DESIGN: A Speakeasy-Inspired Living Room in Myers Park

Brooke Adler’s clients invited her to see their new Myers Park home the day they closed on the property. Adler remembers the first floor having no dimension, color, or lighting and describes the living room as “a cold, white box.” The 3,300-square-foot house also had a family room adjacent to the kitchen, so the homeowners wanted this space to be an adults-only area. “This was the husband’s room,” Adler says. “The dining room was her space to play, and the living room was his. He wanted it saturated in color … and to feel like a speakeasy where you could have a cigar and bourbon.”

GREEN LIGHT

Adler painted the walls, trim, and 14-foot ceiling in Backwoods by Benjamin Moore. “He wanted it to feel moody, so I knew he’d be open to navy or dark green,” she says. “With those tall ceilings and windows, there was no chance of it feeling too dark. We added automated shades for functionality, but that was the only white in the room.” For lighting, Adler wanted to get the scale right (“most lighting is designed for 10-foot ceilings”), so she chose a gold statement chandelier from Hudson Valley. “He likes a modern spin, and this lighting is a fun way to go in that direction.”   

NEW GROUND

The fireplace and built-in shelves were original to the room, but everything else was new. Adler added an area rug from Stark, a custom upholstered sofa from Highland House, and an onyx coffee table from Vanguard Furniture. The leather accent chairs, also from Highland House, have custom blue piping for contrast. Gold accent tables from Arteriors encase the sofa, and the gold bar cart from Villa & House holds the homeowner’s cocktail accoutrements. To punch up the blue drapes, Adler added a custom Christopher Farr Cloth trim. “I wanted that pop of orange to bring out the orange in the sofa,” she says. “The drapes could be dark without making the room feel small.” 

FINISHING TOUCHES

Adler had the painting above the fireplace commissioned by local artist Libby Smart and found the prints on the adjacent wall at Wendover Art. She dialed up the inside of the bookshelves with a gray grass cloth from Thibaut and accessorized them with items she collected during the year. “The basket on the bottom right I found in the Outer Banks. … The antique bowl on the top shelf I found at an antiques market in Texas,” she says. “The Wedgwood china belonged to her mother, and those are her family’s records. These are all pieces that mean something to them.”