Room of the Day: A Family Room That’s Up to the Challenge
A redecorating project can find its impetus in any number of ways. For interior designer Holly Hollingsworth Phillips, her latest project began with a challenge from the blog Calling It Home. Each year, the design blog invites 20 interior designers to complete a room makeover in six weeks or less. It was the ideal pretext for a busy interior designer whose own home projects might otherwise be suspended indefinitely as she prioritizes her clients’ orders above hers.
Room at a Glance
Who lives here: Holly Hollingsworth Phillips and her husband; their three kids, ages 9, 13 and 15; and their three dogs
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Size: 484 square feet (45 square meters)
Design: Holly Phillips @ The English Room
Infusing the room with color and pattern was at the heart of the design. Spend five minutes perusing Phillips’ portfolio, and her passion for vivid color emerges as a striking theme. Indeed, it takes a deep love of color to dress an entire sectional in royal purple, hang full-length malachite-patterned curtains and paint the ceiling a bold lacquered black.
Who lives here: Holly Hollingsworth Phillips and her husband; their three kids, ages 9, 13 and 15; and their three dogs
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Size: 484 square feet (45 square meters)
Design: Holly Phillips @ The English Room
Infusing the room with color and pattern was at the heart of the design. Spend five minutes perusing Phillips’ portfolio, and her passion for vivid color emerges as a striking theme. Indeed, it takes a deep love of color to dress an entire sectional in royal purple, hang full-length malachite-patterned curtains and paint the ceiling a bold lacquered black.
Phillips says the family room already had many of the fundamentals: The layout worked fine, so no walls needed to be moved, and the previously purchased Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams sofa was a permanent investment that needed only to be recovered. The room’s placement near the back door meant that the dogs would come in after playing in the yard and immediately rub against the sofa, though, so a durable upholstery material was a requirement. A marine-grade purple vinyl from Kravet adorns the frame and is impervious to the dogs’ abrasion, and a Teflon-coated velvet keeps the cushions cozy for the family.
Rather than splurge on a pricier velvet for the sofa, Phillips chose a midrange material and had it protected to boost its performance, freeing up her budget for splurges like those stunning geode lamps, which she was careful to place away from roughhousing teenagers and pets.
Phillips swapped out one of the recessed can lights for a funky light fixture. “I needed something to break up the Swiss cheese can lights, and the chandelier really pops off the black ceiling,” she says. “Every room looks good with a touch of black.”
One furniture piece that Phillips removed from the room was an old dining table that had landed in the space by default and had become a “complete junk catcher,” she says. “You don’t realize just how much stuff you gather over time.” In its place sits a long console with storage and proper styling to discourage the family’s habit of leaving piles of stuff in plain view.
Other updates included adding a coveted game table and giving the walls a new coat of paint. An animal-print rug is a natural fit for the family-friendly space. “I’m a huge fan of animal-print carpets. They’re basically just camouflage,” Phillips says.
The designer’s favorite feature, a furry white ottoman from High Point Market, raised the eyebrows of some of her friends, who were convinced that it was destined to be stained. As it turns out, the kids have simply learned to kick off their shoes before resting their feet on the ottoman, and the piece still looks new two months later.
The designer scored the peacock chair for about $150 online. This room is a true representation of Phillips’ signature neo-traditional aesthetic of mixing antiques with more modern pieces, splurges with bargains, and layering a space with color, personal mementos and plenty of art.
Art always features prominently in Phillips’ designs and her own home. Every Monday on her blog, The English Room, she hosts an Artist Spotlight, featuring the work of artists she finds through Instagram. She often ends up buying a piece from them and has amassed quite a collection as a result.
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Browse more Rooms of the Day