Name: Grace G. McNicholas, husband Brian and daughter Clementine
Location: Silver Spring, Maryland – 15 minutes outside DC
Size: 900 square feet
Years lived in: 3
Most people will agree that fascinating architecture is the first step to a fabulous home, but what hope is there for your typical 1970s white box basement apartment with low ceilings and wall-to-wall carpet? Well, you're about to find out!
When Grace and Brian outgrew their one bedroom DC apartment with the arrival of their daughter, they not only left the city but also the architectural character of a nearly 100 year old building. Faced with the challenge of a budget and the dilemma of fitting their "classic with a twist" aesthetic into the standard issue white box, Grace chose to create character through an ever-changing display of vignettes made from her collection of antiques, art, and flea market finds. Just as fine architectural details serve to draw the eye from one part a room to another, Grace's vignettes — composed of furniture, art, and interesting objects — distract the eye away from the lack of architectural character by providing pleasing points of interest throughout each room.
The gallery is arranged in the way in which you would walk through the apartment, beginning with the living room. To give you an idea of how Grace continually uses pieces that she already owns to change the look of a room, the gallery tour includes pictures from separate visits. See if you can spot the changes.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Style: Classic furniture mixed with edgy accessories.
Inspiration: Probably the idea of France circa Revolution, American circa Revolution and Kennebunkport Maine — I know I'm all over the place but I love the idea of freedom and I am so deeply moved by the homes and landscape of Kennebunkport.
Favorite Element: None. We bought a place that was built in the 1970s so it's a challenging space to work with. I am more comfortable with compartmentalized home layouts and tall ceilings. Instead our place has normal height ceilings and an open floor plans that just drives me crazy!
Biggest Challenge: The open floor plan and the wall to wall carpets.
What Friends Say: That its really designed differently then my last home. I have one friend though who describes the Living Room as womblike — probably because the paint is a pink clay color.
Biggest Embarrassment: The exterior of the building. Since I live in a condo I have no say about the way the building looks. The building has out-of-date architecture and is basically all brown. I just hope when people walk into my individual unit they feel that it's a great surprise.
Proudest DIY: Probably painting the bookcase. It was a plain bookcase from IKEA. I painted it white, and once it dried I painted it light blue. I then took a dry paint brush and combed over the wet paint to give it a streaked Swedish look. It was a success! People can’t believe the bookcase is from IKEA.
Biggest Indulgence: My coffee table and side chair.
Best advice: When choosing a paint color always chose one shade lighter then you originally planned. Often people chose a color they like in clothing and then are surprised when the color is hideous or too dark on a wall.
Dream source: French flea markets.
Resources of Note:
Appliances: Nothing memorable.
Hardware: I wish it was something exciting but it came with the condo.
Furniture: Pomegranate in Rockville Maryland, Slones & Kenyon Auction House and lots and lots of Estate Sales combed over every week.
Accessories: Lots of antique finds from various antique stores.
Lighting: I bought both basket chandeliers from Finials Antique Shop in NW DC. My other lamps are a mish mash of places. My favorite — the clear crystal one is a bargain I bought from Restoration Hardware.
Rugs and Carpets: Wall-to-wall came with the place. If I had the funds I would have black wood floors and carpets from Odegard and Stark available to the trade only, unfortunately.
Window Treatments: My bedroom: Next Day Blinds (which is not next day by the way, more like 4 week blinds) Living room and Clementine's room: Smith & Nobel- a good place for well priced basic window treatments.
Beds: Clementine’s bed is from Restoration Hardware while mine is from Crate & Barrel.
Artwork: I pride myself on my art collection. I search high and low for artists whose work I am moved by. I have work from Jean Plunkett, Nicole Bourgea, Ricardo Roig, Matt Jacobs, Chris Rywalt and Michael Kachman.
Paint: Main room: Benjamin Moore Old Country, Hall: Benjamin Moore Grant Beige, Clementine’s Room: Duron Tatiana Pink, Master Bedroom: Duron Handsome Blue
Flooring: Came with the place.
