When she and her husband downsized from their home in Great Falls to their row house in Old Town Alexandria, interior designer Susan Nelson had big plans. No stranger to bright colors and playful patterns—their old house featured purple—she had no intentions to tone it down. The pattern play throughout her new home is evident, nowhere more so than in her favorite spot—her street-facing living room.
Nelson, who, with designer Todd Martz, co-owns the Old Town interiors shop Home on Cameron, approaches most of her projects by falling in love hard and fast with a fabric. But this time—for this room—it was personal.
For Nelson, the seeds were planted when she spotted a Scalamandre floral so bold that the red and orange tulips, sunny yellow daffodils and cobalt irises are life-size—as if cut fresh from a lush spring garden. The result: a pair of jaunty “tulip” easy chairs guaranteed to cheer any visitor.
Design Philosophy
Nelson loves to mix old and new, juxtaposing modern touches with antiques. She likes to play with the scales of patterns, like the pinch/expand on a smartphone, outsizing them as she did on the tulip chairs, choosing still colorful, but smaller prints and stripes for the room’s added bench seating. A busy-floral garden stool sits beside the China Seas trellis-patterned loveseat, its repeat of white dots reflected in a solid white garden stool nestled between the tulip chairs. A Lucite coffee table provides an uninterrupted view of the custom-colored rug. Two curvy wood chests flank the fireplace, backed by mirrors and topped with twin blue and white chinoiserie lamps, providing a one-two punch of color and balance.
Toughest Hurdle
“The biggest challenge was the floral fabric,” says Nelson, of the true-to-scale floral-patterned tulip chairs. “I love it. But to make that work was challenging—without solids.” Of course, employing solids was never an option; Nelson views each piece of seating as an opportunity to introduce another fabric. Her advice for the color-phobic: start small. Try a pair of vibrant ceramic table lamps or a sculptural bowl to add interest without real commitment.
Favorite Part of the Room
Even on a gray day, Nelson’s living room is flooded with light. Every bit of it feels lively and springtime fresh. She greets every morning switching on a duo of bird-patterned green lamps. “And it’s like: Hello, sunshine,” she says from that vantage point. “It just always makes you happy.” The ever-present spring in her step may be due in part to the beachy striped Scalamandre lumbar pillows that top the China Seas loveseat. She chose the reverse side of the pattern she’d originally intended, and she’s thrilled. “They look like espadrilles,” she says of their bright stripes that mimic the colors of the life-size floral print. “Like France.”
