These homeowners express their personalities through moody tones, rich textures, and stunning lighting by Ayn-Monique Klahre | by Catherine Nguyen
These homeowners are not afraid of taking chances. Both are hair stylists and salon owners, a line of work that, one says, attracts creative minds who care about their surroundings. So when they built their home together, there was little chance it would be boring.
“Some people are paralyzed by a can of paint, but not me,” says one homeowner. “I love the creative process.” They worked with DJF Builders to design their Ridge Road home. It’s full of generous spaces where the family can comfortably gather, like the open-plan living and dining area, multiple patios, and swimming pool. But there are also plenty of bedrooms, bathrooms, and storage areas for the couple and their five kids to have space for themselves.
Chrissy Gupton served as coordinator for DJF during the build and worked with the couple to choose details like tile, fixtures, and finishes. “I tried to help them reflect their personalities — they’re both soft, kind-hearted people, but they like some shine in the right spot,” Gupton says. Lighting, in particular, was key. The homeowner likes indirect light, and they tapped Raleigh lighting designer Louise Gaskill for several custom chandeliers and used can lights with diffusers to add soft contrast and shadow to the walls.
When it came time to decorate, they enlisted Brittany Roux of Roux MacNeill Studio. The couple had a sense of what they wanted, and let Roux run with it.
“They wanted the home to be dramatic and feel luxe,” says Roux. The couple was attracted to rich hues like blues and purples, along with glam detailing, like brass hardware and textured wall coverings. “We like dark colors, we like mood and ambiance,” says one homeowner. “We want people to feel a sense of serenity and peace, but also be like, wow, I never would’ve thought of that.”
Designer Brittany Roux worked with the couple to choose decor in the open-plan living, dining, and kitchen area that was “gracious with a bit of a rock star edge.” In the kitchen, a raised walnut counter surrounds the marble interior of the island. “It’s so much nicer to set a wine glass down on wood, and it adds warmth to the space,” says the other homeowner. Chrissy Gupton guided the couple on lighting the room. “The pendant lamps work so nicely, they reflect on the countertops but speak to the lighting fixtures in the living area and breakfast nook,” she says.
The study is to the left of the front hallway, through glass French doors. Roux put in subtle nods to the couple’s work, including the ponytail-shaped sconces and art prints on the wall that show sculptures of wigs made from paper by Nikki Nye and Amy Flurry of the Paper-Cut-Project.
The breakfast nook overlooks the backyard.
The dining room is just to the right when you enter the home, opposite the study. Roux used a mix of textures and subtle patterns in varied gray tones to make it feel cozy and inviting, including nubby curtains, a diamond-pattern rug, and abstract flocked wallcovering from Black Edition by The Romo Group. Another star in the room is a framed-out, built-in wine wall that Gupton helped design. In the bedroom, Roux played up the moody tones with the botanical Cole & Sons wallpaper, a “theatrically tall” velvet headboard, and layered lighting. “We used both bedside lamps and sconces, plus a chandelier and a tray of lights around the perimeter to splash the ceiling at night,” says Roux.
The walk-in closet is done in a deep teal, with niceties like brass hardware, a small chandelier and a coffee maker.
In the bathroom, Gupton helped find the marble tile, modern fixtures, and tub.
In the powder room, Gupton helped find the unique chandelier, which diffuses the light through glass balls. “Its effervescent feel inspired the whole room,” says Roux, who played it up with marbled wallpaper. “It brings in all the blacks, grays, and whites together, but also has little bits of yellow and aqua.”
Out back, a screened-in patio serves as a lounge.
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A version of this story originally appeared in the October 2021 issue of WALTER magazine.
