Caroline Allison
Interior designer Julie Couch upholstered her 1960s Krome-Kraft gold-tone chairs in a faux ostrich leather of the snowiest white.
This upholstery is faux not simply because real ostrich leather is more typically found on an Hermès Kelly handbag priced at $40,000. This “luxury synthetic” (in designer parlance) is faux so that it readily resists stains while remaining glamorous.
Such design solutions allow Couch to maintain an atmosphere of stealthy elegance in which to live with her husband, Mark, and children, daughter Marlowe, 2, and son Gus, 7. All six vintage chairs (originally nabbed at GasLamp Antiques for $500) will inevitably seat children eating syrup-drenched pancakes.
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Caroline Allison
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Caroline Allison
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Caroline Allison
“It was very intentional to make our home as livable as I could, but to still have these moments of whimsy, glamour, and history,” Couch says. “I wanted this, even though we have young children.”
The family’s 7,000-square-foot “forever home” is a relaxed French Provincial style designed by Pfeffer Torode Architecture with landscaping by Daigh Rick Landscape Architects. The home features four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and two powder rooms, along with a swimming pool and a cabana. Couch designed the interiors as a pastiche of “indestructible” fabrics and elevated pieces—antique oil paintings, French screens, artistic lighting and sculptures—that tip the aesthetic temperature to a smolderingly adult level.
The faux ostrich leather chairs flank a rustic dining table—another child-proof find—that Couch calls “beat up and imperfect. It had a lot of life before us, even.” The table was found in France, while other collectibles hail from Couch’s favorite haunts: The Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville, GasLamp Antiques and Decorating in Nashville, and Scott Antique Markets in Atlanta.
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Caroline Allison
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Caroline Allison
In one of many savvy moves, Couch ordered kitchen barstools crafted from smooth wood to accommodate children sitting on them in wet swimsuits. (“They’ve got true patina,” Couch says.) The living room’s two sofas from Verellen are upholstered in a rich cognac leather.
“It’s hard to hurt these,” Couch says. “My little boy jumps from one sofa to the coffee table to the other sofa all the time. And sometimes he wears a cape!”
Except for a few rooms, the interior walls are painted Benjamin Moore Decorator White. Couch likes strong contrasts, so she layered rich colors against the light, crisp interiors to create warmth and authenticity.
“If you don’t have the warmth, it feels very austere,” Couch says. “The last thing I want is a house that feels standoffish.”
The kitchen is a study in Art Deco luxury, with black, white, and brass as the color palette. A gleaming La Cornue stove is its centerpiece, an artistic amalgam of shiny black and brass, while the countertops are made of Calcutta gold marble and the cabinets are painted Sherwin Williams’ Tricorn Black, Couch’s favorite black.
“I do so many homes that have classic white kitchens,” Couch says. “I love them, but I wanted a strong contrast.”
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Caroline Allison
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Caroline Allison
Despite her clever childproofing moves, Couch splurged in the master bedroom with a decorative pillow made of shimmering tiger-print silk from Scalamandré.
“I joke that it’s the most expensive thing in my house,” Couch says with a laugh. “I’ll say, ‘No markers or crayons near that pillow! Nobody eats on that pillow!’”
With her master class in childproofing, Couch has created this forever home as a place where her children can unwind and be themselves—even after they go away to college, when, Couch says, “I’ll do their laundry and make them pancakes.”
And even then, there will be nothing to fear if pancake syrup drips onto the white, ostrich “leather” seats at the dinner table.