Timeless with a twist
March 2, 2020
A Foxcroft couple transforms their ultratraditional home into a transitional stunner.
by Blake Miller • photography by Erin Comerford Miller
Lisa and Philip Cope were ready for a change. They’d purchased their circa-1976 Georgian Foxcroft home almost 20 years ago from the original owner. They’d gutted the kitchen and opened up doorways, as well as worked with an interior designer to give the home an ultra-traditional look. But now that their kids had grown and the couple’s personal styles had changed over the years, they had the itch for something a bit more transitional — even a touch more modern.
“Our home was very, very traditional,” Lisa Cope says. “Lots of dark mahogany wood, lots of antiques, Persian rugs throughout. It was beautifully done, but it was just so traditional, and it was well-loved and worn out by our family over the years. We were ready for something new, something that wasn’t so stuffy and serious.”
At first, however, the Copes weren’t looking to overhaul the entire home. They wanted to start simply with a kitchen update, one that would replace the traditional cherry wood cabinets and dark green granite counters with a brighter, lighter space. So, they enlisted the help of Kimmie Rokahr at Design Loft Cabinets to bring their vision to fruition. “But that project morphed into a den, powder room and home-office redesign, too,” laughs Cope of transforming the unused living room into Philip’s home office.
Not long after that initial renovation, the Copes were ready to start the process of overhauling the traditional interiors of their home — and they knew exactly who to call.
“My friend and neighbor had used Hadley [Quisenberry] and Lisa [Britt] on their home, and we just loved the interior design,” says Cope of the West Trade Interiors designers. “The moment I met them I felt instantly connected.”
Quisenberry and Britt pulled together a design scheme that would essentially strip the Copes’ home of its nearly 20-year old traditional interior design and replace it with a more transitional, much lighter aesthetic. “The Copes really wanted to usher in symbolically the next phase of their life in redecorating with us,” Quisenberry says. “They were done raising their kids and wanted to focus on entertaining friends and family more.”
The designers were at an advantage with the existing footprint of the home. “The original floorplan was fantastic, which was really ahead of the times for the 1970s,” Britt says. “It had a great flow and really strong bones with no dead-end rooms, so we had a great framework to work with from the start.”
The dining room received one of the biggest makeovers, taking it from ultratraditional and dark to bright, streamlined and less ornate. The hand-painted Schumacher grasscloth wallpaper was the foundation of the dining room’s design. “We all fell in love with it,” Quisenberry says. “When they first showed it to me, I was like, wow, that’s really bold,” Cope says. “But everyone who comes into our home remarks about how pretty it is.” The only remaining original pieces were the rug and chandelier, but everything else is brand new, including the 72-inch round dining table by Lorts. “They host lots of family holidays, so we were excited to add that to the space to accommodate extra guests,” Quisenberry says.
The master bedroom was another complete overhaul. “Lisa and Philip wanted an oasis, a retreat,” Quisenberry says. The bed was originally just a headboard, but the designers transformed it by adding upholstered side rails and a footboard. “That design detail on the bed really brought the space to life,” Britt says, adding that the Schumacher wallpaper also instantly elevated the space. A Scalamandrè-embroidered bench at the end of the bed was the inspiration for the master bedroom’s color palette.
The designers transformed the remainder of the living spaces, including the den, one of the Copes’ favorite rooms, stripping the aesthetic of its dated look. “The home is a very traditional, Georgian home,” Britt says. “So we wanted to give that a little twist. That’s always the goal: to create something timeless. And I think we achieved that here.” SP
