Text: Alice Welsh Doyle | Photography: Angie Seckinger
Whether he’s hiking in Rock Creek Park, reading on his screened-in porch, taking a canoe ride, playing Frisbee in the backyard with his dog Andy, or simply taking it a little easier, summer is a special time of the year for interior designer David Mitchell. He has devoted himself to keeping the allure of the season going year-round at his personal residence—in metropolitan Washington, D.C., no less. “It’s an adult version of summer camp and has a masculine charm to it,” says Mitchell.”
Summer cabin style could easily cross over into the realm of kitsch, but Mitchell’s deft hand knows how to keep it refined and casual at the same time. His design scheme includes plaid fabrics, woven metallic bronze screen doors, wooden canoe paddles, and an eclectic mix of pieces gathered since his university days. Floating shelves on either side of the living room fireplace showcase a rotation of flora from Mitchell’s lush garden. Depending on the time of year, these can include tree limbs and hydrangea in an assortment of oversize vases.
“I like to include nature in my interiors,” says Mitchell. The understated palette of khaki, green, brown, and ivory is “neutral, not beige” and flows throughout the rooms, though it takes a turn in the TV room where a favorite color appears in artwork and pillows. “Orange can be a tricky color to decorate with, but I am still fighting the good fight,” he says with a laugh. Even the rug, which consists of sea-grass remnants from prior installations, is cleverly joined together with orange grosgrain ribbon.
Reuse and reinvention are trademark Mitchell, and their influence shines throughout the home. A Victorian-era veterinarian’s surgical gurney serves as a kitchen island, and a vintage garden cart, welded with a galvanized steel top, makes a cool and convenient coffee table. And although Mitchell admits that the garden stool, which he helped make famous, has become ubiquitous, its multipurpose nature and indoor/outdoor style trump any concerns about overuse.
Mitchell, who believes in collections, has groupings of Danish pottery, chemical glass, and natured-inspired photographs. “I also have a penchant for architectural pieces,” he says. These include a brass and iron French architect’s lamp, a stool in the kitchen, and architectural drawings of boats grouped together on a wall in the TV room. “I bought these drawings for $12 each. They were blue and white, and I had them reverse printed in orange,” says Mitchell. He also filled a long space with 12 photographs, identically framed, to create a gallery hall in the living room.
His home displays treasures that are not too flashy but still impressive. A rare Biedermeier clock—a birthday gift from his sister—and an equally rare Swedish art deco chandelier grace the dining room. A large wooden orb (only one of six made for a Chicago industrialist) has a place of prominence in the living room. However, everything, no matter its provenance, lends a hand in creating the myth of an eternal summer.
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