Style Profile: Ellen Kavanaugh
Ellen Kavanaugh has been practicing interior design in Palm Beach for over ten years. She is known for her crisp color, organic texture, and individual style. With every project, Ellen aspires to marry architecture and interiors by selecting distinct fabrics and finishes, designing custom millwork, and sourcing unique furniture. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Ellen earned her interior design degree in 2004 from Florida State University and completed the National Certification for Interior Designer’s Qualification Exam. In 2015 she started her own boutique design firm based in Palm Beach. Ellen’s portfolio includes recently completed projects in Palm Beach, The Hamptons, Charleston, and Key Largo. Her work appears in House Beautiful, Southern Home, Traditional Home, Luxe, and Modern Luxury Palm Beach.
I am delighted to welcome Ellen to The Glam Pad today for a Style Profile Q&A! All photography is by Brantley Photography unless otherwise noted. Welcome, Ellen!
Q: How would you describe your style, and how has living in Florida influenced your design aesthetic?
A: I like to start with a balanced architectural space, design the necessities with clean lines to lay the foundation then finish it off with eclectic layers that add personality. Maybe you could call it, “minimal eclecticism” I don’t like a lot of “stuff” but I do believe “stuff” adds soul so items have to be chosen wisely and must be incorporated to achieve a successful design. It is far better to have just a few outstanding pieces in a space than too many or none. South Florida is vivid in color and any style pretty much goes. Designing mainly in Palm beach opens up all different types of style to work with; from traditional to modern and everything in between. We design a lot of vacation homes here so clients are willing and excited to take more design risks which is a lot of fun!
Q: When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in interior design?
A: When I was a little girl I used to ride around with my Grandmother to the local thrift stores, estate sales and such to pick for her antique booth she had as long as I can remember. That was when I got the bug for “the hunt”. Antiquing and vintage shopping has always been a passion for me. That, mixed with a love for art, setting the table for holidays and then creating flower arrangements while still in grade school leads me to believe that I think I have always had a desire for interiors and beautiful things. College came around and my mother said , “Hey Ellen, sign up for Interior Design, you would be good at that!”. So I did and realized this was something I would have a passion for the rest of my life…
Q: What designers – past and present – do you most admire?
A: Andrea Palladio for his proportions, Frances Elkins for her daring risks that became staples, Michele Bonan for his classically chic interiors and Jeffery Bilhuber for his ability to create the most layered and comfortable interiors that look effortless.
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
A: Everywhere, always, everyday from anything.
Q: Do you have any favorite fabrics, paints, furnishings, etc. you particularly enjoy incorporating within your designs?
A: Pierre Frey is my favorite fabric House. I am especially loving the Braquenie collection introduced with fresh colors for today’s palette. Vintage and antique furnishings- Why buy new when old is so much more interesting and usually more thoughtfully made.
Q: When beginning work with a new client, where do you begin?
A: I ask the client what they envision for the space and what inspires them. I try my hardest to get inside my clients head aesthetically and then when I am selecting for their space I go to that place in my mind and try to channel their vision or what they would like. I always strive first and foremost to create spaces that are unique to each clients personal aesthetic. An interior that is aligned to an individuals vision of beauty can be life changing to that person to live in that space. I want our clients to feel that sense of fulfillment in their homes. I am not designing for my brand, I am designing for individual styles and striving to make them better. I also like to push the envelope with clients which usually opens their minds up to a new found joy that they didn’t know they had been missing. A pop of anything that is unexpected keeps the energy up.
Q: What are five material luxuries you could not live without?
A: I wouldn’t call these materialistic but they are luxuries to me… my dogs, worn jeans, a crisp linen top, a good straw hat and sandals from Capri. Throw a little jewelry on from Peggy Daven in Palm Beach and I am all set!
Q: When you aren’t busy designing, how do you enjoy spending your time?
A: Being on the water with my husband.
Such an exquisite portfolio!! Thank you, Ellen, for joining us today, and thank you Brantley Photography for the beautiful images! To learn more about Ellen Kavanaugh, please visit her website and follow @ellenkavanaugh and @brantleyphoto for ongoing inspiration.
Tour A Historic Oyster Bay Home Where George Washington Slept
On Wednesday, The Glam Pad featured highlights from designer Sallie Giordano’s classic portfolio, and today we will tour her historic Long Island weekend home! For the last 20 years, Sallie has led the New York branch of her mother’s legendary Palm Beach design firm, Leta Austin Foster & Associates. When Sallie and her husband, Mark, were looking for a family weekend retreat from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, they found a storied 17th century home that was visited by George Washington in 1790. It had an awkward layout but great potential. “The place was built in 1651, and it’s been added on to many, many times. When we first saw it, the front door opened directly into the back of a stairway,” Sallie said. But it was loaded with charm, so the couple quickly enlisted architect Tim Hook to rethink the floor plan.
