Project Description
Priorities
• Reconfigure the entryway to create a better first impression
• Add visual interest to the dining room
• Update interior overall
Solutions
The original entry to this Nashville home was blocked by the stairs,
which turned directly into the foyer. Designer Ridley Wills reworked the
stairs to spill straight out, widening at the bottom in a welcoming
way. To update what the clients felt was the “unimaginative” stairwell,
Wills replaced the wooden handrails with elegant iron hand and shoe
rails and balusters. The effect is light and open and fits with the more
updated aesthetic the clients wanted to achieve in the other rooms on
the main floor.
To further open the space, Wills improved the
entry hall by removing the cased openings and false transoms of
transition spaces.
In the dining room, Wills removed dated panel
molding from the walls and had bookcases built between windows and on
either side of the wide doorway. The effect gives the space an updated
look that improves upon—but doesn’t eliminate—the home’s traditional
origins.
In keeping with that idea, Wills replaced the
single-lite windows in the dining room’s bay with divided-lite windows.
“These are more true to the traditional nature of the architecture,” he
points out.
Judges’ Comments
For this project, the team
was able to do so much within the budget—redoing the railings and
stairs, adding built-ins, cleaning up the rooms, raising doors, and
removing the wall panels. Using black and whites for the “before” photos
and color photos for the “after” shots was a great way to present the
work in the award-entry binder.
Products
Lighting fixtures: Juno Lighting Group
Paints/stains: Sherwin-Williams/PPG Industries Glyptex
Windows: Marvin Windows and Doors