An open staircase to the third level is the architectural centerpiece of the living room, sweeping gracefully along a curved wall lined with tall transomed windows. To exaggerate the windows, putty-colored draperies fall from the ceiling to the floor, where hems are allowed to gently crumple. “I like draperies to break on the floor a bit, so these are a couple of inches longer than floor length,” Brown says. “It makes the room a little more casual—not too stuffy, not too serious.”

A round table nestles into the curve of the staircase, offering a place for keys and mail, and a side chair is covered in a tone-on-tone woven fabric depicting cherry blossom branches.

Sources:
Round table (Laura Kirar collection #722, finish: Dark Walnut): McGuire Furniture.
Chair (“Bel Air’’ #337, finish: Willow): Ironies through Ainsworth-Noah.
Fabric on “Bel Air’’ chair (“Kairdo” #F1390-06): Osborne & Little.
Leather piping on “Bel Air’’ chair (#973-34243-2172/Pale Tundra): Samuel & Sons.
Throw pillow (“Simpliciano-02’’): Sheila Coombes through Zoffany.
Three vases: Roy Hampton through Jerry Pair.
Calligraphy book on table: Mimi Williams.
Art behind table (Methods Deployed Against That Which Remains Invisible, by Suk ja Kang-Engles); art on stairs (White Fields, by Udo Noger): Bill Lowe Gallery.