Remodeling A Remodel

Designer Kate Binger used family antiques and rich textural and color palettes to create a comfortable, playful space for a family of five.

The afternoon of the day a family of five moved back into a home Kate Binger spent 33 months doing a full remodel on, the mom texted her a photo. “Their youngest son had his Legos and Army men covering the sofa,” says Binger, who has been doing interior design for more than 20 years and founded the boutique design studio Dwelling in 2007. “It was the best compliment I could have gotten—babysitting is for children and animals, not for furniture. You do not live in a magazine,” she says. “My goal is to design inspiring spaces which aren’t too precious to actually feel comfortable in.”

While doing this, Binger insists on never repeating the same look. “It is so important to me that I am constantly evolving and exploring eclectic design,” she says. “The constant in my design is marrying a variety of materials, colors, and textures. I prefer everyone’s home to be different. I dislike repeating the same design style over and over.”

This remodel was the second time Binger worked with this family, and with this home. Twelve years ago, she helped them to make the home, which they had then recently purchased, toddler-proof while also incorporating their collection of family antiques. “Tackling a kid-friendly home with family antiques in modern architecture was one of the most challenging collaborations I’ve worked on, but I loved it,” Binger says.

Now that their three boys are older, the family came back to Binger. “It is not often you get the opportunity to work with a family on the same space at two very different segments in time,” Binger says. “The original remodel was based in creating a livable young family space. This time it was instead based around the actual aesthetic they desired and developing spaces that valued family heirlooms and antiques within that aesthetic.”

While this seems like it would be less of a challenge than the first remodel, it wasn’t. “The clients really loved a farmhouse feel and, architecturally, this home does not relate to farmhouse at all,” Binger says. “It is modern and angular.” Existing details included orange-y concrete floors, cherry cabinetry, and black granite kitchen counters. Unlike the remodel 12 years ago, this time every room in the 6,000-square foot home was gutted.

Binger used the family’s Belgian antiques as the starting point. “I took the depth of browns in these pieces and found a beautiful creamy marble as a complement for the warm hues. Paired with white oak flooring, it launched the brightening and softening of the home,” Binger says. The color palette was informed, at the client’s request, by antique rugs with persimmon and teal tones. “The antique furniture launched the entire project, and the rugs provided the project’s color inspiration,” Binger says. She selected an antique rug for every room in the home except for the media room and then began layering in details.

In the living room, the rug informed Binger’s selection of rough-cut limestone for the fireplace. The rug in the primary suite inspired the color of the upholstered headboard, a teal chenille, and an oil painting of sandhill cranes commissioned from Kathryn Turner. While such details are beautiful on their own, they also speak to nearby antique pieces and ease the home’s angular lines. Near the limestone living room fireplace are an antique mirror and chest. (The latter is used to hold firewood). The color and rich texture of the chenille headboard in the primary bedroom highlight nightstands inlaid with wood in a herringbone pattern and also one of two sets of antique doors Binger sourced on a research trip.

“The very best of design honors and enhances clients’ lives while being visually delightful,” Binger says. “This project does just that—a comprehensive flow of new materials with the story of the family antiques. The result is a home that is wholly of and for this family and unlike any other home I’ve seen in the valley.”