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As good fortunes go, inheriting a grand 1864 Greek Revival spread in the heart of Kentucky horse country has got to rank right up there with winning the Triple Crown. But being to-the-manor-born doesn’t necessarily mean wanting to live a mannered life—at least not for racing royalty Kristin and Ron Winchell, who use the historic horse farm as a second home. “They weren’t interested in living in a museum,” says Lexington–based designer Matthew Carter, tasked by the Winchells with adapting their formidable bequest to better reflect their young family’s laidback esprit.
Matthew Carter set out to transform a Lexington, Kentucky, horse farm with a sweeping, Greek Revival façade, built in 1864, into an approachable haven without being oblivious to its noble roots.
Max Kim-Bee
In the stair hall, painted pale-pink Setting Plaster by Farrow & Ball, an unexpected round jute rug from Serena & Lily and a vintage Karl Springer occasional table offset the formality of a gilt-framed vintage portrait and a banquette upholstered in Lee Jofa’s Althea floral.
Max Kim-BeeBut pretending a wedding cake is a petit four would have been just plain silly. “The house is imposing,” says Carter. “You curve up the allée and hit those four giant columns on the façade. The ceilings on the first floor are 16 feet high, and maybe a foot less on the second. We couldn’t just ignore all that.” Lucky for the Winchells, Carter has a yen for sweeping out the cobwebs in historic houses without going overboard. “I don’t want anything to feel too stuffy and traditional or too cool and modern. I love it all and want to make
everything feel happy together in the middle.”
The entrance hall gently bridges the living room and library—hers- and his-inflected spaces with feminine and masculine vibes. “One is fresh and colorful, the other is dark and moody, and the dichotomy sets the whole thing off.”
Max Kim-BeeThe reincarnation starts in the entryway, a formerly too-starched space Carter reconfigured to announce the brave new approach. Though the layout is pretty standard—a chandelier drizzles crystal over a center table on a faded, just-so Oushak—the backdrop feels fresh, with walls wrapped in a palm-frond printed paper on a chalky brown ground and the ceiling cloaked in a pale shell pink. Bracketing the front door are gesso-like Georgian mirrors anchored by Chinese demilunes, while the stately library table is paired with sharply angled cerused oak stools counterintuitively upholstered in a rough Belgian linen. “The idea is formal, but the execution is unexpected,” says Carter. “I also threw in French armchairs covered in lemon yellow leather to take it down another notch.”
Tobacco-colored Palm Stripe wallpaper by George Spencer wraps the entry. “I love how it recedes and lets the moldings take center stage,” says Carter. Regency mirrors, Antonio Crespo Antiques; library table, William Word Antiques; stools, Charles Hanlon Antiques.
Max Kim-Bee
In the inviting library, bookshelves outfitted with a television and a bar make it a prime spot for entertaining; lantern, Vaughan; painting by Pierre Bourquin.
Max Kim-Bee“The easiest way for me to make really big, commanding rooms feel comfortable is with color,” Carter says. And how. The designer’s painterly approach is evident in bold strokes all over the house. In the stair hall, a pink the shade of a cherub’s blush frames a gilded portrait and strikes a pitch-perfect note against a cushy armless settee covered in a nostalgic blossom-strewn linen and a round jute rug underneath.
Farrow & Ball’s Blue Green sets the stage for the living room’s sorbet-colored sofa, vintage Indian painting, and chair in a Quadrille print. Curtains in Tucker fabric by Sister Parish. Sconces, Visual Comfort.
Max Kim-BeeWhen mixing and matching fabrics and patterns, Carter is never too precious. “If I do a large floral with a saturated ground, I’ll combine it with something that has a more open, airy feel,” he says. “Lemon, pale blue, and brown work with everything and won’t look matchy.” The living room, enveloped in an ethereal shade of cerulean, is furnished with a tufted banquette the color of melon sorbet and a large-scale vintage Indian landscape painting that incorporates all of the space’s heavenly hues. And can we talk about the library? The space shimmers in a plummy brown lacquer that’s subtly sexy yet seriously relaxed, a seductive bolt hole preordained for late-night lingering over tumblers of bourbon.
“From the moment I walked into the dining room I thought it should have this wallpaper,” Carter says of de Gournay’s Early Views of India. “There are a lot of windows, doors, a wonderful mantlepiece that breaks up the scene, which I love.” Citron silk curtains, chairs in a Guy Goodfellow raspberry stripe, and a sky-blue ceiling (Bird’s Egg by Benjamin Moore) add playful contrast to the grisaille mural. Chandelier, Dennis & Leen.
Max Kim-BeeIf it all feels perfectly fated, well, guess what: “When I’m putting a room together, I’ll scheme the fabric and wallpaper, but I take a breather and wait till further down the line to choose the paint colors,” says Carter. “You have to be a little flexible with them because I don’t think there’s ever a right or wrong answer. And if I sit there and belabor paint chips for 30 minutes, the effort will be obvious.” In other words, creative work needs plenty of air.
"The easiest way for me to make really big, commanding rooms feel comfortable is with color. ”
Matthew Carter
“I love powder rooms that feel fanciful,” says Carter, who covered this one in Fancy Ashlar by Adelphi Paper Hangings. Sconces, Visual Comfort. Sink, Waterworks.
Max Kim-Bee
A Chippendale chair and framed engravings line the stair hall.
Max Kim-BeeCarter takes a similar approach to furnishings. “I don’t want it to feel like I ordered two sofas and club chairs, it was all plotted out in an afternoon, and came in boxes from a warehouse,” he says. In the library, an Asian-inflected cocktail table with a faux malachite finish mingles with a modernist burl wood counterpart reminiscent of something by Paul Evans. “They were bought at two separate times. I don’t know if I would have come out with that if I’d just sat my desk and figured it all out,” Carter notes. Likewise, in the primary bedroom, unexpectedly streamlined tonsu chests that previously belonged to the Winchells were suddenly electrified when paired with an airy chintz, a sleek canopy bed with a frame clad in pinstripes, and sand-tinted walls. “The most successful rooms are the ones that come together with a little chance,” says Carter. Now that’s a bet you can take all the way to the winner’s circle.
In the primary bedroom, the clients’ antique tonsu chests strike a bold presence. “I like the idea of something a little different in a Greek Revival house, but they’re heavy, dark pieces and we wanted everything else in the room to feel lighter,” says Carter, who chose a Stout ticking stripe for the custom bed and Cowtan & Tout’s Longbourn, a glazed linen, for a bench and chairs. Paintings from Antonio Crespo Antiques (left) and Peridot Antiques (right). Coffee table, Peachtree Battle Antiques.
Max Kim-BeeTHIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 16 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
