The Best of Both Worlds: Merging homes in the Vieux Carré

Blending households can be challenging. But with the help of a talented interior decorator, the results can be stunning. The charming ambience of the New Orleans French Quarter provided the perfect setting for two newly merged households last year.

“The challenge was that I was combining two homes into one, and we had to do this within a very limited time frame,” says New Orleans decorator Roy Malone. One client had an uptown residence with “very English sensibilities,” Malone discloses. The other client had a residence in Jackson, Mississippi with “very Southern sensibilities.”

“We started the project just before hurricane Gustav last summer, and we had to be in the house before a certain date because commitments had been made,” Malone explains. “We were evacuating two different cities, so I did an inventory and decided what pieces would work best in one house, and I gave them a shopping list.” Communication during the evacuation and after the storm was achieved through email, including photos sent with the new pieces the clients had found. “They were very determined to have their first Thanksgiving in the new house,” Malone says.

The updating of the late 18th-century Creole cottage with Victorian accents included adding new fixtures, vanities, and new lighting to the bathroom, and new appliances in the kitchen. “But the footprint of the house was not altered,” Malone says.

The challenge was to come up with a cohesive style throughout the home, when the residence is actually a mixture of distinctly different styles. “I think we really achieved that,” Malone concludes. “It looks as though it is a home where things have been acquired for many years. The trick was not to make it look like an antique store,” he exclaims.

The clients’ new French Quarter residence, which is anchored by fine antiques, has been infused with contemporary art and pieces such as a zebra rug and antlers acquired by the client in Jackson. “It gives the home a strong personality,” Malone says. Both owners had extensive collections of art and furniture that needed to be selected and cleverly combined.

In the living room, Malone placed a zebra rug on top of a custom Sisal rug with a chocolate brown border. “We put it in the living room to unify and anchor the space with all the large pieces of furniture with darker wood tones,” Malone says. “That’s the beauty of the Sisal. You can add things to it. The combination added another dimension to the room.”

An Adams style rococo chair fashioned with gold gilt was originally covered in blue damask. “I had it recovered in zebra. I needed a piece that would balance out the scale of the large wardrobe. The zebra print really did that. It gave the room the punch that it needed,” Malone explains. The early 19th-century wardrobe, acquired from an antique store in Baton Rouge, is nearly 10 feet high and seven feet wide. “We selected that to house a large flat screen TV and their extensive collection of CDs,” Malone says.

Ceiling fans in the living room and dining room were replaced with a matched pair of late 19th-century bronze Flemish parlor chandeliers that were cast in Belgium. Between the two windows in the living room and dining room is a late 18th-century chest on chest. “The hardware pulls depict the Prince of Wales feathers inside the oval,” Malone comments.

Two contemporary paintings from the 1980s by Mississippi artist Lallah Perry were installed in the dining and living rooms. Perry passed away in January, 2009 and the owner has an extensive collection of her works spanning her entire career. “I put those in the rooms to break up the heaviness, so as to avoid their appearing too period and too static,” Malone explains.

A copper lined mid-19th-century French wine cooler in the dining room was converted into a planter. “It was originally used to chill Chardonnay. The owners now use it to display seasonal greenery,” Malone says.

In the entry hall, which doubles as a guest bedroom, is a French Empire mahogany daybed, signed and dated 1850. “The hardware is hand-cast ormolus. They are guilt bronze and are original to the piece,” Malone says. The 17th-century painting above the daybed is of King James II. “It has been in the owner’s family for generations,” Malone comments. A 19th-century marble bust of Caesar to the right of the daybed adds visual impact to the space. On either side of the daybed, Malone placed a pair of French Empire, gilded bronze candelabras depicting the Greek Goddess of Victory.

Facing the daybed is a handsome Scottish gentleman’s chest. “The chest’s name is derived form the large center door, which was where gentlemen stored their hats,” Malone says. On top of the gentleman’s chest is the owner’s extensive collection of Napoleon pieces, from artwork to bronzes. A pair of late 19th-century Moroccan side chairs inlaid with ivory, ebony, and fruit wood, and covered in leopard, resides in the entry hall, lending a stately tone.

In the kitchen, beneath the stairwell, is a cozy breakfast nook. A mid-19th-century Flemish refractory table hand-carved from walnut is complemented by a 19th-century pair of needlepoint chairs purchased in New Orleans. “The needlepoint tapestry cover is original to the chairs,” Malone says. Adding a sense of formality is a bronze Hunt chandelier above the Flemish table. “It was from the owner’s home in Jackson,” Malone comments.

“A large amount of antlers were purchased during the Gustav evacuation to complement the existing collection,” Malone says. The antlers are on display in the breakfast nook and also in the stairwell. “The open staircase has no handrail, so we put the books there as a decorative element and also as an outline to the stairs.”

Upstairs, Malone installed custom hardware for the bedroom window treatments which are fashioned from a toile pattern with an English hunt scene. Serving as the bedroom’s focal point is an English Regency gentleman’s linen press with a Greek key motif. It was hand-crafted around 1830. “It was a gift to the owner from his great aunt,” Malone says. “It’s an important piece. They use it for storage and it also supports a flat screen TV.”

Taken together, the cohesive result of blending two distinctly different styles in this newly merged French Quarter residence is a testament to Malone’s insight and flair for decorating. “My whole philosophy is that I decorate for the way that people live, not the way that I live. That is the whole fun of decorating; to create a space that the owner is going to be happy with,” he says. ✦