Fresh from a stint living in Palo Alto where she was surrounded by modernist spaces, designer Raji Radhakrishnan of Raji RM & Associates was standing amidst the grandeur of Versailles on holiday when an idea struck her. “I was in a moment of flux about classical versus modern design,” she recalls. She imagined juxtaposing a grand, classical room with modern furnishings—but how to recreate the sumptuousness that characterizes those Old World European spaces?

Her own photographs supplied the answer. “It was the details I had captured in the ceiling frescoes and paintings on the walls,” Radhakrishnan reveals. “I realized I could blow up these photographs almost to room size to create classical backdrops.”

Thus, Raji RM Murals was born. The collection currently comprises 17 classical scenes—whittled down by the DC designer from hundreds of digital photographs and adjusted for light, shadows, color, cropping and content. The room-sized images are printed on panels and installed by a wallpaper hanger. Says Radhakrishnan, “The interplay between styles tells a new story, evoking the best of history and modern life.” rajirm.com