by Cathy Martin | photographs by Heather Ison | styling by Kendra Surface
Interior designer Melinda Chesson felt like a kid in a candy shop when styling the bar in this sitting room, part of a larger home renovation in Sedgefield. The homeowners had amassed a large collection of artwork and home décor from their travels and prior work with a London firm that handled estate sales.
“The glassware is from all over the world,” Chesson says. She designed the sitting room as a place for the couple to entertain and enjoy drinks before or after dinner, or perhaps read quietly before bedtime. She created the entertaining nook from a burlwood console with brass open shelving and the homeowners’ existing bar cart. The fireplace mantel was re-stained to match wood tones in the rest of the home; woven cane and leather swivel chairs and grasscloth wallpaper add texture.
Chesson grew up in Connecticut before studying interior design at Indiana University.
“I like to say that I kind of marry New England with Southern style,” says the designer, who launched Melinda Chesson Interiors in 2022.
For this project, a big part of the job was helping the homeowners “figure out how they could take all the items they have and love, and display them in a way that felt less chaotic and more put-together and curated,” she says.
“Pretty much everything in the house has meaning, and a story behind it.”
SOURCES:
Designer: Melinda Chesson Interiors
Architect: Alison Hall Architect
Contractor: Watershed Builders
