Two-Story Great Room

The room had good bones and bad finishes. A coffered octagonal ceiling, double-height arched windows, real volume. All of it was lost under tan paint, orange-toned floors, and a traditional fireplace surround that pulled the eye down instead of up. The owners wanted the room to feel as tall and light as it actually was.

We started with the wall. The old fireplace came out, surround and hearth and all, and we built a full two-story millwork panel composition in its place. The new fireplace sits inside it, quieter and cleaner, and the panels carry the eye all the way up to the ceiling. The arched mirror over the mantel picks up the line of the real arched windows on either side.

From there it was about lightening everything. New wide-plank flooring in a pale tone, fresh paint on the walls, trim, and the coffered ceiling so the architecture finally reads. The original brass ceiling fan came down. A black designer sputnik-style chandelier went up in its place, scaled to the volume of the room. New black-framed windows sharpened the openings.

The furniture was ordered custom to fit the proportions. Two long sofas, a pair of accent chairs, a low wood coffee table on a soft Persian-style rug. Enough to make a two-story room feel like a room.