As designers, we cultivate spaces that support and embrace their occupants. When we design for families, we strive to provide opportunities for them to commune and live authentically with ease and comfort. For this recently completed project, we worked closely with the family to meet their every need and tailored a space that embodies their love of gathering with family and friends, whether in play or in repose.
For a family who loves to cook and entertain, we designed an open floor plan that seamlessly progresses from the kitchen to the living room, keeping family and friends engaged while preparing a delicious meal or relaxing by the fire. Crowned with a delicate, exquisite chandelier, the dining area epitomizes elegant sophistication. Its display of beautiful warm woods and sumptuous leather creates a luxurious backdrop, fit for both formal gatherings and the ease of everyday living.
The living room serves as the hearth of the home and manifests livable luxury, setting the stage for lively family gatherings. Grounded by two stunning, opulent blue velvet sofas, the lavish feel of the space belies the materials used, which were selected for their beauty and ability to withstand the rigors of everyday family life. A tête-à-tête provides an intimate, cozy perch to gaze out the window, beckoning family members to curl up with a book, a warm drink and a companion. Each aspect of the design supports intimate communing in luxurious comfort, where nothing is precious, and every need is anticipated.
The master bedroom, characterized by a classic, warm elegance, provides a luxurious retreat designed to function as a serene, restorative sanctuary. Rich textures add a softness and warmth to the room, eliciting feelings of splendor and refreshing comfort.
To meet the challenges of accommodating visiting families and friends, we designed flexible spaces that easily convert from stylish and functional family areas to comfortable sleeping quarters. Although devised to sustain a crowd, the interior spaces also encourage moments of retreat, where one can steal away with a good book, engage in quiet contemplation, and find opportunities for relaxing refuge while surrounded by comfort and beauty.
We’re passionate about creating interiors that support the needs of active families. Fully engaging with our clients to understand the shifting needs of their dynamic domestic lives enables us to create functional spaces, grounded in a thoughtful sophistication and luxury designed for real people.
Choosing the right fabrics can certainly add a
sense of comfortable luxury to almost any designed space. Linen and leather are
both natural fabrics that sometimes maintain a bad reputation, but these are
two of our personal favorites to incorporate into designed spaces because of
their facets of uniqueness and durability.
The best fabrics for a room often have the
power to elevate an entire space, while adding depth and even another layer to
the backdrop of the design itself. With such interesting imperfections, these
two materials have the power to elevate a space in a multitude of ways. The
element of texture can play this role within the overall design, almost like an
art form itself. It adds that je ne sais quois to a room, with more
depth and illusion.
Overall, leather and linen are both materials
that offer sturdiness and timelessness, while also giving off a sense of
organic and natural elegance. In order to live beautifully, it’s important to
learn how to embrace and showcase life’s imperfections.
Here’s our guide to washed woven leather and linen, two of our favorite imperfect fabrics that we encourage you to showcase throughout your home’s most beautiful spaces.
washed woven leather:
Woven leather pillow from Twenty Two Home
We love washed woven leather for its ability to give off visual texture and warmth within a space. The organic and tactile qualities that this material possesses can add so much to an interior. Leather is also a durable and beautiful material that continues to develop a lovely patina over time. Although there are so many great qualities, the material carries surface imperfections resulting from the animal’s life (scarring, wrinkles, branding) that some people may not appreciate. It can also become scuffed or develop a patina from use over time that contributes to the leather looking “used,” so people who want to have spaces that are considered “perfect” may sometimes shy away from using this material because of its organic, naturally imperfect nature.
Though true,
washed woven leather is one of our favorite materials, and it’s incredibly
stylish, modern and quite versatile in regards to how it can be successfully
incorporated into a room. It works perfectly to coordinate with other fabrics
and textures that are living within a space.
