Alyssa Rosenheck
Kathryn Berschback
When Kathryn Berschback’s client showed her the living room and side room of her 1929 New England Colonial-style Belle Meade home, one color stood out: “I call it ‘blah blah beige,’” she laughs. The client was looking to liven up the rooms, and in Berschback she found her perfect match.
“Every designer has something that they’re known for, and I do think that might be my use of color,” says Berschback.
The designer’s traditional Nashville upbringing, paired with her modern sensibility, made her an ideal fit for the project.
“The goal for me was to use this rich saturated color but keep a traditional feel to the space,” she says. “I tend to be more of a modernist at heart, but I was able to be inspired by a lot of the design I was exposed to growing up and mix the two together. The color in the space is what lends a more updated fresh feel to it in both rooms.”
Alyssa Rosenheck
From the cool Sherwin Williams Georgian Bay walls in the living room, to the Benjamin Moore Colonial Verdigris accents in the side room, this 1960s New York-inspired space oozes tonal chic.
In the living room, Berschback wanted to create a space that was elevated in design but familiar and comfortable for the homeowners.
“They really wanted to use this space—it’s technically their formal living room but they wanted it to be comfortable and usable,” says Berschback. “They never sat in this room before and now they go in there all the time, which makes me so happy. They have loved it—the client said her girlfriends come over and they sit there and have drinks, and she and her husband sit in there at the end of the day.”
Berschback mixed old and new pieces to give the room a fresh perspective.
“I incorporated items that the homeowner already owned and that had sentimental value—the Heriz rug, porcelain, artwork—with both modern and classic elements to create a fresh, updated, and functional space,” she says. “By using rich, saturated color and pattern, a mix of contemporary and classic furniture and objects, and modern artwork, I gave the home a more glamorous and modern look while honoring timeless design.”
That’s evident in the living room, where tone on tone mingles with mixed materials—matte blue walls frame a lacquered blue fireplace—and an eclectic-meets-elegant mix of fabrics—blue velvet, leopard and tiger prints, oh my—provides depth and personality.
The side room’s original bar—a tasteful but tame stained wood—was replaced with a colorful custom creation.
“I drew and designed every inch of the bar from top to bottom, including the custom brass supports for the shelves and the leather upholstered cabinet fronts with the nail heads,” says Berschback.
"Elemental Arthouse did the custom metal brackets for the shelves in the bar with the rivets going down. And I was really excited about the use of the colored barware. I loved the mix of vibrant saturated colors, and the bar has somewhat of a throwback vintage feel to it because of the colored glass and the vibrant cobalt blue.”
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Alyssa Rosenheck
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Alyssa Rosenheck
To further make the bar pop, Berschback kept the walls neutral, but added pops of color with the furnishings and accent pieces. The Ed Nash painting’s warm, gradient shades of coral and orange are echoed in the sofa and the accent tables. She then added complementary colors into the mix.
“I wanted to play up the richness of those colors, so we came in and painted all the bookcases in the room. The green was pulling from some of the colors in the rug already in that room and also complementing the green and the orange from the blue room—the colors complement each other when you stand in one room and look into the other. There’s also that hint of green in the Ed Nash and I really wanted to bring that forward. And that’s how we decided on the green cabinet fronts on the bar.”
There was also a lot of intentionality in the geometry of the space—the different shapes happening in each room.
“I think that’s really visually pleasing—that mix of color and geometry and shape.”
Another thing Berschback found pleasing? The experience.
“I don’t work from a formula; I go off the feeling I get when I’m in a space. My greatest joy is when the client allows me to see that through and trusts the process. And this was definitely one of those experiences,” says Berschback. “It’s kind of rare that a client will let you see the space, walk away, come up with an entire design plan, and then say, ‘This is great. Let’s do all of it!’ It was such a joy, and so much fun for me.”