Lightening Up
When Kitty and Ira Carnahan bought their house in Chevy Chase in 2012, they figured they could share the library as an office. Ira is an equity analyst at an investment firm in Baltimore and occasionally works from home. And “I work for our two children, Callie and William,” Kitty jokes.
But the couple needed some design direction, so they enlisted Chevy Chase-based designer Sue Burgess to help.
“I found the overall space dark and depressing,” Burgess says. “The out-of-date and mismatched cabinetry was done in different stains, and the lighting was poor. I ended up tearing out an entire wall of cabinets that projected too far into the room, eating up valuable floor space. They were originally designed for housing an obsolete, enormous TV.”
On the plus side, the library’s sloped, cottage-style ceiling had decorative potential, and there was a warm and cozy wood-burning fireplace.
Though Kitty Carnahan is partial to dark wood, she trusted Burgess to refinish the cabinetry and wood trim in a white Benjamin Moore paint with a satin finish.
Recessed lighting was also added to brighten the room. And Burgess introduced texture by covering the walls and ceiling in chamois-hued raffia, creating a neutral, yet cocoon-like, effect.
“Raffia is expensive,” says Burgess, who completed the six-week job last March. “But we didn’t need much of it because of all the built-in bookshelves and fireplace paneling. With the ceiling’s odd angles, the raffia brought so much charm to the room.”
Repurposing furnishings from other parts of the house helped keep costs low, as well. The Oriental rug was originally downstairs. Two existing bergère chairs and matched ottomans were reupholstered in a subtle animal print to give them a fresh look and placed on either side of the fireplace.
One of the best examples of repurposing was the homeowners’ antique French refectory table, which had served as a dining room table in their previous home. Burgess turned it into Ira Carnahan’s desk. Kitty Carnahan’s existing desk, a bland reproduction, was simply painted white.
The library occupies a separate landing, straddling the home’s upper and lower floors, allowing the couple quiet and privacy for work, and enabling them to keep track of their two children.
“It’s a delightful room now,” Kitty Carnahan says. “I’m so glad Sue talked me into going lighter.”
Photos by Stacy Zarin-Goldberg
