Inspiring Interiors - Case Study

A couple with three kids under the age of five knew they wanted their Cleveland Park home to have a youthful energy reflective of their family. Built in 1923 and attributed to developer Harry Wardman, the brick Colonial-style house boasts a generous center hall that opens to the living room on the left and a dining room on the right via wide, cased openings. To make the three areas feel independent yet connected, interior designer Kiera Kushlan of Residents Understood used color to create an ongoing dialogue between the spaces, employing a range of blues, greens, pinks and oxblood. “The palette was the thing that we kept consistent across the three rooms,” she shares. “When a color floats to the top in one room while receding in another, there’s still an overall cohesion throughout the spaces.”

Interior Design: Kiera Kushlan, principal; Jessica Centella, principal, Residents Understood, Washington, DC.

Ideas You Can Use

• If two patterns are going to be next to each other, juxtapose an organic or floral one with something more linear or geometric.
• Combine smaller prints with larger-scale ones so they are not both fighting for your attention.
• Hesitant about pink? Try a grounding element: Black accents and the graphic quality of the entry wallpaper downplay the color’s feminine feel.