Stephen Knollenberg’s interior designs tend to feel as light-filled and airy as a Lake Michigan beach on a blue-sky day. “I gravitate to pale blues and pale greens, not bold colors,” Knollenberg says. The lavish application of white also adds luminosity to many of his interiors.
So it comes as a bit of a surprise when he mentions his affection for the use of black in his work.
“I like a certain harmony in the layout,” he says. That balance comes with shots of black. “There’s a graphic element; the dark gives a pleasing juxtaposition and energy.
I like to work a lot in those contrasts; black and white create a pop.”
Knollenberg also blends eras of furnishings, as is visible in the classic 1920s American Colonial pictured on these pages. A modern coffee table beside toile fabric upholstery, for example, “provides some tension,” he says.
Because he was designing the home for a Birmingham family with young, active children, the design needed to be functional. Beginning with a clean backdrop that had classic detailing, Knollenberg added upholstery with cool blues and “threw in” a modern piece here and there.
“It was an American classic that I contemporized,” he says. In a main-floor hall, he papered walls with a traditional scenic mural, one that’s purchased in panels. He wanted the bucolic scene to be updated, however, so he had the “inhabitants” (people and animals) removed.
Making a quieter landscape fits with Knollenberg’s desire to create edited spaces with a controlled color palette and minimal accessories. “There’s a point in every project, in each room, where there’s enough; there’ a sweet spot where it’s clean and livable,” he says.
Knollenberg’s career also seems to have found that coveted sweet spot. This year began with Architectural Digest naming him as one of its AD100. He had a project featured in the same publication this past summer. A month later, he traveled to Seattle to advise a metro Detroit client on the selection of finishes for a new yacht.
But Knollenberg, who was named a Detroit Home Design Awards Rising Star in 2005, says, “I don’t consider myself a fancy designer. There’s a comfortable, livable element to a lot of the rooms that I do.
“I want my work to be relaxed.”
Photographs by Beth Singer
The foyer in this 10,000-square-foot 1920s Colonial has a herringbone-pattern slate floor. Furnishings include a 19th-century Louis Philippe silver-leaf mirror and a late 18th-century whitewashed Swedish bench. The walls are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator White.
The dining room is furnished with a 72-inch round table and a black tray table from Brunschwig & Fils at Michigan Design Center. The paper-backed linen walls are trimmed with linen gimp fastened with pewter nailheads. The wool-and-silk carpet is from Patterson Flynn & Martin. Sconces are from Charles Edwards.
Knollenberg purchased a large collection of antique English and Swedish books that line the shelves on both floors (in addition to the homeowners’ books) of the yellow-pine paneled library. The 17th-century French territorial map drawn on vellum was bought by the designer in New York. The upholstered sofa and chairs are by John Saladino. The gray-blue woven rope-and-chenille rug is from Stark.
The shoebox-shaped living room has mirror-image furnishings on each end (see next two pages) with a center grouping that includes mismatched chairs to give a more “collected,” inviting feeling. The sisal rug is by Stark. The round table is Dessin Fournir. Linen draperies and unlined linen-gauze blinds soften the windows. Doors flanking the fireplace lead to a two-story, pine-paneled library.
The ends of
the living room mirror each other, with the four tables each having
a mate on the other side. Tables include one from Nancy Corzine and a nearly invisible silver-leaf cube design.
A hall off the foyer is papered in mural panels. Knollenberg
had the animals and figures removed from the landscape to create a quieter scene. Knollenberg bought the 1920s mahogany chairs in San Francisco. A black-resin Martha Sturdy floor vase with twigs placed in a row serves as a focal point.
Knollenberg says the home flows well for parties. It also flows from outside
in. “I never want to walk into a house and think, ‘Whoa, what happened here?’” he says. The foyer is open to the third floor.
In the foyer is a vintage Steinway piano and antique English trunk. The chair is Michael Smith/Jasper Furniture. Gray-blue linen draperies are lined with striped silk. Visible above in the upper landing is “Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia,” a 1934 oil on canvas by Robert Sanborn.
The family-room addition is a double-height space. Knollenberg covered the walls in paper-backed linen that matches the linen draperies. The sofas are Holly Hunt and the contemporary ottoman is Lewis Mittman from Tennant & Co. at Michigan Design Center. A limestone-top coffee table sits on a leather-bordered chocolate-brown sisal rug from Stark, also at Michigan Design Center.
