If it weren’t for the crib in the room and the crayon drawings taped to the door, it might be difficult to guess little Lulu Knisley’s age.
That’s because her mother, interior designer Nan Knisley, based the bedroom on a pair of bold fuchsia and light green plaid silk curtains from Robert Allen, as opposed to the traditional soft pink that you typically see in a baby girl’s room.
“I try to find an inspiration to start with [when designing a room] and I found this fabric that I liked,” said Lulu’s mom. “I don’t like to do children’s rooms, personally, too babyish because I don’t want them to outgrow it … you can always do a few elements that are a little more girlie, but I wanted something fun, but still girlie.”
Using the curtains as her guide, Knisley painted the walls a deep fuchsia. A rocking chair from Lee Industries was upholstered in a matching green with fuchsia piping, and a tiny table and chairs with a tea set was donated by Knisley’s mother-in-law. Perhaps the most ingenious piece of furniture in the room is Knisley’s own 1940s antique French writing desk. Rather than remove it from the home office-turned-baby’s room, she had it converted into a changing table, complete with matching green gingham skirt.
That curtains-as-inspiration element reflects Knisley’s design philosophy, and the theme runs throughout her Old Town Alexandria row house. Each room was designed around something — be it furniture, artwork or curtains — that led the overall look of the space.
A few other key elements influenced the interior design of the row house as well, which was owned by a longtime bachelor before Knisley and her husband bought it in 2002 (“It was very well maintained, just not aesthetically pleasing. It needed to be refreshed,” Knisley said.)
The tight quarters (The house is just 1,600 square feet), her growing family (Knisley and her husband have added two children since they moved in) and the row house’s 19th century history (The home was built in the 1870s and came complete with dentil molding, pine floors and other Federal-era design elements) were all parameters that played an important part in Knisley’s design process.
The result is a fresh, family-oriented home that remains true to its traditional roots.
In the dining and living room, for example, Knisley also took her inspiration from a pair of curtains. These ones from Cowtan & Tout, the pastel silk striped curtains gave her a color palette of soft blues, greens and yellows to work from. But, knowing the historic house called for a traditional feel, she worked the colors into a classic look.
In the living room, a pair of blue-gray velvet sofas sit on either side of a custom-made green ottoman, while two chairs with seat covers upholstered in a light yellow flank a mahogany secretary. The sofas and ottoman match the curtain’s color palette and give the room a bit of a sleek, updated look, while period pieces like the secretary and a bold red wingback chair recall the home’s original style.
“I wanted to give a nod to the tradition of the house,” said Knisley, of her thought process when planning out the home. “However, I wanted to do some things a little bit different, so these [blue-gray velvet sofas] are a more modern interpretation of a [traditional] camel back sofa.”
The trick, Knisley says, is tying the old and the new together in a non-jarring way, which she has done seamlessly in her house.
“I have no problem mixing old and new,” she said. “I don’t think anything is too precious to have something beside it.”
Case in point — the original mantel in the living room includes two alabaster urns handed down from Knisley’s husband’s family as well as several inexpensive alabaster jars bought at Restoration Hardware. The antique secretary hides a decidedly modern plasma TV, and Lulu’s room has a contemporary David Netto-designed crib contrasting with an antique vanity table and dolls saved from Knisley’s childhood.
The dining room is the same story, where a large, framed needlepoint picture of Christopher Columbus and several antique maps hang over a hand-me-down love seat reupholstered in a green fabric from Calico Corners.
One thing that’s not traditional about the house is Knisley’s deliberately child-friendly design. Nothing is off-limits to Knisley’s two children, Lulu, now 2, and Mac, 3. Because the house is relatively small, Knisley said she didn’t want to create rooms that couldn’t withstand sticky fingers and stacks of toys.
In the dining room, for example, the large Persian rug is purposefully dark. And the blue-gray sofas in the formal living room were bought with toddlers — and the family’s pug — in mind.
“I always feel like children or pets should be able to use the spaces, but I try to design in a way that allows that,” Knisley said. “So even though this is our ‘formal’ living room, these [couches are] a cotton velvet. It’s very durable. The dog sits on it, the children jump on these. And because the house is not very big I have toys in every room, so they’re allowed to play in here. Otherwise, this is one of the biggest rooms in our house and it’s underutilized.”
The laid-back, yet elegant look works for Knisley and her young family.
She’ll soon swap out Lulu’s crib for a big-girl bed and, knowing Knisley, the new bed will no doubt stick with the pulled-together fuchsia and green color palette.
But, like the rest of the kid-friendly house, it’s likely that whatever bed she chooses also will be suitable for jumping on and having sleepovers with the family dog.
