GREENING THE BLUEGRASS Interior designer Isabel Ladd brings a touch of the tropics to a second home located in the heart of horse country. Written by Bridget Williams // Photography by Rachel Lutz/Andrew Kung Group
The foyer is enveloped in vibrant bird-of-paradise wallpaper that transports you to a vacation state-of-mind as soon as you cross the threshold.
Interior designer Isabel Ladd understands the importance of making an entrance. When tasked with designing a rural second home retreat for a Lexington native and his wife, who primarily reside in the Northeast megapolis, she ran with a tropical getaway theme. Isabel happily obliged the couples’ request for “an explosion of color and pattern.” Capitalizing on their pledge to not reign in her creativity, she enveloped the foyer in vibrant bird-of-paradise wallpaper that transports you to a vacation state-of-mind as soon as you cross the threshold. This bold opening statement is also a result of the homeowners’ desire to confine changes to cosmetics. Working with the home’s existing dark-stained wood trim freed up funds for other splurges, such as the wallpaper mentioned above. Together, the trim and wallpaper conjure thoughts of traditional British colonial design, with a tiered fringe chandelier adding a youthful spin.
74 slmag.net
