Bringing the Drama to Longfellow Place

Instagram is a fantastic place to meet new friends—especially when you’re a part of the interior design world. In fact, IG is exactly how the client for our project in Little Rock, Arkansas reached out to interior designers.

We were immediately drawn to his fashionable sensibility and uniquely bold personality. Think GQ cover, starched collar, stylish cuff links. He wasn’t afraid of color, he wasn’t afraid to take design risks, and the ask was crystalline clear: “I want my place magazine ready. Give me something out of the pages of Elle Decor. I want high drama. Can you do drama?”

Can our Interior Design team do drama? Don’t make us laugh.

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Designing for Drama

We immediately started to design with rich texture and high drama in mind. Our focus for this project was the client’s study, which ran parallel to his dining room, and both rooms had these gorgeous wainscoting details and beautiful millwork already in place that we knew we wanted to highlight in our design.

Some of the materials we knew we wanted to work into his space were velvet and hide because of the visual texture they provide, and of course, we needed a swanky bar cart to make it easy for him to entertain guests. Take a peek at the results below.

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Masculine, Modern Glamour

You might call the aesthetic for this space “modern glamour,” but the look is much more masculine and detail-oriented than that term alone. It’s ultra-textured, handsome, moody, and edgy with just the right amount of Hollywood nostalgia.

The palette we went with was mostly grey, white, and navy with a hint of gold in the accent decor (as per the client’s request), but we also reimagined the room by adding a faux églomisé ceiling that casts an alluring glimmer across the metallic elements in the room and brings out the sheen on the skin of the velvet sofa.

“Ultra-textured, handsome, moody, and edgy with just the right amount of Hollywood nostalgia.”

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Essential Dramatic Pieces

Our Dorian navy velvet sofa is undoubtedly the star of the room. If you’re looking to add some drama to your space, a velvet statement piece will always do the trick. (Read more on how to decorate with velvet here).

And to heighten this affecting dramatic feel even more, we installed a custom diptych directly behind and dropped our stunning Ventura glass chandelier at the room’s center. We’re also OBSESSED with the cool, nonchalant shape of our Pietra arm chair whose curved ivory frame and creamy hair-on-hide upholstery layers even more yummy texture into this look. They were just perfect for this room.  

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Designing for the Entertainer

Another element of the space we knew we wanted to highlight was these gorgeous built-in secretaries you see above. When the client asked us to help him style his shelves, we actually had him change the hardware to gold and put together a full rendering of the shelves.

The rendering we offered had every piece that’d go on the shelves completed to scale, and it even included the positioning of the objects! We did a very similar rendering to help him style his bar cart as well since we knew he was quite the entertainer. This is just an example of range of services we can provide at Design Bar. Read more tips on how to style your own shelves, or just contact us for some product recommendations!

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Kathy Kuo Home Design Services