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Charlotte Barnes isn’t one to pass up a great antiques shop—or gallery show or tag sale. “I’m always on the hunt. Always, always, always,” says the Connecticut-based designer. “I am passionate about things that are old, things that are new, things that are crusty, things from the very best sculptor in the world.”
Another dose of raspberry greets visitors just off the entry hall, where Barnes placed a cozy arrangement of George Spencer wingback chairs and Beata Heuman slipper chairs around the fireplace. Walls lacquered in Slipper Satin by Farrow & Ball give off the faintest hint of blush. Mirror, Jamb London; sconces, Vaughan.
Francesco Lagnese
A vintage painted dresser found at Foxglove Antiques in Atlanta was the starting point for the mudroom. Barnes played up the indoor-outdoor angle with an owl lamp from Tarquin Bilgen in London and curtains in an animal-printed Lewis & Wood fabric; colorful doors and trim (in Farrow & Ball’s Calke Green) give the room “a bit of kick,” as Barnes puts it.
Francesco Lagnese
The den, wrapped in an embroidered Scalamandré wallpaper and trimmed in Farrow & Ball’s Wainscot, strikes a moodier tone. A profusion of patterned textiles—there’s a Katie Leede fabric on the wingback chair, Fortuny on the stool, and Home Couture on the curtains—speak to Barnes’s talent for print mixing.
Francesco LagneseWhen Barnes met the owner of a 1918 house in Fairfield County, it was clear the two were kindred design spirits. Not only did the client have “wonderfully good taste,” as Barnes puts it, but she was also an avid collector of art and objects. For her part, the homeowner appreciated Barnes’s self-described “traditional but not” aesthetic. “What struck me immediately about Charlotte was her confidence,” she says.“Her design choices are so sophisticated but not run-of-the-mill.”
Yearning for a change in their home of nearly 30 years, the homeowner and her husband hired Barnes to redecorate it from top to bottom. The trio began with a walk-through of the house, choosing which pieces to keep and which to let go. Then Barnes began the process of reinvention. “I think we left one set of curtains where it was,” she says. “Everything else was moved, removed, or reupholstered.”
To solve the dining room’s extra-large, L-shaped layout, Barnes got creative, removing its original long table and instead creating two dining zones that can be used separately or brought together for entertaining. Pale blue pomegranate-print wallpaper from Arjumand’s World and an antiqued mirror–clad niche brighten up the formerly dark space. Tablecloth fabric, Fleurons d’Hélène.
Francesco Lagnese"I am passionate about things that are old, things that are new, things that are crusty, things from the very best sculptor in the world.”
Charlotte Barnes
The client requested only one change to the main part of the kitchen: a hit of color on the base of the island. Barnes put all her focus on getting the shade right, landing on a custom blue with a hint of green. “It’s deep and rich and not like anything you would see coming out of a pot,” she says.
Francesco LagneseMuch of the project, however, came together through Barnes’s love of the hunt. “I’m not one to come up with a strict vision board, and I’m definitely not someone who wants everything to match,” she says. As she shopped across the U.S. and Europe, she picked up pieces that felt just right for the home, the most special of which would warrant a text to the homeowner. “I loved getting pictures of things she’d come across with these messages in all caps: ‘WOW, WOW, WOW,’” laughs the homeowner. Choice— and chance—finds ranged from a hand-carved mirror made by an artisan Barnes heard about at a wedding to a glamorous bronze coffee table by a maker discovered on 1stDibs.
Barnes brought color and comfort to the breakfast nook’s existing banquette by adding cushions covered in Indian Zag by Suzanne Rheinstein for Lee Jofa and pillows in a playful Peter Dunham print, along with a pair of Mainly Baskets rattan chairs. The antique English plates came from the homeowners’ collection.
Francesco Lagnese
Barnes played off the existing linoleum checkerboard floors and apple-green millwork in the laundry room; a sink skirt in Décors Barbares fabric from John Rosselli adds punch.
Francesco Lagnese
In both the laundry and adjoining powder room, Barnes covered walls in CommonRoom’s vine-patterned Old Oak wallpaper.
Francesco LagneseSometimes Barnes’s pursuit of great objects led right back to the homeowners’ existing collections. Admiring the couple’s assortment of antique silver lusterware jugs—scattered on various shelves throughout the home—Barnes decided to display them together in a hutch in the dining room for a high-impact shot of shimmer. A quartet of carved jade animals bought decades ago provided a whimsical finishing touch to a mantel. And at one point, searching for something to brighten up the walls of a breakfast nook, Barnes asked her client if she had anything that might work. “She brought out these gorgeous plates she’d been collecting for years and I said, ‘Oh my God, of course, they’re perfect.’”
Barnes wasn’t daunted by the low ceilings of the guest room—in fact, she embraced the scale by covering the space from floor to ceiling in Anna French’s Indienne Hazel wallpaper. “It just envelops you in the best way,” says Barnes. The kilim rug was purchased on a shopping trip to London before the decoration even began: “I like to say, ‘Buy what you love and you will always find a place for it,’ and we did.” Custom bench in a Lucy Rose fabric; embroidered bedding, Mrs Gray
Francesco LagneseWhile every room has a distinct personality, a subtle thread of pink—one of the client’s favorite hues, as Barnes discovered early on—runs through the spaces. “Whenever I’m working on a project, I fill up a box with fabrics that might work for it,” says Barnes. “Then I have the client come in and I say, ‘Just tell me what you love—don’t worry about where it’s going.’” In this case, the homeowner was swiftly drawn to a deep raspberry velvet, which Barnes used to upholster a pair of oversize sofas in the great room. Softer pinks appear in wallpaper and paint, as well as accents like fringe, throw pillows, and objects throughout the home. “The key to working with pink is not to make it too pretty,” advises Barnes. “You need to find that ideal, not-too-sweet shade, then contrast it with heavier, handsomer items.”
Penny Morrison’s Flowerberry wallpaper wraps the primary bedroom. “It’s so pretty without being frilly,” says Barnes. For contrast, she added a hefty Venetian mirror with dark flecks and painted the inside of the fireplace black.
Francesco LagneseAfter 14 months of sourcing, arranging, and rearranging, Barnes and the homeowners declared the project complete. Even today, though, the designer can’t help but keep the house in her mind’s eye as she shops and travels. “There’s a spot over a pair of windows in the great room I still think about filling,” she says. “But that’s why it’s so wonderful to have a client who is willing to wait for the perfect piece to come along.”
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A coat of ivory paint with rich navy trim freshened up the exterior of the home.
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A deep-red-painted handrail pops against the black-and-white scheme of Casa Branca’s Pietra wallpaper and Stanton carpet on the back stairs.
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The now-grown-up daughter’s room was reimagined as a guest retreat with a fresh brown-and-blue color scheme.
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Barnes designed a custom Knot & Co. carpet to complement the upstairs hallway’s existing hand-stenciled walls.
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The owners’ classic outdoor furniture by McKinnon and Harris only needed a few new throw pillows to tie it in with the rest of the house.
Francesco Lagnese
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 19 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
