a whole house, I love to wander from room to room in search of interesting pieces that can be better served elsewhere.”
With this project, Anne Marie hit the jackpot, as the homeowners have some truly beautiful antique furnishings, including a gateleg dining table, Chippendale-style chairs, and a four-poster bed, not to mention a wide array of heirlooms, collections, and artworks. But prior to placing any of the pieces, she needed to set the stage.
The two-bedroom home that Anne Marie’s clients purchased was not only much smaller in size but also builder grade with an outdated kitchen and bathrooms, heavy cabinetry, unattractive finishes, and a dull paint palette.
Phase one was to remodel the home; phase two was to edit the homeowners’ prior furnishings and then design around those choice pieces.
“Our initial focus was to refresh and brighten the dated space,” says Anne Marie. “We set to work by selecting new flooring, new doors, and new hardware; refacing the built-ins and cabinetry; switching out light fixtures; gutting the bathrooms; and, of course, painting everything.”
The original generic orange-tone engineered hardwood floors were exchanged with espresso-brown luxury vinyl wide planks. Hollow interior doors were replaced with solid-core Shaker-style doors, and satin nickel hardware was swapped with oil-rubbed bronze selections.
“We felt the existing gas fireplace box was a nice separation between the dining room and living room, so we redesigned it to incorporate brass-and-glass shelving, with a marble base that is not only beautiful in form but has a key function to display the homeowners’ collections,” adds Anne Marie.
The kitchen cabinetry was painted white and beige to brighten the space without starkness, and glass-front doors were added to some of the upper cabinets to create depth and display vintage dishes and stemware. The breakfast bar was adjusted to be the same height as the sink counter, and all the dark granite countertops were switched to white leathered marble for an updated look.
“For furnishings, the ultimate goal was to use most of their existing furniture and décor but refresh the vibe to be in keeping with their new home,” Anne Marie says of the next stage in the design.
The homeowners’ prior home had been rich in color, with lots of red and blue accents, but in their new home, the palette is softer and calmer—creams, taupes, beiges, and powdery blues. “We also wanted to lighten the overall aesthetic with a focus on texture, more so than pattern,” says Anne Marie.
Much of the upholstered furniture was reupholstered to embrace the sophisticated yet cozy look of the home. Practicality also featured in the decisions. For example, the counter stools and dining chairs are covered in performance fabrics to withstand regular use. Older, darker, patterned rugs were removed to make way for abstract rugs with a lighter palette to further soften the look.
“Much of my clients’ art and décor has been collected as keepsakes over time. They are an important part of what makes their home so unique,” says Anne Marie. “However, we felt we needed to add some modern elements and softer colors to offset this collection. By mixing traditional with modern elements, the older, beautifully worn, and elaborately detailed pieces become so much more appreciated.”
