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Mary Craven Photography
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Mary Craven Photography
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Mary Craven Photography
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Mary Craven Photography
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Mary Craven Photography
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Mary Craven Photography
Traditional, timeless, patina — those are the three words Natalie Hager, Lead Interior Designer and Principal of Natalie Hager Interiors, uses to describe her recent Green Hills project. For Hager, her clients’ lifestyles, needs, and unique stories are at the forefront of every project she takes on to ensure the spaces she designs are as livable as they are beautiful. So, when the owners of this home shared that they needed a welcoming place to gather with friends and family and make lasting memories for years to come, Hager got to work on making that dream a reality. Even if the project took a very different turn than what the homeowners originally had in mind.
“This project actually started off as a primary bedroom suite renovation and screened-in porch addition. To their surprise, I told the homeowners that they were making a mistake by not updating their kitchen first. Their goal was to create a space where everyone could gather, and they could host multiple families. They thought that a large screened-in porch would provide the space, but let’s face it, everyone always ends up in the kitchen. I said, ‘What if we maximize the size of your kitchen and open up some walls so that you have a larger living room area that spills into the dining and kitchen space?’ They teamed up with Sharon Pigott to give them the perfect renovation plan, and the rest is history,” Hager explains.
Hager was intentional about the materials she used to create an idyllic space for the homeowners to host family and friends. Not only do the natural elements she used create a welcoming atmosphere, but they are also designed to look better and better as time ticks on.
“I believe that every home should tell a story, and every good story begins with a name. I named this house The Timeless Patina because of the classical interior that mixes beauty with function. The materials chosen for this project had to be durable to withstand the wear and tear of multiple family and friend gatherings — ones not only with adults, but with children and grandchildren,” says Hager. “This is a home where you can sit, relax, and stay a while. The beauty only increases over time as the natural elements like brass, oak, plaster, marble, and leather, patina. Be it the mark on the leather chair or that one kitchen cabinet knob that oxidizes more quickly than the others, the imperfections are more like badges of honor of a well-lived and well-loved home.”
She also utilized color to create cohesion with the traditional feel of the house. A neutral color scheme melds the kitchen, dining, and living spaces together, and subtle patterns provide interest while still feeling classic and refined.
“The cohesion of the interior and exterior architecture is important to me, so I pulled in the milky white color scheme and mixed it with materials that would age well. The textures, colors, and materials spilled over from the kitchen into the dining and living spaces. I really like tone-on-tone colors and used warm white and a sandy beige for the bones of the spaces and brought in pops of soft blue and bold chartreuse and greens. As for pattern, I knew that there needed to be something to break up the washes of neutrals, but I chose something timeless and went with stripes. Who gets tired of stripes? They are pretty inoffensive, classic, and yet still provide interest,” Hager says.
Still, Hager never underestimates the impact of throwing an unexpected design element into her projects. And this traditional home was no exception. “One signature that I have with every house that I design is throwing in something a little bold or out of place. In this instance, I really pushed the client to do the chartreuse velvet stools. She questioned my choice because it was a little off from the timeless traditional look that we were going for. As I do with all my clients, I said, ‘We need something different in order to see the classical pieces,’” she explains.
With great natural light accentuated by Hager’s use of calming colors and materials like oak, marble, brass, linen, and leather, there’s so much to love about this project. The open concept makes hosting effortless, enabling friends and family to mingle with ease. As Hager first mentioned when she took on this project, everyone always ends up in the kitchen. So, it’s no surprise that ended up being her favorite part of the home.
“My favorite part of this home is the kitchen. Kitchens are my favorite rooms to design because I love cooking, hosting, and space planning. Also, I love drawing cabinets and imagining how my clients will organize and use their space,” Hager says. “The new footprint was actually their old kitchen plus their old dining room. We knocked down the wall that separated the two spaces so the end result would be a large, open kitchen with a center island. I knew that I wanted to bring symmetry with the two floor-to-ceiling windows, so we placed the island dead center and created a nice triangular cooking area with the sink on the refrigerator side opposite the range. I chose rift sawn white oak with a limewash so that the stain could withhold lots of tiny fingerprints, spills, and still look fresh in a decade. As much as I love marble countertops, they are a lot to keep up. We went with the next best alternative — a marble-looking quartz — and saved the natural stone for the accessories and furnishings.”
They say the kitchen is the heart of a home, and what better place to make life-long memories than in one as gorgeous as this.