Suitable for any interior, this fabric sometimes takes on a bad reputation for its toughness in texture, but when it’s washed and woven, leather only becomes softer and more supple over time. It’s also durable enough to be lightly vacuumed, damp-wiped down whenever needed, and cleaned with leather conditioner or saddle soap. When washed and woven, the fabric exudes a new dimension of being softened and is even more durable. This new texture that it takes on allows for increased softness as the years go by, which makes this fabric perfect for classic, heritage and keepsake pieces. It’s also easy to work with its finish, as the natural patina of the material is so beautiful. When added to a room, this material helps to provide visual texture and warmth to any space.
Linen is a
gorgeous natural fabric that can add a flair of comfort and elegance to any
space. When using it as a key facet of a designed interior, it’s essential to
think about how the piece will be used and how it will hold up to wear and
tear.
Linen has the
ability to resist pilling and fading, which helps to maintain the original look
of the fabric. It’s comprised of longer fibers, so it’s incredibly durable and
the weave doesn’t allow for fraying. Historically, linen was the fabric of
workmen’s clothing. The long flax fibers spun an incredibly durable fabric that
still allowed movement.
The soft
nature of the fabric lends well to slip-covers, which makes cleaning simple.
When linen is soaked in water, the fiber opens up and releases any stains,
whether washed at home or dry cleaned.
Some people
don’t like that linen can wrinkle easily. Over time though, linen gets
extremely soft and loses its wrinkles. This natural fiber is exceptionally
beautiful and adds a little bit of downplayed luxury to any space.
As in all of our interiors, we work to thoughtfully curate a selection of brands that pride themselves on conscious, livable luxury. Discover some of our favorite designs that use linen and washed woven leather materials here.
designing with nature in mind: tips & tricks from elisa chambers
Bringing a touch of the outdoors in and integrating greenery into the home can instantly bring life and soul to a space.
As interior designers, we know the importance of showcasing outside views when designing a home by allowing the outdoors to provide bursts of color through a changing seasonal backdrop. Although rooms with stunning views and floor to ceiling windows allow the natural world to truly shine within a home, creating gorgeous outdoor views is only part of the process. When designing, we always find thoughtful ways to bring the outdoors inside by incorporating plants, floral arrangements, and flowering branches into a home.
For our founder Elisa, having a garden has always been an essential part of her home. She developed a love of gardening from her mother, a National Horticultural Judge with a serious passion for growing flowers. Learning floral tips and tricks from her mother, Elisa’s interest in gardening has continued to grow stronger throughout her life. After moving to Jackson, Elisa longed to be surrounded by the California botanicals of her youth. Through trial and error, she found ways to grow those plants in Jackson while incorporating Wyoming’s abundance of wildflowers, lilacs, tulips, and exotic grasses into her garden. During the long summer days in Jackson, Elisa’s garden flourishes with a stunning array of floral varieties: climbing roses, peonies, mint, and lavender, to name a few. With this bounty, she creates simple and elegant floral arrangements for her home.
We chatted with Elisa about her own gardening history, how growing flowers helps her feel connected to the earth, and about the importance of designing spaces with nature in mind.
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Tell us about your garden! What do you grow and how does it look? Paint the picture for us.
I grew up with a mother who was a National Horticultural Judge. She judged prestigious flower shows, including Philadelphia’s. From a young age, I gardened alongside her. Growing up in California, I was spoiled with an overabundance of plants and flowers. We had gorgeous gardens, filled with every flower imaginable. When I moved to Jackson, I tried desperately to grow some of those varieties. Over time, I discovered that if you orient your house toward the south, you can grow the same perennials in Wyoming.
My garden has beautiful echinacea, lilacs, and at least 250 peony plants—it’s filled with vibrant colors and pungent smelling flowers. Not only are they incredibly beautiful, they thrive in the Jackson weather and sunshine. Peony bulbs love freezing temperatures, so they do exceptionally well with our cold winters. I have tulips, which are a favorite of elk and deer. They pop the blooms off, just like they’re eating M&M’s!