They closed off odd doorways to create wall space in the six upstairs bedrooms, updated the bathrooms, designed period-appropriate mantels for the five fireplaces, moved the front door away from an intrusive staircase, and restored the ceilings to expose original beams. Sallie chose a soft color palette that wouldn’t compete with the stunning water views, and she selected decor that would conjure warmth and memories. For two of the guest rooms, she used curtains from her grandmother’s house. And for the living room, she used a bolt of blue and white fabric she had acquired years ago from her mother. The embroidered gingham bed curtains in the master bedroom are another classic Leta Austin Foster touch, she said. “My mother taught me how to take something formal—like a canopy bed—and make it feel luxurious and casual at the same time. I’ve learned so much from her. For example, she always says a whole house should flow. It should have one personality, and each room should reflect a different aspect of that personality.”
This home was originally featured in the October 2012 issue of Traditional Home. In addition, images from Leta Austin Foster & Associates and Tim Hook are included.
Style Profile: Sallie Giordano
When it comes to interior designer Sallie Giordano’s impeccable classic style, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree… Sallie’s mother is the illustrious Leta Austin Foster, so she learned from the best. Educated at Georgetown University and the New York School of Interior Design, Sallie brings a keen awareness of history to her projects, blending an appreciation for tradition with a youthful spirit and a fresh use of the unexpected detail.
Sallie joined the New York office of Leta Austin Foster & Associates in 1994, and she is faithful to the firm’s philosophy that every project should have its own individual personality. An accurate reading of a client’s vision along with an attention to planning and a focus on quality construction are hallmarks of her design work and ensure that each and every room is beautiful, comfortable and unique. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, House Beautiful, Traditional Home, and House & Garden. Today, I am delighted to welcome Sallie for a Q&A. Welcome, Sallie!
Q: What was it like growing up with an accomplished interior designer as a mother?
A: Perhaps everyone thinks their mother has good taste when they are younger, but my mother always had style in everything she did, from her clothes to her dinner parties to her homes, of course. She didn’t really become a professional decorator, however, until I was about 9 or 10, after the umpteenth person asked her for advise on their own homes. But once she decided to do it, she jumped wholeheartedly, turning this tiny garage store room into her office. I remember she kept that same office until her first million-dollar job was well under way. I also remember having to type for her because, of course, she didn’t know how. She was dictating a letter to a partner of hers, and I just remember she kept saying, “decorating is not glamorous; it is hard work. Decorating is not glamorous; it is measuring and following up and following up some more. Decorating is not glamorous; it is not going out to lunch every day.” And finally, I was like, “do you know how many times you’ve said, ‘Decorating is not glamorous?’ And she answered, ‘type it again because it’s not.’
Q: And when did you know this was your calling too?
A: I don’t know if I ever saw interior design as a calling. I had always thought I would be a journalist, but after six years as a magazine editor and 2 lonely years as a free-lance writer, I realized that staying up late and smoking away my writer’s block was not going to be any way to be a mother, so I decided to join my mother’s firm when I got engaged. I do remember that it was quite the challenge to transform what had essentially been an aural creativity to a visual creativity. In fact, years later, one of my first clients took me back to his apartment to show how proud he still was of the work I had done, and I was horrified. But my interest in journalism had involved a catholic interest in all of the arts and travel, and I think that interior design appeals to many of those same interests. You can never stop learning about how different cultures and different generations choose to live. The possibilities for growth and change and new visions are endless.
Q: What is your working relationship like today, and how are your styles the same and different?
A: We are both independent and stubborn but we respect each other’s perspective so much that we always listen to each other’s opinion. I do think we have a different sensibility in terms of palette sometimes. Hers comes from a very sun-drenched background. Having spent most of my years up north, and in New York City specifically, I have more of a penchant for greyer colors which can get washed out by the sun… grey-blues, grey-greens, off-whites.
Q: How did your upbringing in Palm Beach influence your design aesthetic?
A: Well, the Palm Beach of the 70s and 80s was very glamorous, not in a gaudy way, but in a very chic way. Everyone had a sense of carefree chic. I always said that all you needed to live in Palm Beach back then was an old Mercedes convertible, a pair of sharkskin pants or shorts, Belgian shoes and a great scarf. People threw together wonderfully eclectic furnishing and art with such confidence. There was the sense of breaking the rules but only because you knew exactly what they were.
Q: Besides Leta of course, who are your favorite designers, past and present?
A: Living: David Kleinberg, Jean-Louis Denoit. Past: John Fowler, Albert Hadley, Frances Elkins
Q: Are there any signature elements you like to incorporate within your interiors?
A: I’m not sure that I personally see any elements as signature but I am sure my clients would disagree, as we all have our quirks and penchants and I am sure mine resurface more often than I realize, but I like to think that every project has its own character and distinctive personality, which almost always comes from the client.
