Before & After: What to Do With a Lengthy, Slender Room? Flip It Right into a Speakeasy, Of Course

We might earn income from the merchandise out there on this web page and take part in affiliate packages.

When way of life influencer Anna Mae Groves and her husband, Rob, moved into their 1853 Cincinnati residence, they inherited towering ceilings, authentic hardwood flooring, and a marble hearth. The one factor Groves couldn’t determine was the seating for the lengthy, slim parlor—significantly when all 4 of the couple’s grownup sons have been residence. Her first answer was to order the biggest couch she might discover in what appeared on-line to be a deep burgundy. When it arrived, the colour was nearer to movie-theater purple. Even worse: The customized material choice meant it couldn’t be returned.

Groves instantly texted her longtime buddy, Urbanology Designs founder Ginger Curtis. Eventually, the couch discovered a brand new residence and Curtis took on the venture, remodeling the awkward pass-through right into a moody, speakeasy-inspired gathering hub. Nearly each main piece was made particularly for the area, together with a 13-foot sofa and a nook banquette. Sage plaster partitions, patterned marble, and deeply private paintings accomplished the transformation. Now, Groves says, “We don’t want to leave it.”

A fire, two doorways, and a wall of home windows made arranging the extra-long room really feel like superior geometry. Curtis noticed the unusual proportions in another way. “I love weird, hard spaces,” she says. Rather than heart all the things round one seating group, she divided the parlor by exercise: a 13-foot couch for TV watching and entertaining a crowd; a curved nook banquette that “hugs the corner” for intimate meals and work classes; and a chaise close to the home windows the place Groves can learn or take within the view.

The actual take a look at got here when all 4 of Groves’s sons have been residence without delay. “When they came home for Father’s Day, these grown men were just hanging out—sitting up in the banquette, having food and drinks,” she says. “Then the next day, they’re laying their big bodies all over the couch, on the floor, and the banquette.”

Design the Sofa the Room Actually Needs

Groves’s husband wished one thing massive sufficient for critical lounging. Groves wished a chunk that wouldn’t overwhelm the structure. Curtis delivered each with a curved, 13-foot customized couch whose serpentine silhouette softens its appreciable scale. “We have this custom furniture that’s really, really beautiful and unique,” says Groves. “But when I sat down on it, I did not expect it to be so comfortable that I didn’t want to get off.”

Know When the Floor Is the Main Event

The entryway had by no means discovered its steadiness. Furnished, it felt crowded; emptied out, it felt unfinished. So Curtis gave it one commanding characteristic: patterned inexperienced marble instead of the prevailing faux-checkerboard linoleum. She briefly tried a runner, then pulled it throughout set up. “It doesn’t need it,” she determined. An vintage desk and brass-fringe pendant spherical out the area with out stealing focus.

Let the Original Details Set the Ground Rules

Curtis preserved the marble hearth, tall doorways, classic {hardware}, and authentic wooden flooring, refinishing the latter in a darkish matte stain to get rid of their orange tint. From there, she layered in “a little modern, a little traditional, a little edgy, a little eclectic, a little French—and things that felt like Anna.” The aim wasn’t to make the home really feel frozen in 1853, however to let the brand new additions really feel private with out competing with the small print that, as Curtis places it, “you can’t buy” or recreate.

Curate an Art Collection with Meaning

The gallery wall’s centerpiece is by Hattie Zampa, which is complemented by different items like a print by Danielle Mckinney, whose depictions of Black ladies at relaxation echoed the sense of respite Groves wished the room to offer. “I wanted this room to feel like a deep breath,” she says. Other items reference her husband’s equestrian roots and the household canine, creating a combination with a narrative behind each body.