ZEN AND SENSIBILITIES

Interior designer Isabel Ladd creates an oasis of tranquility for a busy young family

Written by Bridget Williams / Photography by Andrew Kung

When meeting with potential new clients for the first time, interior designer Isabel Ladd assays them as much as they are evaluating her. “I want awesome people around me,” she explained. Introduced through mutual friends, she instantly hit it off with a young couple who recently relocated from New York City to the Lexington area.

Interior designer Isabel Ladd

Busy professionals with young children, the homeowners wanted their home to serve as an oasis of calm; no small task given Ladd’s proclivity for color and pattern. “Personally, I like print-on-print-on-print and zingy colors,” she said. Adding to the challenge was the home’s existing rustic palette of yellow, burgundy, and green. What made the assignment easier was the clients’ complete faith in Ladd’s vision. “We like and respect one another and work together well, and [the homeowners] didn’t try to stifle my creativity,” she added.

Ladd led off by painting the walls throughout in subtly varying shades of grey and blue, and then building visual interest by layering patterns and textures in similarly restrained shades.

An antique oriental rug serves as the boldest use of color in the entry. A pair of framed charcoal rubbings taken from a cross-section of a log that hang on the second floor speak to the homeowners’ love of reclaimed wood.

“This is as neutral as I can go,” she said with a laugh. A rare boon for an interior designer, the homeowners basically started from scratch when it came to furnishings and accessories. As much as possible, Ladd relied on Lexington-based vendors, including Market on National and Haven Home & Garden, to outfit each room. “Being given free reign allowed me to fill in the details that make me especially proud of this project,” said Ladd.

In the study, a faux bois accent table is placed between a pair of barrel chairs, whose design was influenced by Japanese shoji screens.

There is a noticeable absence of extraneous decoration; in this clutter-free environment it is easy to appreciate the caliber of pieces that made the cut. True to Ladd’s signature style, there is an incorporation of high/low elements, the determination of which is which made nearly impossible by strict adherence to a defined theme, which includes clean lines, hints of chinoiserie, faux bois, and reclaimed wood.

In the living room, the interior of a stock armoire was custom-fitted to function as a bar.

In the entry, “Pushing Paint,” a commanding abstract artwork hung above the first landing of the staircase, emphasizes the scale of the light-filled space. The boldness of the piece is echoed in the saturated colors of an antique oriental rug placed in front of a long raised-panel sideboard at the base of the stairs.

Carpenter Johnathan Hopkins used reclaimed wood to build the fireplace mantle and oversized sliding barn-style door in the family room. The stone veneer surrounding the fireplace was given a facelift by a faux finisher.

To the left is a study with traditional wainscoting and built-ins that are paired with a contemporary color palette of blue/gray and crisp white. The recurring interplay of rustic and refined is demonstrated by a faux birch branch lamp with a Lucite base positioned in one corner of a streamlined desk. Tasseled fringe on the rug beneath is a nod to the playful energy of the young family captured in the framed photographs that adorn the bookshelves. Creating an interesting vignette opposite the builtins, a faux bois accent table separates a pair of barrel chairs, whose contemporary design was influenced by Japanese shoji screens.

Interior designer Isabel Ladd refers to the tiered fringe-style chandelier in the living room as the “cherry on top.” The sofa and armchairs are custom orders from Market on National.

The homeowners requested a bar in the formal living room, but when space constraints wouldn’t permit construction of a built-in unit, Ladd selected a tall armoire and had the interior custom-fitted for displaying bottles and glassware. Nubby textures of the upholstery selected for the custom sofa and armchairs begs to be touched. A “trust me” moment, the homeowners weren’t entirely sold on the tiered fringe-style chandelier until after it was installed. Ethereal and elegant, Ladd refers to it as the room’s “cherry on top.” Artwork adorning the walls pays homage to the homeowners’ ties to both New York City and the Bluegrass.

Described by Ladd as an “indispensable jack-of-all-trades,” carpenter Johnathan Hopkins fashioned a fireplace mantle and oversized sliding barn door from 100-year-old wood salvaged from a farm in Harrodsburg for the family room. Rather than rip out the stone veneer surrounding the hearth, which would have been both costly and messy, Ladd hired a faux finisher to “tone down” individual stones whose colors were deemed to be “too red.” This room has a palpable uptick in visual energy, but it still falls within the parameters of what is found elsewhere in the home.

All of the bedrooms, along with a theatre room, are located on the second floor. The minimalist master incorporates the same muted colors, ash wood case goods and geometric patterns found throughout the lower level. Also consistent are the woven wood window shades; the absence of nearby neighbors negates the need for anything more substantial.

The master bedroom.

Adhering to the prescribed color scheme but pumped up to reflect the exuberance of youth, the children’s bedrooms and playroom are both age-appropriate and chic enough to remain relevant as they mature. In the daughter’s playroom, Ladd selected a zebra-print rug from Stark and had the sliding barn door that separates the space from the bedroom painted flamingo pink. Colorcoordinated storage provides stylish space for playtime trinkets, while a blackboard and framed corkboard encourages artistic expression.

A vibrant flamingo pink sliding barn door separates the daughter’s playroom and bedroom.

“It’s really the people involved that have made this project so great,” said Ladd. Pointing out that even the homeowners’ rambunctious tri-color Bernedoodle puppy seems to fit perfectly with the peaceful ambiance she has so carefully crafted, Ladd quips, “there are no accidents.”