It's in every single room — and even on the windows.
From a color-tweaked 1780s wallpaper pattern to millwork painted a zingy mint green, an elegantly informal Alabama cottage reflects the open-minded attitude of its downsizing homeowner — and puts her traditional style in a whole new light.
For a graphic update to the dining room of a Shingle Style cottage in Mountain Brook, Alabama, designers Bill Brockschmidt and Courtney Coleman worked with Adelphi Paper Hangings to custom-color its Hamilton Urns wallpaper. The chairs were initially a temporary solution, purchased for the client's first Thanksgiving in the home. "We painted them a chalky white, and everyone fell in love," Brockschmidt says.
The butler's pantry, adjacent to the dining room, includes millwork designed by the home's architect, James Carter.
The living room was designed with one large seating group to suit the client's casual style of entertaining: "We wanted to fit as many people around the fireplace and TV as possible, so the sofa is long and the chairs are especially comfortable," Brockschmidt says. The custom sofa is covered in a French terry cloth by Le Manach.
In the breakfast room, the designers turned what was once a cumbersome media cabinet into an open bookcase with a drop-down secretary desk that is painted a deep orange on the inside. "It's a level of detail that's beyond what's expected," Brockschmidt says.
The study was designed to look like an attached garden shed. Like the millwork throughout the house, it was painted in Farrow & Ball's Arsenic — a fresh and vibrant green hue — to contrast with the home's more traditional architecture. The client's desk chair was re-covered in Lee Jofa's Althea Linen.
The screened porch is the heart of the home for at least three seasons of the year. Its whitewashed swinging bed came with the house and is a popular perch for watching football games on the porch's television. The rattan furniture was purchased by the homeowner on her annual trips to the Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas.
Gardener Norman Kent Johnson installed a gravel dining terrace. The outdoor table and chairs are from Restoration Hardware.
Coleman and Brockschmidt on the screened porch. Read more about their inspiration for this house here.
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This story originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of House Beautiful.
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