As its walls were going up, designer Sara Crooks said she had quite the challenge: to “knock the shiny off” a newly constructed Edgewater home through timeless interiors.
“It was fun to think through: How can we make this feel like it’s not brand-spanking-new? How can we make it feel a little bit lived-in?” Crooks recalled about her 2018 interior design project.
In collaboration with architect Brent Gibson and builder Roger Fite, Crooks incorporated carpentry often admired in older homes, such as ample moldings and trims, smaller-planked wood floors and a coffered ceiling in the study. In the kitchen, honed marble and unlacquered brass fixtures prompted that “lived-in” feeling, while Urban Electric lighting and the white Ilve range brought modern elements to the space.
The homeowners had an affinity for European designs and antiques, having lived in France early in their marriage and also being exposed to vintage styles via their upbringings.
“They always had a special bent toward antique pieces because his mom was an antique dealer in Kansas, and her parents live in a very historic house in Nebraska,” said Crooks. “The homeowners wanted to be able to reuse antique pieces that were special to them, to put them in an envelope that felt fresh and current, but also classic and timeless.”
Crooks said she enjoyed finding places to display cherished items, like an antique mirror given by a neighbor. Today, the mirror hangs above a custom limestone mantel in the formal dining room. The surrounding built-in cabinets with brass cremone bolts and Chinoiserie wallpaper by Schumacher and Iksel complete the room.
“We felt like we really needed a ‘wow’ moment when you walk in the front door; the dining room is right off the front door and just kind of envelops you,” said Crooks, adding that the wallpaper was a favorite find. “There’s a little bit of a garden feel to it, and it kind of tied all of the elements of the project together. We really used it as a jumping-off point for some of the color selections through the rest of the house.”
A custom blue-green paint carries soft colors from the dining room to the kitchen, while bolder green and navy tones round out other rooms.
A striped Phillip Jeffries grasscloth wallpaper defines the entry. Crooks said the wallpaper’s interplay of organic and geometric patterns brings the expansive area “back down to human scale.”
“We papered the whole entry, all the way up to the second story, in this grasscloth, and it made it so much more cozy, welcoming and inviting when you walk in the house,” she said.
Crooks has been welcomed inside the Edgewater home many times since she completed the project. Through the ongoing friendship, Crooks said she has delighted in seeing the homeowners use and appreciate the rooms.
“I always think about design like you’re setting a stage; the house is really the stage where a lot of your life’s memories unfold,” Crooks said.
Crooks rose to the challenge and set the stage within the new home, resulting in interiors that still feel fresh and relevant today, six years later. Her timeless design lives on.
