In the living room, the linen draperies suggest age. “I like a chintz in bedrooms,” explains Floyd, “but I like a linen in living areas, because it holds itself better with the scale of the furnishings. It’s heartier and weightier—a heavier texture to work with larger furniture.” Chenille gives a soft hand to the sofa, and “its wearability allows the family to lie around in their bare feet, hiking clothes, or ski things.” Practicality also dictated Floyd’s upholstery treatment for a comfy club chair. “I love the look of an old leather chair, but I want the comfort of fabric.” Leather on the outside and fabric on the inside give the custom chair the best of both.
Floyd’s fabric selections, along with her palette, were exactly what Roxanne had in mind. “I told Linda that I wanted warm, rich colors, that I wanted overstuffed, comfortable furniture, and that I wanted rooms where nobody would be afraid to plop down and throw their feet up on anything,” says the homeowner.
Floyd designed all of the finishes and refined the architectural features. “Local stone was a given for the living room fireplace,” she says. The mantel is similarly rugged. “It’s just a huge chunk of wood hand-hewn by the contractor.” Exposed beams at the ceiling are not only decorative but structural. “We used a golden glaze throughout the house on all the woodwork,” notes the designer. “I wanted this real sense of age—a finish so thick it appears it’s been painted repeatedly over the generations.”
The designer’s fascination with old films led to her storefront solution for separating the kitchen from the living room. The concept took shape as she was browsing in an antiques-shop basement and stumbled across a stack of glass-topped panels.
“I was told they were a room divider. I loved them, but it wasn’t until the next day, when I was in the shower, that I realized I could use this idea in the kitchen—a storefront window that you’re peeking through.
I could just see it from the old movies—the faces pressed against the glass in the old pastry shop. This was the solution I needed to separate the kitchen, but give it a lake view,” Floyd explains. Instead of using the antique divider, however, she sketched a design and commissioned the project to a woodworker.
Some custom work involved more hands- and feet-on help. Roxanne and contractor Kevin Muir helped Floyd customize the floral hooked staircase runner with a subtle bear-paw pattern by crawling up the stairs on all fours. “We rolled out butcher paper, taped it to the stairs, and crawled up, trying to determine where a bear’s paws should land. You should have seen us!” says Roxanne, still amused by their pigeon-toed posturing. Though the house is finished, the playful spirit is still at work. Come summer, “Bearly There” is the only place to be.
