As their two teenage sons got taller, Troy and Kathleen Palma’s family literally outgrew the Cape Cod they had lived in since the boys were small. In March of 2020, they moved into a new build by Wormald Homes in Arlington’s Williamsburg neighborhood and called designer Nicole Lanteri. They loved her playful, maximalist aesthetic, having already collaborated with her on their previous home.
“They came to us and were like, ‘Can you do what you did to our other house? Make it fun?’ ” says Lanteri, who lives in Ashton Heights and has a studio on Capitol Hill in D.C. Taking cues from her repeat clients, she transformed their new home’s neutral tableau with a riot of bold hues and organic patterns.
The starting point in the 200-square-foot dining room was a whimsical wallpaper by Schumacher. With its flowering branches, birds and butterflies, it reads as equal parts fanciful garden party and life-size coloring book.
“It really pulled all these colors together,” Lanteri says, and juxtaposed nicely with the builder’s wainscoting and dark-stained maple hardwood floors. “We tried not to undo things that had been done.”
Mindful of her clients’ budget, Lanteri repurposed many of the furnishings she had already sourced for the Palmas’ previous home, including a Scandinavian white oak table from Design Within Reach and curvy, black Kartell Masters chairs.
The azure buffet, painted in Benjamin Moore’s “Hudson Bay,” is a vintage furniture restoration by Reston-based artist Martha Leone that stores service for 12. Above it hangs a tangerine sculpture, “Everything I Wish,” by Belgian artist Thomas Gromas (also a carryover from the Palmas’ previous house).
A metal chandelier with lights resembling twisty twigs echoes the branches in the wallpaper. The window coverings are gray-and-white-striped Roman shades from the Shade Store. Lanteri scored the red Chinese cabinet at auction.
For the Palmas, Lanteri’s fearlessness provided just the edge they were looking for. She added “daring” elements and splashes of color that Kathleen says “were to our taste, but also things that we wouldn’t select ourselves.”