Unexpected Mix of

Furniture
and
Finishes

By Emily Miller
Article by Julie Sanders
Home + Design Magazine

Lori Graham outfits her1890s D.C.

rowhouse with an unexpected mix
of furniture and finishes
Lori Grahams
14th Street shop,
Lori Graham
Home, perfectly
exemplifies the
designers chic,
eclectic sensibility.
A trip to her home,
therefore, comes
as no surprise.

The two-bedroom
row house was a
recent purchase
for Graham. After
completing several
major row-house
projects close
to downtown
DCs 14th Street
Corridor, she had
become a fan of the
areas surrounding
residential streets.

Making a

house a home
The lower level,
which the designer
describes as an
English, or aboveground, basement,
boasts plenty of
light, with fullheight windows
and nine-foot
ceilings. It houses a
home office-cumguest room and a
master bedroom
and bath. The
lower level opens
out to both front
and back gardens.

The first floor,

with its 11-and-ahalf-foot ceilings,
encompasses
living and
dining rooms,
a powder room
behind the
stairs, a small
but functional
kitchenalready
updated when
Graham moved
inand a
breakfast
nook that she
converted into a
sitting room.

Graham set to
work first figuring
out how to create
more storage space.
I needed places for
books, objects and
serving ware, she
says. In the living
room, she flanked
the etched-stone
fireplace with open
shelving and a
built-in mirror.

In the dining
room, there were
niches on either
side of a blank
wall. They cried
out for built-ins,
says the designer,
who particularly
needed storage
space in the dining
room that would
accommodate
overflow from the
small kitchen.

To create the
sophisticated, glam
look she wanted,
Graham decorated
the house with
reupholstered
vintage furniture
and pieces selected
from her
showroom.
In the dining
room, for example,
the table came
from her shop,
while the chairs
are pieces Ive
had forever, she
says. Above the
dining room table,
a new chandelier
by CL Sterling &
Son conveys the
look of an earlier
era with its use of
mercury glass.

In the living
room, with its
soft gray palette,
mid-century sofas
share space with
a glass-topped
coffee table from
the showroom;

a high-backed chair
by the window
a popular perch for
the dogsis a vintage
piece thats been
reupholstered in
Italian velvet by
C&C Milano.

An unusual beaded
chandelier from
Shine by S.H.O., a
home furnishings
line carried by
Lori Graham
Home, creates a
focal point above a
console table by the
bay window.

The living and

dining rooms are
more formal, but
the house becomes
more casual as you
move back through
it, says Graham.
The sitting room,
painted a dark
Benjamin Moore
gray, boasts an
antique red rug
from Timothy Paul.

The house becomes

more casual as you move
back through it.
Carpet + Home, a
sofa from Grahams
showroom, sits
beside an eyecatching rams head
coffee table and
Greek key chairs.
The sitting and
dining rooms share
a wall of exposed
brick that warms
both spaces.

New decorative
wall moldings lend
visual interest,
while custom
draperiesnavy
velvet in the living
room and white
denim by Powell
& Bonnell trimmed
with a lively Ikat
pattern in the
sitting room
accent the big
bay windows and
high ceilings.

Eclectic Mix
Graham turned
to colleague and
curator Mike
Johnson for
some pieces,
selecting a mix of
vintage Japanese
lithographs, art
photography
and personal
photographs for a
collage of art in the
living room.

Above the mantel,

an abstract canvas
by Robert Mellor
introduces a vivid
shot of color to
the room, while in
the sitting room,
photographs by
Barbara Probst are
striking against the
dark-hued wall.

Downstairs,
Graham enjoyed
creating a
thoroughly girly
bedroom, complete
with floor-toceiling pink
draperies and soft,
feminine bedding.
It was fun because
I got to do it by
myself, she says.

Graham is a DCarea resident who

has lived in the
capital for a long
time. I used to be
a lawyer before I
made the switch
to interior design,
she says. This year
marks her tenth
anniversary as a
designer, and
her second since
the opening of
her showroom,
only a block
and a half away.

Now, her new

home heralds
another beginning.
Its a great
location, she says.
Its the perfect size
and the perfect fit.

Featured article from the

July/August 2014 issue of

Home + Design Magazine