Q: Your designs are so timeless… What is your secret to achieving timelessness?
A: Whether it be contemporary or traditional, beautiful interiors should always be timeless. One thing I do try to look out for and guard against is falling for the latest trend, which may look fabulous in a $20,000 light fixture, but is quite irritating when it’s copied by CB2, as only a small fraction of people looking at it would know the difference. Still, there is a reason for why beautiful things are copied: because everyone wants them
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
A: Travel, other people’s work, but mostly other people’s homes, especially ones that were decorated a long time ago. I love to see what has stood the test of time; generally it’s about 90% of good work, as long as enough thought was exerted to keep it from being cookie-cutter.
Q: What are the most important lessons you learned from your mother?
A: That beautiful design is usually in the details and the workmanship. With good workmanship, you can make a fabulous curtain out of an inexpensive fabric, but it is impossible to turn an expensive piece of fabric into a beautiful curtain if you don’t use a quality workroom.
Q: What does the future hold for Leta Austin Foster & Associates?
A: I think the core of our business will always be custom, individual-focussed design. We pride ourselves on really coming to understand our clients, to know what makes them happy and comfortable but also inspired. Then we take their vision and translate it into something that is tasteful and that works. I think that element of attention to each individual project is sometimes lost at the larger firms, where even if they produce super expensive product, the element of individuality is lost . That being said, we also know that not everyone is either located in an area that makes that convenient and possible or doesn’t have the time or bandwidth to focus on it. For those clients, we have launched Pretty Fabulous Rooms, which takes some of our signature looks and makes them available at a package price to anyone in the country. You get the curtains, seating, carpet, accessories, the whole shebang with just a click of a mouse. And for the interior design industry in general? I think the design industry slowly revolves in the same circles it always has. Whereas the great interior department stores that used to offer decorating services like Bloomingdales have been replaced with options like CB2 and Restoration Hardware, which offer more of a uniform aesthetic, there will always be both ground-breaking design and high-end ultra-custom classic design being done by individual designers for people who want to pay for it. Custom design is expensive; there is no getting around that. But then again, you live with it for a lot longer than you keep a dress, and you use it every day.
Q: When you aren’t busy designing, how do you enjoy spending your free time?
A: I love traveling with my two daughters, cooking and entertaining, keeping up on the art scene and playing tennis. I’ve also begun to try to learn how to kitesurf, but it’s a steep learning curve! I’ve been learning for 3 years!
Thank you, Sallie for joining us today! I am so inspired by your classic, timeless, and oh so pretty interiors. If you love Sallie Giordano’s work, please stay tuned as we will be touring her historic Oyster Bay cottage on Friday! You will also want to purchase a copy of Traditional Interiors if you don’t already own a copy. And to see my favorite highlights of Leta Austin Foster’s work, please click the links below…
- LETA AUSTIN FOSTER’S PRETTY FABULOUS ROOMS
- PALM BEACH REGENCY – AN EXCLUSIVE HOME TOUR WITH LETA AUSTIN FOSTER
- AN EXCLUSIVE HOME TOUR WITH LETA AUSTIN FOSTER
- LETA AUSTIN FOSTER’S 10 TIPS FOR TIMELESS INTERIORS
- A FLORIDA CLASSIC BY LETA AUSTIN FOSTER
- CLASSIC FLORIDA STYLE BY LETA AUSTIN FOSTER
- LETA AUSTIN FOSTER DESIGNS A 1930S OCEANFRONT MASTERPIECE
- LETA AUSTIN FOSTER REVITALIZES VIRGINIA’S HISTORIC MILBURNE
- TRADITIONAL INTERIORS BY LETA AUSTIN FOSTER
- PALM BEACH PERFECTION ON PENDLETON
Traditional and Pretty in Atlanta by Huff-Dewberry
When a young Southern lady decided she needed a larger home, she knew she had found the one when she came across a beautiful home tucked away in the Buckhead area of Atlanta that had been completely renovated by architect Stan Dixon in 2008. It was perfect for entertaining out-of-town guests, and it had a manageable-sized yard. With the exception of adding a built-in bar for entertaining and upgrading the kitchen island, the house was move-in ready… so Heather Dewberry and William Huff of Huff-Dewberry were able to jump right in to decorating!
The homeowner wanted a feminine home that was traditional but not stuffy. Although Huff-Dewberry was able to re-use much of the furniture from her previous home, they still needed more. They spent several months collecting antiques and artwork for the new home. Based on the client’s love of beautiful fabrics, wallpapers, and the color blue, the designers pulled together a home that was beautiful, fresh, and timeless.
Photography by Nathan Leduc and via Huff-Dewberry. To learn more about Huff-Dewberry, please visit Huff-Dewberry Inc. You can also follow @heatherdewberry and @will_c_huff on Instagram for ongoing inspiration. To see another of my favorite Atlanta homes by this dynamic duo, please click here.
