Historic Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, was the location for 2023’s designer house. The 108-year-old Taylor Estate featured twenty-one designers. The second floor of the home contained a warren of rooms, including four bedrooms with adjoining ensuites. I designed the Jack and Jill ensuite joining the nursery and the children’s bedroom. The room featured a 10’ ceiling as well as a view overlooking beautiful Monument Avenue. The home’s history was a key factor in my design scheme as most of the room’s fixtures and architectural details ( ie., rolled bath tub, medicine cabinet, subway tile walls, tile flooring, and Tiffany sconces) were original to the home. A period sink was sourced and added to complete the original period details.

I begin all my design projects by asking, “Who lives here?” This is especially important when designing for a design house space as there aren’t specific client needs driving the design scheme. In this case, the architectural details and period of the home drove the scheme and created my “faux client”, a free-spirited, well-travelled, young heiress, enjoying a Roaring Twenties lifestyle. “The Traveller”, as I dubbed her, dabbled in tarot card reading, visited exotic locales and European capitals, bringing back trinkets, mementos, and memories that found their way into her private 1915 sanctuary.

Journal

Richmond Symphony League Designer House 2023

Sheilah Michaels

Greetings!