My garden attracts dragonflies, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. Under my back window, there’s a dwarf lilac hedge, which I love so much. It’s the first thing to bloom, right before the peonies burst into full color. Climbing roses grow like crazy. I have an eight-foot-tall, hot pink rose bush surrounded by a hedge of blush peonies. I like to create an overwhelming floral explosion in my garden by growing different plant varieties together. Throughout the summer, I cut flowers from my garden every day.
What are the various seasons for florals in Jackson Hole? The soil and the great mountain air in the Tetons seem exceptional for florals and plants. It seems to be a place where wild things can grow.
Absolutely! The mountain air, rich soil, and the gorgeous sunlight create something magical here. On the east coast, there are four distinct seasons. In California, it’s almost like one continuous season. In Jackson, winter comes and provides a reprieve from cultivating the garden, which makes the spring and summer bloom feel even more spellbinding. With appropriate care, you can stagger the blooming flowers to blossom from the spring through the fall. As you cut one plant back, another plant will blossom. Year to year, I always step back and take a breath and think—yay! It’s all working!
On the west side of the Snake River, plants grow differently than where I live on the south side of Jackson. Because the mountains don’t block the sun, I have a few more hours of daylight, which creates a longer growing season. As much as I enjoy the winter, it’s difficult to watch it come. Although I visit my family in California each winter to revel in the natural beauty, I still find Wyoming surreal and extraordinary during the winter months.
How
do you integrate the outdoors into indoor spaces?
When I design homes for myself and clients, I love integrating lots of windows that open into gardens, so you can enjoy the plants as soon as possible. We have about four months of blooming beauty and then we have white, snowy beauty! It’s important to soak it all in.
We
love using serene color schemes inside so the interiors can contrast with the beautiful
seasons on display outside. Each season brings a different color palette, and,
as a designer, you try not to compete with that.
As
the seasons come and go, how do you continue to integrate elements of the
outdoors into your home?
As
the seasons keep turning, everything changes color. Just this week, I can tell there
has been a cold snap. It’s starting! I saw a yellow leaf the other day on a
tree—just one little yellow leaf, and I knew that things are moving forward.
From
summer florals, to fall leaves and winter snow—every season has something
special. During the colder months, I order many varieties of cut, flowering
branches to display inside my home, including cherry blossoms, apple blossoms,
flowering quince, and other favorites.
What
do you typically like to use for floral arrangements?
I love to decorate a space with found things, such as old wooden bowls, books about Jackson, cups, and vases. Found objects with a story are wonderful for holding flowers. Sometimes I’ll put an old glass vase into a vintage copper pot to hold arrangements. Other times, I’ll use an old wooden toy from one of my kids, or something silly that just holds meaning for me. My brother recently sent me a bag of colorful marbles that he saved from our childhood, and they will go into a gorgeous clear vase beautifully!
When
I design a home, I love to place indoor plants and trees in beautiful old pots.
Not only do they look fabulous in a space, they also help improve indoor air
quality. In the winter, I display dried magnolia and holly branches with
berries in various pots and unique vases. Berries dry beautifully and look
great for weeks. Succulents are also amazing in the winter because they can be
made into a beautiful wreath or put in a big gorgeous bowl to add a hint of
color and vibrance to a space.
What
is most fulfilling about having a garden?
My garden gives off such beauty and brings so much joy to my days. Looking at budding flowers makes my heart happy and makes me feel connected to the earth, which is truly an indescribable feeling. It is also a wonderful reminder of my mom. She was instrumental in helping me select plants and deciding where they should be planted. It’s funny because I’m a strong person, and she was a super strong woman as well, so she loved to tell me where everything should go and what was best for my garden space. I still get a chuckle out of those conversations then I walk around and see everything flourishing. I think to myself—well, she was definitely right! I also love to see my kids developing their own passion for growing things. In a difficult world, my garden is something that always offers peace and beauty. This is what life is all about. My kids are here, my husband, my dogs, my garden—it’s simply the best. At the end of the day, you nurture the garden and flowers, but they also nurture you back.
