At Home With
KingsHaven
Estates, Interiors, Landscapes
At Home with KingsHaven: Interiors, Estates, Gardens, Objects
Lauren Wylonis
ESTATES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
7
A House Worth Coming Home To
19
Introduction: “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost”
11
Agincourt: A New Old Arts and Crafts House
23
Grantham: Brick of a Different Hue
59
Heydon: The Secret Garden Estate
95
interiors Room with a Point of View
LANDSCAPES 137
209 Landscapes and Joyful Living
Mindful Design 139 for Better Living
Choosing aN OUTLOOK
Lighting the Way 159
Garden 221 Architecture and Outdoor Living
Beauty in the Details
181
Antiques, Art, Objects, and Collections
193
211
Introduction
“Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost” My travels around the world in search of artisans and artwork keep me in a constant state of motion and exploration. One day I might be out on a KingsHaven job site on Philadelphia’s Main Line, working with a stonemason to salvage the granite facade of a historic estate. The next day I might be on a plane to South America to work with blacksmiths on a lighting fixture or piece of furniture, or to meet with artisans who create gorgeous handcrafted baskets in the designs of their tribal ancestors. When I am not traveling, I am happily and meticulously designing lighting, furniture, and home decor for our KingsHaven store and design projects, often inspired by the people, places, animals, landscapes, and details I have encountered. I find beauty in every country and culture I meet, in every unexpected adventure. Each nation, each city, each village, each forested plot, rain or redwood, has its own people, animals, homes, art, and antiques. I don’t find anything more beautiful than an item made by hand, more fascinating than the story of that artist and that piece. I am committed to developing strong and fair trade relationships with these artists, ensuring a benefit to them, to their families, and to their communities. The artists and craftspeople I have met and worked with have put their hearts and souls into their work, and it shows. We create, together, something that is bigger, better, and more distinctive than any of us could have created alone. These pieces allow our clients to create individual and utterly satisfying homes. Whether design preferences tend toward the traditional or the contemporary, our projects include sumptuous, sometimes exotic textures; elegant details; refined materials; and artisanship that extends into art. Each project is an extraordinary experience in design. The artists and craftsmen, the KingsHaven team, and our clients enjoy the searching, creating, and wandering that culminates in a wonderfully designed space. Our projects are as singular as each client’s fingerprints, yet all accomplish the goal of providing a backdrop for luxurious and joyous living.
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I did not come to a career in design via the traditional route. I practiced and taught as a forensic psychiatrist for fifteen years before starting my design career. Even so, art is my passion and an essential part of who I am as a person. Since the age of seven, I have been drawing, watercolor painting, and oil painting. As a premed student at Johns Hopkins University, my few electives were devoted to the arts: studio drawing and art history. In the little free time I had in medical school and residency, I explored throwing pottery, making tiles, and refinishing antique furniture. For a period I researched needlepoint designs printed in nineteenth-century women’s magazines and reproduced them in modern colorways for contemporary decor. I searched flea markets and thrift shops for art pottery, antique mirrors, prints, and textiles. In retrospect, I can see that the same love of people, their stories, and their challenges that led me into psychiatry also guided me into design. My daily job was to help people with feelings of depression, anxiety, and fear. I had patients who had been devastated by severe traumas or had lived through harsh violence. My goal was to assist them in getting past the difficult times to become the best versions of themselves: happy, functional, in good relationships, and able to succeed in whatever they chose to do. My treatment centered as much around guiding them toward healthy life choices and habits as it did around therapy and, when necessary, medication. I found psychiatry stimulating and fulfilling, but there came a time that my young children, boy-and-girl twins, needed more of my time. While I missed my practice, I found nothing more rewarding than being with my kids. Like many others, our family had educational and health challenges, and there was no place I was more needed. As I drove my kids to activities, helped with homework, and chaperoned class trips, I began to renovate our home. Over the next few years, restoring and redesigning the houses we lived in became a new passion. A love of historic architecture led our family to choose houses with charm and fine craftsmanship that at the same time needed a great deal of work. My goal was to create a home that made our family life easier to manage and our social life more rewarding. I developed a style that was based on healthy, easy, and beautiful family living while preserving the architecture and charm of the original buildings and simultaneously adding a contemporary quality. My spaces were designed as much for our children as for the adults and were flexible and adaptable in every aspect, from the colors I used to the lighting I designed. I also took my first steps into
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introduction
24
estates
A New Old Arts and Crafts House
25
30
estates
A New Old Arts and Crafts House
31
A New Old Arts and Crafts House
39
40
estates
130
estates
The Secret Garden Estate
131
Antiques, Art, Objects, and Collections Expressing the passions and personalities of those who share a home is a thoughtful and continuous endeavor. Beloved items and favorite colors cultivate joy and diminish daily stress. Art, antiques, handcrafted objects, and collections contribute greatly to character and mood. There are countless wonderful ways to integrate artworks and objects into home design. Use art to bring spirit into a space. Abstract art updates the ambience of a more traditionally designed room; conversely, more traditional art can make a casual space feel finished and formal. Artworks should harmonize with the colors of a room. Marine art complements a home with blue and green tones, and plein air paintings accent a residence with green, gold, and neutral shades. A black, white, and neutral palette sets off brightly colored pop art, and the artworks will not clash with other colors. A stone sculpture or beautifully woven basket placed on a pedestal at the end of an axis, perhaps in front of a window or a wall, creates a compelling focal point.
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194
interiors
$55.00 [USA] £50.00 [GB]