Modern Elements + Beautiful Antiques = an AMAZING Home!

A home full of antiques doesn’t have to resemble the Biltmore Estate; today’s interiors include a deft mix of brighter colors and modern elements to balance furnishings with a past. Atlanta, GA, interior designer Lyndsy Kae Woods recently helped pull together this home in Atlanta’s posh Buckhead neighborhood with a light touch, and shared her story.

Designer Lyndsy Woods painted the living room walls Benjamin Moore York Gray (tinted at 50% strength) and the trim Benjamin Moore White Dove as a crisp backdrop for traditional furnishings. A custom light fixture from Solaria Lighting picks up curvilinear shapes elsewhere in the house. — Designer Lyndsy Woods painted the living room walls Benjamin Moore York Gray (tinted at 50 percent strength) and the trim Benjamin Moore White Dove as a crisp backdrop for traditional furnishings. A custom light fixture from Solaria Lighting picks up curvilinear shapes elsewhere in the house.

A linen sofa from Lee Industries has a timeless silhouette; the designer can change out pillows to give the room a new look. — A linen sofa from Lee Industries has a timeless silhouette; the pillows can be changed out to give the room a new look.

StyleBlueprint: Tell us about the architecture of this house and the family who calls it home.

Lyndsy Woods: This was a new construction home, recently completed. The exterior has Georgian architectural elements with a classic façade, so the family wanted to keep some of those classical elements consistent on the interior. The family is a fantastic couple with two young children, and I was fortunate to be able to work with them from building stage to now. A lot of times, you don’t have that opportunity as a designer. You become really close with the family when you work with them for so long – you see the kids’ activities, you learn their day-to-day workings as a family — so I ended up knowing how they will use their house before it was even done.

The classic white kitchen features Walker Zanger tiles as backsplash, Visual Comfort lighting and barstools by Ballard Designs. — The classic white kitchen features Walker Zanger tiles as a backsplash, Visual Comfort lighting and bar stools by Ballard Designs.

Antiqued-mirror walls line the butlers pantry, which has the convenience of a small sink for bar use. — Antiqued mirror walls line the butler’s pantry, which has the convenience of a small sink for bar use.

SB: What was on their wish list for how they wanted the house to look and live?

LW: The home carries itself with classical architectural elements through trim details, flooring and even the style of plumbing fixtures. We wanted to create a warm “shell” so once the home was furnished, those items had a nice presence, so we picked soft wall colors. Many of the built-in elements are tone on tone so they’re not distracting. There were certain designated areas that we knew would be more formal than others, like the dining room and family room, but we still wanted those spaces to feel warm and inviting.

As continuity, the family room also has Benjamin Moore’s York Gray walls for the neutral furnishings. The chandelier is by Aidan Gray. — For continuity, the family room also has Benjamin Moore’s York Gray walls for the neutral furnishings. The chandelier is by Aidan Gray.

An antique table adds the patina of old wood to the family room.

Schumacher fabric brings an elegant touch to the dining room on window treatments and upholstered chairs. The table is from Hickory Chair.

A touch of pink provides a modern accent to antiques in the dining room.

SB: How did you successfully mix formal and informal items together?

LW: When you have antiques on top of antiques, it tends to get a little heavy for my style. I love mixing different elements and styles together; it feels collected and special that way rather than forced design. The homeowner had a lot of fabulous antique pieces, great accessories, and her eye for detail is impeccable, so we took her amazing foundation of things and layered that with some cleaner, modern pieces. Mixing the two styles really helps create an inviting space, rather than something stuffy. I like using the modern print fabrics in the dining room with gilded antiques, as an example.

Using a light background helps, also. It’s a joke that my favorite color is white, but I prefer to have soft, built-in tones so when you layer later with fabrics and furnishings, the elements blend. I tend to use cooler wall tones; that creates a fresher balance when pairing with wood tones. A lot of antiques tend to have warmer, red undertones in the woods, so rather than accenting them I like to blend them and help tone down some of the golden tones of the past.

My design style lends itself to cleaner lines, but not stark elements; I’m drawn to soft, livable palettes and spaces with layers of textures and different styles.