Annie Bayer Goldberg and design partner Ginny Monheit Maguire of AG Interior Design have helped countless homeowners across Birmingham style their homes. So when Annie and her family moved into a very dated and traditional 1970s Mountain Brook home, it provided the ultimate opportunity to take their own sought-after advice.
The main living space required minimal construction. They updated the foyer area, which opens up to many rooms of the home, by raising the cased openings to each room to better fit the home’s high ceilings. The most noticeable out-of-date element was the wood paneling — there was dark wood paneling overload — so they started the design with what they would suggest to their clients: a new coat of paint. Painting the wooden walls white preserved the traditional bones, while instantly making the space feel more modern. “Paint makes a huge difference,” Annie says. “It can completely transform a space. The white actually helped highlight the beautiful details in the paneling and molding.”
The family room was kept very traditional with the white paneled walls and classic molding, but Annie and Ginny added in just enough modern elements with the pop art, partnered side chairs and cowhide rug.
The family room features much of Annie’s favorite black and white, but she adds unexpected fun with the patterned chairs and pop of yellow with the pillows.
White walls and white sofas let not only the pink pillows pop, but also the artwork. “I gravitate to artwork that is very modern and colorful,” Annie says.
Annie likes to work with antiques to help a space feel warm and inviting. In the family room, she features three antique shields, which also continues her black and white theme.
The foyer features a mid-century modern table, a head-turner she found at Maison by Pam Evans in Mountain Brook Village.
With such high ceilings, it was a challenge for Annie to make the furniture feel correctly proportioned. So in the formal living room, she went with large artwork over the fireplace — a William McLure piece — tall bookcases and a large wooden bead chandelier.
Gorgeous antique pieces intermix with modern touches for a chic yet inviting look.
French-style chairs and an antique French sideboard flank the modern mirrored table in the dining room.
With its red gilded stools, acrylic ghost chairs, ghost chandelier, statement-making wallpaper and imposing modern table and centerpiece, this black-and-white dining nook is teeming with art-forward personality.
While white graces most walls, numerous black accents were added to give dramatic flair. A high-gloss black paint was chosen for the paneling around the cased openings in the foyer. The walls and ceiling in the dining room were painted black, along with the walls in the powder bath, and the hardwood floors were stained black as well. Black was also carried into the master suite with black paint on the bedroom walls and a show-stopping statement floor of black and white striped marble tiles in the bathroom. “Annie loves black and white, so we incorporated it as much as we could, which also makes the overall look very fresh, clean and cohesive,” Ginny adds.
Pale pinks are interwoven through this black bedroom, which is accented by a breathtaking wallpaper of beautiful blooms in the same color palette.
With pops of gold, sleek lighting and a dreamy photograph of Aspen over the gorgeous freestanding tub, this modern black-and-white bathroom simply sings.
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“The room is very sweet with the soft pink and white, but it’s also designed to transition with her as she ages,” Annie says of her daughter Emory’s room.
One of Annie’s younger daughter Emory’s favorite pieces in her room is the lighted “LOVE” marquee letters.
The large pink and white stripe wall covering in Annie’s daughter Emory’s room provides a whimsical feel.
Annie’s daughter Madison’s room features girly Ralph Lauren pink bow wallpaper, which is complemented by plenty of gold.
Annie’s son Pierce’s room is perhaps the most monochromatic room in the house with its many shades of gray. Annie worked in pops of color with the playful stuffed animal mounts.
“My son is such a colorful character, so as he’s getting older I’m trying to infuse more pops of color into his room to fit that growing personality,” Annie says.
Annie and Ginny worked in splashes of color to further modernize the traditional home. She added pops of pink in the family room and formal living room pillows. Colorful artwork — from the William McLure piece above the formal living room fireplace to the colorful prints in the family room — also provides unexpected color from room to room. But perhaps the biggest splash of color is the hallway — the center of the home — that features a Ralph Lauren Chinese red grasscloth wall covering. “The hallway is sort of a room in itself, so it’s a good spot to make a splash without it being in your face,” Annie says.
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The playroom is every child’s dream with its oversized space and wall of bookshelves to hold a host of toys. Annie utilized the help of Kempt Professional Organizing to keep the clutter and toys in check.
The bright Ralph Lauren Chinese red grasscloth in the hallway is complemented by a Dash & Albert transitional tribal woven wool runner, which was pieced together to serve as a stair runner.
To soften the space, Annie and Ginny juxtaposed many modern elements with antiques. French-style chairs and an antique French sideboard flank the modern mirrored table in the dining room. Seventeenth-century Parisian gilded moldings — which Annie picked up years ago from a Paris flea market — are in the same space as a wooden beaded chandelier and cowhide rug. In the master bedroom, an antique iron-and-wood chandelier hangs from a ceiling covered in floral wallpaper. “The end result is that this house is a lot like Annie — it’s fun and outgoing but warm and inviting,” Ginny says. “The design also lets the house stay true to its traditional roots but does so in a modern, young way.”
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Thank you, Annie and Ginny! To learn more about AG Interior Design, visit ag-design.com.
Thank you to Laurey Glenn of Laurey Glenn Photography for the images of Annie’s beautiful home.
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