WHEN JOEL LANIK first approached designer Charlotte Lucas, he had a folder full of tear sheets that were all neutral, everywhere. “There were a lot of grays and blue-grays in those examples he brought me,” laughs Lucas. “So I said, ‘OK, let’s use this as our base and bring in pops of color from there.’”
For Lucas, designing a home with a sophisticated balance of neutrals and bold pops of color is right in her wheelhouse, and she knew she could help guide Lanik out of his gray-all-over comfort zone. The project started simply with a few rooms, which Lucas overhauled into stunning modern spaces with a touch of masculine flair for the then bachelor. But it wasn’t until years later, when Lanik married his now wife, Teri Shaw, that the home really transformed into the sophisticated entertaining place that it is today.
“When we were dating, I encouraged him to hire Charlotte to work on his home,” says Shaw, who is the owner of women’s clothing boutique Monkee’s of Charlotte. “I’ve always loved Charlotte’s aesthetic and style. The home is very traditional, and both Joel and I didn’t want a traditional home with a traditional interior.
We wanted it to be funky and edgy with lots of color.” Lanik’s tastes morphed over the years, and with Shaw’s influence, the couple was ready to go bolder, brighter, and more colorful with the rest of the spaces in the home. “As our relationship grew, the trust also grew, and Joel and Teri were more open and excited about taking some risks, which was fun,” says Lucas.
And with risk often comes reward. Such was the case in the foyer, where Lucas was challenged to find a way to define the open space. As a segue between the lounge and dining room, both of which are bold and colorful in unique ways, Lucas suggested a graphic Milly-La-Forêt wallpaper by Scalamandré featuring a long, vertical vine pattern. “We were thinking, ‘What do you do to bridge the gap between these two rooms,’” she explains. “We thought this wallpaper that runs vertically up the wall was the perfect balance between these two spaces. But it needed some sort of punctuation.
It needed something a little bit bold to stay its own.” So Lucas painted the trim black to really define the space. And while both Shaw and Lanik were initially a touch hesitant with the design move, they trusted Lucas implicitly, and, as a result, the foyer became one of the most impactful spaces in the home.
Those same bold leaps of color and pattern—Lucas’s calling card—were installed in spaces like the lounge, where a graphic navy-and-white Graffito wallpaper by Kelly Wearstler mingles with Schumacher Magical Menagerie drapes in a bright yellow. “We wanted to evoke a moody vibe in the lounge,” says Lucas. “We wanted an edgy excitement, so this fun, graphic, punchy option was the starting point.”
Across the foyer, though, Lucas wanted a different color experience, “something a bit more feminine, sophisticated, and elevated,” she explains. A high-gloss Farrow & Ball pale blue on the walls provides shine and elegance while a blush-pink Schumacher fabric for the window treatments with a Nina Campbell French Gimp in ivory coupled with Samuel & Sons tassels offers a muted, colorful addition. “It was a soft moment there,” she says, “but still punched with color, just a more muted color.”
While there are still some rooms waiting to be completed, both Lanik and Shaw feel passionately that Lucas hit the mark with her designs. “Charlotte is so good at reading your personalities and honing in on what it is that you really want in your home,” says Lanik. “She read Teri and I perfectly.” Adds Shaw: “My personal style is very black and neutral, so I knew I wanted to go all-in with color in my home. Charlotte did exactly that, and then more.”