When Phoebe Howard took on the major renovation and decoration of a Georgian house in Jacksonville, Florida, she knew she’d have to strike a delicate balance of historical propriety and modern flourish for a family with young children. “Although the house is traditional, the client likes striking, modern furnishings,” she says. So the designer, known for her deft use of color and fabrics, set about creating a house of many moods, from the cozy, glossy blue library to the shimmery, romantic master bedroom. The shifts in color and light form a mosaic of fresh spaces grounded in proven principles of design. But foremost in the design objective was comfort and uncomplicated practicality for family life.
Throughout the house, Howard uses paint finishes to enhance the house’s best features and to compensate for its limitations. In the entry hall, she enlisted Andrew Bruckman, a decorative painter from Little Rock, Arkansas, to put a classically geometric pattern on the walnut floors. A leopard print runner climbing the stairs provides a clever counterpoint to the traditional design, reinforced by zebra print trim on the window treatments. In the living room, Howard gave the ceiling a high-gloss finish of pale green to lend the illusion of greater height. She also chose white walls and light furnishings to capitalize on available light. “It’s a room with no windows,” she says, “surrounded by a gallery on one side and a sunporch on the other, so we had to maximize indirect light.” A tone-on-tone cream wallpaper keeps the room bright, “but adds subtle dimension,” notes Howard. A pale, graphic rug amplifies the sense of being surrounded by light.
A nearly photorealistic painting by Isabel Bigelow that hangs over the sofa adds modern flair to a spacious room filled with ikat club chairs and a velvet sofa. The painting is just one in a large collection of contemporary works that Howard wove into her design. The collection provides a bold counterpoint to English and Italian furniture. In the entry, a black and white painting by Cecil Touchon hangs over an Italian carved, gilt console. In the dining room, a contemporary seascape mingles comfortably with a 1940s Italian buffet, and a classic dining table sits beneath a modern chandelier of gilded branches and large crystal teardrops.
In the music room, a glassed-in porch overlooking the St. Johns River, a modern canvas by Michael Abrams hangs behind a grand piano and sets the scene for touches of blue in the Oushak rug and velvet-seated dining chairs. The breakfast room takes its red direction from a crimson canvas, and a new table and chairs strike a note of midcentury glamour.
Perhaps the most dramatic mood change occurs in the master bedroom. “It’s a room wrapped with windows,” Howard says. “So I wanted to make use of the play of light with pearlescent finishes.” Shimmery gray walls envelop the room in a misty glow, and touches of lavender play off the soft gray of wool, satin, velvet, and leather. The feet of a slipper chair are painted in silver leaf; the television cabinet at the foot of the bed is upholstered in pearlized leather and finished with silver nailheads; and a frothy crystal chandelier illuminates the space. Satin and wool draperies enclose the room, reducing noise and cocooning the retreat with their thick, soft folds. It’s a space for finding peace and rest, a room ultimately designed for comfort that also achieves upper-register style.
