Yesterday, I toured the Junior League of Detroit’s Designers’ Show House, which happened to be at the 1922 Fisher Mansion in the Boston Edison district of Detroit. The house, currently owned by actor Hill Harper, is the largest home in the city at 16,000 square feet. It has been under renovation for the past year and now is presented for tours over the next month with 40 different rooms decorated by different designers. The artistic stimulation was top-notch…from the historical original details in the home to the newly chosen artwork in every room, there was so much to take in. So many layers of pattern and texture, it will take more than one blog post to get through it all. Here are some of my favorites from the first floor:
The first floor Dining Room – Motown Rhapsody in Blues by Chicago designer Julia Buckingham See Aspire Metro and this article for more gorgeous photos of this room.
Formal dining room just off the front foyer. I loved the place settings which seem to be a mix of vintage designs. Spiky napkin ring, enormous central floral arrangement
A closer look at that place setting
Motown records on the wall of the “Motown Rhapsody in Blue” formal dining room, by Chicago designer Julia Buckingham. The gray and white wallpaper was used in framed panels all over the room.
The colors in this piece worked so well in this room. The room had a lot of formal elements, so this casual, primitive painting lightened the mood.
Just off the dining room – the 1st floor Breakfast Room, Secret Garden Room by Ann Arbor designers Krista NYE Nicholas & Tami Ramsey of Cloth & Kind.
Carved accent panels, original to the room
Twin settees? Split bench? The curved backs, side by side, let more of the window behind show.
This was a small space but there were so many layers of texture, shape, color, and pattern. Leaves painted in black and white on a gray wall throughout the room, with teal painted accents.
Thoughtfully placed items on the table – mostly black and white, but lots of different textures. The book is fuzzy.
The 1st floor Covered Porch by Ann Arbor’s Jane Henderson
This room was the first of many on the tour to use this vivid emerald green, along with black and white accents, which really reminded me of The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Touches of gold gave it a sophisticated feeling. I really liked this fitted slip cover to create an elegant side table.
The symmetry of this image reminded me of my own work, so it was exciting to see it used as part of this beautiful room.