The Benefits of Residential Architects and Interior Designers Working Together from the Get-Go, Part One.

Interior Design: How to work with an Residential Architect

It’s no secret that when residential architects and interior designers work together on a house from its earliest planning stages, magic – the kind that differentiates truly spectacular homes from those that are merely “nice” – happens. The picture above is a good example: notice how the whimsical shape of the light fixture is a geometric play off the shape of the bottles in the matching wine racks?

The furnishings and fabrics in this husband’s office were selected by our interior design team to complement the visual strength of the fireplace tile pattern and the innovative trim conceived by the architecture team. Note the way the silhouettes of the chairs practically become one with the architecture.

I’ve seen this phenomenon happen time and again for our residential clients who are wise and forward-thinking, and understand the way form, texture, and light influence each other in terms of both architecture and interior design, often resulting in the most interesting and rewarding spaces.

This Mediterranean-style kitchen features a stunning barrel-vault ceiling – an architectural showstopper highlighted by our interior design team’s choice of exposed brick and beams. Beneath, a texture-rich brick fireplace vignette includes comfy upholstered chairs that match the hue of the fireplace surround, and oversize sconces that are perfectly proportioned for the generously sized room.

As a registered residential architect, I can tell you architects understand space, and can visualize a home long before it begins to rise from the ground. As an interior designer, I can also tell you that if you’re lucky enough to work on a house with good architecture, it makes everything so much better because your job is simply to enhance already-good design.

This child’s bedroom is charmed by matching arches; one a closet, the other, a recessed niche planned by our design team specifically to display treasures. Sure, we could have hung shelves on the wall instead – but see how much more special the twin arches make the room?

Think about it: interior designers who know the architectural language of a house before it’s built – for instance, whether it’ll have a contemporary, open floor plan, or will instead feature defined rooms articulated with door openings and trim – are able, from the very early stages of its planning, to conceive elements that’ll make the interiors that much richer. It becomes less about choosing furnishings and fabrics that work in a space, and more about creating a space specifically to showcase those furnishings and fabrics.

Architectural features such as the beamed ceiling break down the large scale of this room, as do multiple pendant lights that lower the ceiling visually and contribute a humanizing softness to balance its size. (Had our designers chosen recessed can lighting instead, the room would have felt more austere and less welcoming.) Multiple layers of trim and texture combine with the strong architecture of the space, allowing it to function as both a family’s favorite hang-out room and also as an entertainment space for up to thirty people.

In other words, a nice white room that doesn’t have much going on architecturally can certainly be filled with furniture and fabrics that’ll make it look great. But it’ll fall flat because there’s nothing architectural for the interior design to respond to. It’s like eating a juicy steak without a really terrific, thoughtfully-selected wine to go along with it, or a lovely mushroom sauce on top. The steak alone is nice, but it’s so much better with an accompaniment chosen to make it shine. The same is true when you pair architecture and interior design. The architecture enhances the interiors, and the interiors enhance the architecture.

The diamond-shape detailing of these windows is amplified by the addition of starburst patterned wallpaper backing the bookcases on either side. Sheer window treatments were chosen specifically so the window detailing would show when the roman shades are drawn for privacy – ideal examples, all, of the many ways architecture and design can speak to each other early in the planning process.

To see more of what we mean when we say houses really sing when architecture and interior design work in tandem from the beginning, visit our website. Or give us a call to see how Morgante Wilson Architects can create similar magic in your own new home!

Morgante Wilson Architects provides architectural and interior design services in Chicago, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield, Ravinia, Wilmette and Winnetka – along with Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin and the U.S. Virgin Islands.