Playing House
Los Angeles interior designer Kerry Joyce views the home as theater and its rooms as perfect sets for living. A former set designer and Emmy-winner for set decoration, Joyce learned that meticulous attention to detail creates the perfect set--either onstage or at home. “When everything is balanced and in its right place--when colors, textures, shapes and lighting all come together--it’s magic,” says the designer.
Known for his understated elegance, Joyce was called in by a Beverly Hills family to instill a traditional East Coast sensibility in their 1960s Colonial. While the two-story home featured a pretty white clapboard facade trimmed with black shutters and a welcoming old brick walk, “the interior needed ‘enhancing,’ ” says Joyce. “The architectural detailing was not quite substantial enough. Most of it looked like it had been nailed on as an afterthought. I wanted to make it feel as if it had always been there.” Joyce added cornice moldings around ceilings throughout the house and added beveled panels to the existing wainscot for a “more authentic” feeling.
The designer also streamlined detailing, removing flutes from pilasters that flanked each doorway for a cleaner “neoclassic look,” and he rebuilt and reproportioned fireplace walls and mantles in the living and master bedrooms with his own stylized version of Colonial.
Throughout the traditional home there is a dramatic play of light and dark: Beige, cream and ivory upholstered furnishings with French polish finishes stand atop dark aniline-dyed floors. Joyce’s fabric choices run to the natural and lux--linen chintzes and silks. In the dining room, a cream-and-black floral chintz--one of the few patterns in the house other than those in the antique carpets--covers the elegant mahogany dining room chairs. “I used slipcovers to make the dining room feel more comfortable and less formal.”
Joyce used many furnishings from his own 75-plus-piece Kerry Joyce Collection, now manufactured by Dessin Fournir. He began making his own line (which includes chairs, sofas, beds, tables, screens and lighting) in the early ‘90s when he became frustrated trying to find antique chairs. “It’s hard to find the perfect chair that’s a period piece,” says Joyce. “People were much smaller than we are today. My intention is to make furnishings that seem correct yet comfortable for today’s person to sit in.” At first glance, Joyce’s traditional pieces are often taken for antiques. “What I try to achieve is a classic feeling, so you can’t quite tell if its newly made or antique.”
Joyce also insists on is fresh flowers in every room. “The best are the ones from the client’s own garden rather than store-bought arrangements,” says the designer. A row of tiny glass vases filled with fragrant freesias on the master bedroom fireplace mantle struck a perfect chord. “A room has to be viewed as a whole, like a painting,” says Joyce. “I want people to feel good in my rooms.”