Timely Turnaround

Dutch pressed-metal sconces flanking an antique linen press give this vignette distinct personality. The English piece, picked up on Howard“s recent travels, establishes the color story and mood for the whole house.

“Pillows are my favorite thing,” says Howard. “They“re the easiest way to change a room, to make it more comfortable…to add layers, textures, patterns and colors.” These, in soft and soothing shades, add a finishing touch to the already elegant living room.

The two antique wing chairs in the living room are long-time favorites of Howard“s“and, she believes, work better together than individually. “I“d been offered to split that pair many times but I held out“and I“m so glad I did“because, together in this home, they are perfect.”

English watercolors and prints, like those featured in this living room vignette, are frequent finds in Howard“s Atlanta showroom, Mrs. Howard.

Teamed with clear-glass table lamps, English period pieces and printed linen panels instantly take on modern appeal. This deft mix of soft and sleek is one of Howard“s trademarks.

“For the dining room, I set a simple, practical“but still stylish“tabletop. There are not too many patterns, and not too much cut crystal, but it“s still chic. Onyx urns from Oly Studio pull warmth from the raffia on the chairs, bringing up the warmth of the room and adding strength.”

Monochromatic colors in the kitchen visually expand the space, where the dimensions are limited. Raffia baskets and roll-up bamboo shades add a natural touch and enhance the room“s tactile appeal. Not to be overlooked in the finishing details is the arrangement of fresh cuttings“a focal point on the island. “One thing I tell all my clients is that there“s no substitute for fresh greenery in the house,” says Howard. “Create places to put it, and when it dies, toss it away; pretend it was a bottle of wine and you drank it.”

The bedroom, a retreat that seems a world away from the rest of the house, has layers that reflect its inherent serenity. A soft-pile rug, lightly colored fabrics and a collection of framed botanicals over the bed contribute to this dreamy, ethereal feel. The hand-painted four-poster is one of many unique custom versions available through Mrs. Howard.

To decorate an entire home, top to bottom, with new pieces in five weeks would have seemed like a tight turnaround for some, but for Phoebe Howard, the timing couldn’t have been better. Her clients, a family with young children, called upon her when their home sold more quickly than expected, and they needed to move into their new residence almost immediately. To complicate matters further, they also wished to start anew with a fresh look and virtually all new furnishings.

But in a stroke of serendipity, Howard had just returned from one of her twice-annual buying trips to Belgium, England and Holland with a stockpile of antiques and vintage pieces. To put them all in one place was a dream for the decorator, who often has to divide her most treasured buys among various clients’ homes. “Every piece is thoughtfully purchased by me, and I always hate to split them up,” she explains. “I felt really happy to put them all together, because that’s how I always intended them to be.”

And thus, happily, the decorating began, with Howard’s favorite new find: a painted English linen press that resides just outside the breakfast area. Coupled with creamy walls, the cabinet’s soft blue-green finish inspired the quiet, cloud-like color palette throughout the house—from the kitchen’s slate gray island to the cool blue of the printed linen drapery panels in the living room and toss pillows in the master bedroom. For a touch of warmth, walnut-stained woods ground the cool colors throughout.

“The way the house is laid out, it’s very nice for a family, with the master bedroom at one end and the children on the other,” says Howard. “For a couple with young children, you want a place to retreat. It needed to be beautiful, yet comfortable. They didn’t want formal spaces; they wanted to live in and occupy every square inch of the house. Even the dining room has a casualness to it.”

The soft, airy look Howard captured was not without its challenges. “It’s a very shaded lot, so the light was already low,” she says. Architecturally, long, skinny rooms with low ceilings and few windows gave the effect of aperture lighting—most noticeably in the living room, kitchen and dining room. To decrease contrast and enhance width and height, Howard employed lots of neutrals. In the dining room, a chandelier is hung higher than normal to give the illusion of height, while window treatments are hung very high to lengthen the lines of the room.

A floor-to-ceiling window in the living room presented its own challenges. Howard chose two delicate English pieces—a mahogany table and Moroccan-style bench—as well as a pair of English bamboo chairs and modern glass lamps to fill the awkward space, but they’re airy enough to let the light flow through unobstructed, silhouetting the strong lines of each.

This lightness also serves to amplify the collected look of the room, which is punctuated by framed antique watercolors and an uncommon collection of luxe brass pieces—an unusual solid brass coffee table, a shiny brass table lamp and a brass floor lamp that Howard picked up on her recent trip. “To see all three of those pieces go into such a good home just gives me a thrill,” she says. “The homeowners were so pleased. They were able to move in the very night of our deadline.”