Rustic modern
December 1, 2020
Interior designer Wendy Fennell of Bohemian Bungalow Design creates a contemporary, organic aesthetic in a Beverly Woods kitchen.
by Cathy Martin | photographs by Erica Mark
When Wendy Fennell takes on a new client, she doesn’t always start with a blank slate. The interior designer likes mixing vintage or existing furnishings with new items to create an eclectic look.
“I try to use what people have,” says Fennell, who started working in interior design a decade ago after a career in fashion merchandising. “I wanted to work for myself but still be creative and interact with people,” she says. In addition to designing homes for her clients, Fennell is a textile trade specialist with Chicago-based Mitchell Black. She also has a licensing deal with the design studio for her nature-inspired wallpaper collection.
“Global with a modern edge” is how Fennell describes her style. In this Beverly Woods kitchen and dining room redesign, the wood cabinets were in good shape but in need of fresh paint and new hardware, which Fennell sourced on Etsy. Old countertops were replaced with marble, but for the island Fennell brought in a dark-stained live-edge wood slab to give the space an organic feel. The roman shade in an aqua and teal geometric design adds a modern, midcentury vibe, along with brass cutout pendants by Jonathan Adler.
The pendants coordinate with the starburst chandelier and gold wall sconces in the dining area without being too matchy-matchy, Fennell says. “They just have to be able to talk to each other a little bit.”
Burlap drapes accented with a decorative tape provide shade in the sunny dining room, where an oversized mirror that belonged to the homeowners’ mother is displayed between the sconces. The existing dining chairs were reupholstered in a cotton-linen rust-print fabric that coordinates with the blues and teals in the space. The grasscloth wallcovering in an ombre pattern brings the design together for a look that’s not too formal but still elegant for entertaining.
“We wanted it sort of ‘casual fancy,’” Fennell says. “That’s how we described it.” SP
