Paul Miller
Interior Designer Through millwork and masonry, furnishings and finishes, lighting and leaps of faith, MakeNest Interiors transforms spaces with thoughtful decisions based on core design principles. In our ‘Why We Did That’ series, we take you behind our recommendations.
Photo: Matthew Lofton
The hearth room at Nest #226 is the nexus of this house, but its namesake was leaving our clients cold and it was not hard to see why. The arched niche was distracting, the crown molding out of place, and the vaguely pink tone of the painted brick a real limitation as we developed a color palette for the house around our client’s art collection. Additionally, the hearth was hamstrung by a tray ceiling that constrained its height.
Instinct told me that the niche and the crown molding made the hearth appear squatty and that we could make this focal point a lot more attractive by eliminating both and changing the face material. After exploring ideas with thumbnail sketches, I shifted to our rendering software to ensure accuracy of scale and clarity of intent.
The drawing confirmed that our changes would make the hearth appear taller and more appealing. We changed the shape of the firebox to a sturdy, big-shouldered silhouette that grounds the mass. Stone veneer from Frederick Block was chosen to compliment similar masonry in the adjacent sunroom and a mantel shelf of warm, rustic salvaged wood from Berryville-based Local Wood provides a more generous surface for display.
A designer’s every choice is intentional, mindful of scale and proportion, rhythm and harmony, contrast and texture. Our ‘Why We Did That’ series is a bite-sized dive into one-off changes, big and small, that are part of our home transformations.
Interested in learning how we can bring change to your nest? Give our studio a call at 540-336-3385 or hit the button below to tell us more about your project.
