When Ashley and Cheshire Webb decided to take on a full remodel and addition to their Drewry Hills home, Ashley Webb contacted Martha Schneider at La Maison Interiors. Friends for more than a decade, Schneider had an inside track on Webb’s tastes and personality and knew her personal decorating mantra would be a terrific fit for the Webb family’s needs.
“Ashley owns Vermillion, a high-end fashion boutique in Raleigh, and appreciates style that is cool, relevant, and beautiful,” Schneider says. “I personally design for ultimate function with a sophisticated aesthetic, and Ashley wanted her home to feel fluid and lived-in while also being infused with their personalities and a touch of glam.”
Schneider achieved the fresh, contemporary look through layering—colors, textures, fabrics, art, and furniture—against a clean neutral canvas. The result is a fashion-forward home built for function and family that embodies Webb’s impeccable eye for style.
In fact, a few elements of the design are derived directly from Webb’s boutique, giving a personal tie-in between the two. Vermillion red, the store’s signature color, is streamed throughout most of the home, infused in dramatic and sometimes unexpected fashion in the living room, the dining room curtain, and the family room couch. Additionally, the unique foil wallpaper in the powder room is by Matthew Williamson, a fashion designer Webb has carried in her store. “She obviously had connected with his style and aesthetic, and I knew this paper would be the perfect nod to the relationship,” Schneider says.
Art also plays a central role in the design concept. Both art lovers and collectors, Ashley and Cheshire Webb wanted their pieces to not only find a home in the space but also be showcased and revered. Cheshire Webb had recently purchased two pieces of original art from La Maison, and these are prominently displayed in the family room. In the living room, an eclectic peacock framed selection inspires the rich palette of colors brought into the room through bold textiles and accessories. In daughter Betty’s room, personal 3-D artwork punctuates the space above dual twin beds and a full-sized gallery on the opposite wall.
While all of the art in the home is personal, a couple of select pieces were specifically designed for the family. A sketch drawing of a Lela Rose gown offers a splash of vibrant color and glam to the otherwise neutral, spa-like master bath. The piece was gifted to Webb from the designer herself, whose lines are carried at Vermillion. In the eat-in kitchen, an original painting by Wolf Kahn, a famous artist who also happens to be Cheshire Webb’s great uncle, serves as a prominent piece in the space and also offers a dash of sentimentality.
The family’s love of art didn’t miss their three girls. In fact, the white Parsons table in the dining room doubles as an art center and the custom teal lacquered built-ins offer clever, convenient, and concealed storage of all art supplies. “A signature facet of La Maison’s style is creating comprehensive designs that offer homeowners both style and function, a mantra captured in my tag line ‘Where Style Meets Home,’” Schneider says. “The Webb’s home epitomizes that promise so vividly seen in the dining room, which can convert from children’s art room to elegant dining space in a snap.”
What the home offers in function, it matches in sophisticated glam, often achieving the best of both worlds through Schneider’s emphasis on layering furniture, textures, and colors. In the living room, two red pony hair x-benches with nail head trim perfectly coordinate with the striped Romo cut velvet on the repurposed antique chair, a bit of luxe against the neutral sisal rug. A mirrored coffee table and gilded accessories and sconces impart a bit of glam to the space. In the family room, ivory grasscloth adds a neutral texture to the walls while custom leopard-print swivel chairs and a tufted ottoman offer both adequate seating options.
The use of sumptuous fabrics and layered textures continues seamlessly into the bedrooms. In daughter Annie Fleming’s Parisian-inspired room, a whimsical black-and-white Manuel Canovas print pairs beautifully with contrasting bright teals, pinks, and purples that impart a youthful vibe to the traditional elegance of the antique wrought-iron bed and bedside table and lamp. The master bedroom’s mix of upholstered blue velvet headboard, embroidered appliqued linen drapes from Cowtan & Tout, and bench covered in Designers Guild fabric all add layers of texture to the space while zebra print shams from Thibaut and the homeowner’s personal giraffe print chair add a playful contemporary flair.
A selection of light fixtures – from the airy modern lines of the kitchen pendants to the ultra-glam Niermann Weeks crystal leaf chandelier in the master bath to the warm gilded chandelier and library lights by La Maison in the dining room – create stunning focal points in each room.
Schneider’s favorite fixture, the unique semi-flush mount in the foyer, proves Schneider’s dedication to going above and beyond for her clients. “The vintage Italian fixture features warm gold and milk glass and was specifically purchased from NYC for the Webb’s foyer. It expertly complements the space’s tone-on-tone flocked wallpaper and sets off the tone of glamourchic that runs throughout the home.”
It’s this dedication to capturing the Webb family’s style while also offering them a highly functional home in which to raise their family that stands paramount. From the bold hints of color to the glamorous elements that pop against a neutral canvas, La Maison created a space that is relevant, comfortable, and fully functional for a family on the go. “The result is a simple, elegant, and chic look that feels fresh and contemporary without being overdesigned,” Schneider concludes.