Thanks, Grace!
Images: Leah Moss
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Comments (24)
Wow! Great job with such a challenging space. I really love your furniture, and your paint choices - really elegant! One thing that might help you in creating interest is putting rugs down on top of the carpet - especially perhaps in the living area and dining area. I know it sounds kind of silly, but sometimes it can create depth and a sense of cohesion in an open floor plan. Rugs are less work-intensive than taking out the carpet and installing hardwood, and you can take it with you if you move!
Totally agree with mturek about the rugs. A nice large one in a darker color pattern for the living room, and one beneath the dining room table would do wonder to break up the open floor plan.
You might also want to price out crown molding, something simple, not too fancy, but crown molding will really help to frame the rooms.
This is nice place, and I'm glad to see how well carpet works in the space.
It's colonial coastal.
Nice. I love the artwork, and I like the contrast of dark furnishings against the soft pink and blue walls.
I second the rugs and crown molding suggestions!
I think it needs a lot of work--the art is great.
Agree about the rugs. I have wall to wall carpeting and have found rugs to be very useful, especially for the living room. I have found some very nice oriental rugs on craigslist for reasonable prices.
I think it's nice when AT features homes like this, because they represent the reality of the types of apartments that a lot of AT's readers are living in. My own apartment has more architectural details than this, but it does have carpeting, which is a big obstacle that I try to work around. So I wouldn't mind seeing some more homes that attempt to work around these decor dilemmas.
This was a great house tour! These people really have both an eye for beautiful antique pieces and for colors that warm the space. I especially liked the feel of the bedrooms! Bravo!
Congratulations on making this plain apartment just wonderful! I too, think the idea of laying rugs down over the carpet is a good one.
You have a keen sense of proportion and I seventh the rugs idea. I kept thinking about it all the way through the tour.
I love the style you've given to your apartment. It's inspiring me to take another crack at my own white box of a living space. If you don't mind my asking, where did you get the chandelier table lamp in the bedroom? It's so pretty!
I love the wedding portraits! Such a nice souvenir of a special day. :)
what an adorable home! I have a friend who moved to silver spring and I wondered what homes were like there - great way to rework a 'white box!'
saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com
Wow, Leah -what an amazing apartment tour! LOVE this charming place. Such an interesting assortment of items -i'm green with envy!
I think you have done a great job. It's nice to see an apartment that looks like what is available where I live. The lack of architectural detail really makes you notice the furniture and artwork. It looks like a place where people really live.
I struggle with an box type home, and think you've done a wonderful job! I envy all the brownstones, victorians and older homes and apartments for their architectural detail, so I really appreciate how lovely your home looks despite having carpet and no tin ceilings or crown moulding. Congrats!
All-
I felt compelled to thank you all for your kind and constructive comments for this tour.
As a writer for this site, I'm often disheartened that there are not as many true constructive comments as I think there should be. A home is personal, and inhabitants often take comments about their homes personally. Snarky is never helpful, but well-intentioned suggestions like these definitely are.
So thanks to all who took the time to comment!
Thanks also to Grace and Brian for opening their home to us!
Overall quite lovely.
The only thing I wanted to do was make some of those picture arrangements less symmetrical - especially the one with the ladders. But that's a matter of taste, and people who like symmetrical aren't going to be comfortable with it another way.
such a creative and lovely place. You've made it a home .I love Clementine's room, especially the things hanging from her celing.
p.s. I'm a big fan of symmetry, too.
What's the paint color in the bedroom? I've been having trouble picking the "right" blue for our bedroom... but your color looks spot on.
I love how you've made your home an expression of the things you love and make you happy. I don't know how you find the time and energy, but I'm glad you do, and I'm glad you shared it so others could be inspired. I especially like the bedrooms. Clem's is dreamy.
What are the pink things hanging from Clementine's ceiling? They are lovely!
Nice place - totally liking your chair selections
Clementine's room is fantastic! I love it. I second the molding and 8th the rugs.