Having children changes your perception of real estate. Parents envision lawns with room to run, kitchens suited to after-school snacks, and basements with space for boisterous play and visiting friends.
That said, they also want sophistication. Such was the dream six years ago when a couple with two children purchased a 5,500-square-foot Bloomfield Hills home on nearly three acres. Family-friendly assets helped them look beyond the mid-’90s design and vibrant French country interior.
Color palette was an important factor in making the home their own. They wanted pale blues, soft gray, and muted light green for a calming mood. They also wanted a home that let them “live in every room,” that exuded “peace and tranquility and simple elegance.”
Birmingham-based interior designer Lucy Earl of Jones-Keena & Co. helped them create a new look. “This house is a lot about subtlety of color and repeating colors,” Earl says. “I think people have a natural color palette they’re drawn to.”
Furnishings were selected with an eye toward the “long haul,” Earl says, adding, “I want you to buy art [next] instead of replacing and reupholstering.”
To create a home that lives well, Earl urges clients to “make rooms a journey of living and to plan how they’ll use the space in every room.”
The result in this family home was a living room that shifts easily from piano lessons and plays performed in front of the fire to cocktail parties and reading. “It’s a very peaceful room,” the mother says. “There’s no TV in here.”