“People have commented how nice my background is,” says Arlington lawyer Anne Walsh. When she Zooms into work meetings from home—and she does, pretty much all day, every day—she’s proud to show off the stylish “salon” on the main floor of the home she and her husband, Adam, bought in Arlington’s Dover-Crystal neighborhood in 2013.
When Covid first arrived, Walsh, like so many others, parked her two monitors on the dining room table and co-opted the space as a makeshift office. But once it became clear that remote work was here to stay, she wanted a more permanent solution. And as someone who loves to entertain, she wanted to reclaim her dining room.
Seeking a blend of elegance and functionality, the couple enlisted Arlington-based Manlove and Co. Interiors to refresh their dining and living rooms, as well as the adjoining center hallway (totaling just over 500 feet).
No walls came down in the makeover; the dark oak hardwood floors stayed, as did the white plantation shutters. Principal designer and CEO Suzanne Manlove brightened both by handpicking area rugs and updating wall and window treatments in a sea of pretty pastels. The tray ceilings, too.
“The space was darker before,” says Manlove. “We wanted to try to bring in as much reflectiveness and light as we could.”
For texture and dimension in the dining room, Manlove papered the ceiling in striking gold-leafed cork, and the walls in a patterned grass cloth. A sleek maple table replaced the owners’ dated wedding-gift set and is now a centerpiece for working lunches and dinner parties. Two-tone pink-and-white dining chairs by Vanguard Furniture are edged in nailheads.
In the living room—now a salon that includes Walsh’s desk—the same nailhead motif is repeated in a white bouclé sofa by CR Laine, with throw pillows providing a splash of peony pink. (She loves the color and jokes that her husband, also an attorney, had no veto power in this particular matter.) The tray ceiling is painted a soothing teal. A round brass-edged chandelier heightens the glamour.
Two armchairs, also by CR Laine, in a teal velvet and gray Greek key pattern, sit opposite the sofa. Their upholstery echoes the cool blues and grays of the home’s exterior, a detail that was important to the owners for continuity.
“I love it,” Walsh says of the redo. “It’s more formal, but not stuffy. That’s what I was hoping for.”