When Anne Dament and Keith Swart bought the home of the late western artist James Reynolds, they needed to make a few changes. For Reynolds, art was the focus of the rooms. There were plenty of large, bright, open spaces for his work.
But for Anne and Keith, comfortable times spent with family, friends and their four dogs were the priority.
“Anne and I moved here from San Francisco and love to have friends and family stay with us,” says Keith. “So, with that in mind, we wanted the great room to have a hotel lobby feel where people could sit on a comfortable sofa and watch TV or sit in a chair and read a book. Of course, all of this assumes you are able to persuade one of the dogs to share their space with you.”
The couple had a vision for the design, flow and function of the home, but Keith says that after eight months, “Anne informed me I had reached the horizons of my interior design capability and Ernesto was taking over.”
A member of the American Society of Interior Designers, Ernesto Garcia had already won 10 design awards in seven years when he met the couple. This project garnered him another first place – this time the 2014 ASID Design Excellence Singular Space Residential category.
Much of the focus was on the home’s great room. “The great room was too compartmentalized by brick walls, an enclosed small kitchen and other complex partitions that needed to be opened up in order to achieve the breadth desired by clients. The main design premises became ‘Open, simplify and emphasize as needed.’ ”
While Ernesto is a master of designs ranging from traditional to contemporary or eclectic, he says that for each project he is guided by the client’s personality and lifestyle. It is important to listen attentively: “Every word matters. … We converse about how they live in the spaces, what they need those spaces to provide for them. It’s important to know how a person wants to feel in a room.”
His artistic ability plays a role at this stage, too.
“I normally walk through the home with them and as we talk, I take notes and sketch,” says Ernesto. “Sketching is crucial because I’m providing them with immediate feedback, so they can visualize, in the very spaces, what is my interpretation of their needs.”
Keith says Ernesto clearly understood the couple and did an outstanding job of “capturing our desire for soft contemporary design with a comfortable casual lifestyle.
“Anne did a great job of telling Ernesto exactly what we wanted and how we wanted the house to feel,” says Keith. “He was able to translate her ideas and feelings into colors, furniture, draperies and fixtures that fit our style and needs perfectly. And, he did it all while keeping in mind that in our house, dogs rule! All fabrics, flooring, etcetera were chosen to be as dog friendly as possible.”
The result is a great room serving many purposes, yet where the diverse elements harmonize into a unified whole.
“I love to create a harmonious dialogue between very dissimilar furnishings and surfaces,” says Ernesto. “As you step into the great room, all its functions are instantly understood.”
Those distinct areas include a U-shaped sectional, which offers a place to curl up and watch TV, flowing around a large marble-top cocktail table, which serves as an easy-to-clean vast surface to spread laptops, iPads, paperwork, snacks, drinks or even dinner.
The four-chair conversational area provides more individualized seating designed for visiting while having drinks and appetizers before dinner.
Ernesto used a round rug to define this conversational space. “I selected a lighter color to create an island effect against the dark Brazilian walnut floor in the middle of this very vast space. The short loop was also selected to contrast textures with the deep shag rug under the sectional. When you step on it, you get a sensory cue that tells you that you are in a different space within the larger space.”
Keith says the couple spend at least half of their time in the great room, much of it on the sofa: “Almost no activity is off limits! And if we’re there, so are the dogs – three Jack Russell terriers and an Australian shepherd/schnauzer mix. Although we do occasionally use the four-chair area for reading or working, it is used most often when we have guests. It’s the ideal spot for cocktails or conversation.”
The ASID judges must have agreed since they selected it as the top Singular Space of 2014.
ernestogarciadesign.com
