After spending time traveling through France, Portugal, Italy and Chile, Andrea Shome and Pedro Graber landed in McLean and bought their first house in 2020.
Moving in without any preconceived design ideas left a wide range of possibilities open to the food blogger and her husband, an avid cyclist who bikes to work daily. They turned to Sallie Lord of GreyHunt Interiors in Chantilly to modernize their two-story 1950s home.
“I don’t think we knew what we wanted,” says Shome. “We had no furniture. We needed a decorator who would provide a lot of guidance on functionality and fit. Everything was painted white. We were starting from scratch.”
The house was a veritable blank slate.
Though the living room was small (350 square feet) it had an enviable wall of glass overlooking the backyard’s greenery. Capitalizing on that view, Lord kept the color palette subdued, but punched up the contrast. She gave the white walls a fresh coat of paint and reversed the brick fireplace (previously painted white) to a sleek, matte black.
Next came mod furnishings, including a white sofa by Jason Wu for Interior Define, blush throw pillows, swivel chairs by Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and a round mirror from West Elm. An abstract print by Texas artist Kelly O’Neal hangs above a Revelation cabinet that hides stools the owners can pull out for extra seating when entertaining.
“We wanted to make sure it felt cozy to the couple, but could also host friends,” Lord says. “The windows in this room and the backyard are beautiful. They wanted to be able to really enjoy it.”
And they do, Shome says, relishing the room’s simple sophistication: “We wanted to spend more money on pieces we really liked. Sallie and her team gave us form and function, and options that fit with our goals.”
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