WHEN THEY PURCHASED this Myers Park home, the homeowners knew they were in for some heavy lifting. The renovation alone was going to be intense and expensive, but they saw the beauty in its bones, and the lot size, location, and cedar rood couldn't be ignored.
"I had worked with these homeowners on their previous home and even thought they loved it, they knew it was time for more space," explains designer Hill Rondero of Ro House Studio. "This home was built sometime in the eighties and was weighed down with wood, stone, slate floors, dark colors, and beams. I knew id we could shift some of the weights and pare down the materials, we could creat a magical home."
The slate floors in the foyer were one of the items Rondero chose to keep. They were just “too beautiful and natural to tear up.” Many of the other touches, however, had to go. Kitchen: gutted. Mudroom: gutted. Family room: gutted. But the wood-paneled den was a keeper. “When we removed all the dark and heavy pieces and replaced them with white walls and plaster, the wood-paneled room suddenly became this cozy balance,” says Rondero. “And I think that’s where I knew we had to play with the weights of all of the rest of the touches that made this home unique.”
So, in small doses, Rondero left the textures and added in her own with layers of art and accessories from the homeowner. A Wells Fargo employee by day and an artist by night, the homeowner had an impressive collection of accessories to pull from, with plenty left over to rotate out when things felt stale. “The homeowner is so talented and truly has some of the best accessories, like vintage books and incredible vintage art—as well as her own.
So we installed intentional places she could curate, like the custom glass cabinet in the kitchen and display shelving in the pantry, and bookshelves in the den,” says Rondero. Because of the homeowner’s inherent collection, Rondero and her team focused on the base design, including the layout, the flow, the color scheme, and the furniture. Not all of the homeowner’s belongings translated from the old home, however, because the scale was off, and many new furniture items had to be purchased.
Some, though, were reused, such as the dining table in their breakfast nook, where Rondero removed two of three stone walls, added a rice-paper chandelier, and had the fireplace limewashed. “This ended up being one of my favorite rooms. It was so challenging, but so fun to transform,” she says. They collaborated with the homeowner and builder, Stanwick Dunham, on the pass-through space from the family room to the owner’s suite to consider how best to use and style it. Overall, the design, like Ro House’s aesthetic, reads neutral with pops of color.
“My aesthetic has always been layered, textured, undesigned, and casual with an edge,” says Rondero. As for homeowners trying to establish their own aesthetic, Rondero suggests this: “Get the room clean and white, and then layer in pieces you like. You will start to see a pattern in the things you choose. ‘Why do I have so much terra cotta?’ Figure it out. It comes down to the editing. You will see it in the things that you consistently choose that bring you joy.”