Sometimes, one unexpected choice can change the course of an interior design project. That’s what happened in this maximalist house in the city of Mountain Brook, Alabama, which was masterminded by Danielle Balanis Design, based in nearby Birmingham. Early on in the design process, the decision was made to paint the kitchen a vibrant shade of peacock blue. “From there, the design just took on a life of its own,” Balanis remembers. The three-bedroom home became an homage to colour and pattern, and to the finds brought back from its well-travelled owners’ trips abroad.
The homeowners are a couple with a young child. “They wanted a home filled with colour and happiness,” explains Balanis, whose work is often inspired by fashion and by contrasts of old and new. “I always want my designs to be a marriage of runway and reality – I crave layered, luxe, maximalist looks,” she enthuses. There was nothing especially unusual about the one-storey ranch-style home – built in the late 1960s, it was “very traditional and common for its time” – but the decision to go with a vivid turquoise kitchen means it now looks wildly original inside.
A hint of what’s to come is signalled on the house’s covered porch, where an ornate wicker sofa and chairs from Varnish Collection are teamed with cushions in Schumacher botanical-print fabric. Beyond, the entrance hall and adjacent dining room are a masterclass in layering patterns to create optical illusions: marbled wallpaper from Pierre Frey is teamed with wine-red painted panelling in the hallway, while the dining room is an extravaganza in Cowtan & Tout’s romantic Rutland wallpaper. Complex perspectives open up around the dining room, thanks to wide entrances framed in jade green. A study with bespoke green shelving is visible through one doorway, while a large convex mirror in the entrance hall casts surreal reflections. Vintage Lucite dining chairs from Chairish add a 1970s touch, their near-transparent forms allowing bold patterns to shine in this maximalist house.
As Balanis was working, she came across a 1960s Slim Aarons portrait of Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull that proved inspirational, tying much of the design together. It had a big influence on the choice of deep, moody colours and bohemian vintage finds. A home office decorated in electric blue, for instance, has an almost neo-Egyptian feel, with a vintage black-and-gold artwork from 1stDibs; in the pink living room, a vintage sofa and chairs are combined with an antique Indian painted screen and a tasselled asmalyk – a camel trapping traditionally used in Turkmen wedding ceremonies. The latter forms part of a wall display made up of treasures from the homeowners’ travels. “Although softer colours are woven in, jewel tones really control the narrative,” says Balanis. “I think the homeowners look good in this kind of colour, so maybe it was a subconscious choice.”
Balanis was also resourceful where necessary. The home had several storage cupboards with bifold doors that would have been impractical to remove, sparking the solution of adding wallpapered panels to give them a handcrafted look. Thus, both the sunny blue breakfast room and the principal bedroom have added dimension and character. In the bedroom, Beata Heuman’s Marbleized wallpaper is a bright foil for deep burgundy walls. “There’s also a matching velvet fabric used on repeat, transforming the room into a jewel box,” says the designer. As a “sweet surprise”, she wallpapered the inside of almost every cupboard in the home, inspired by the idea of “a beautiful lining in a purse”.
The inspirational image of Jagger and Faithfull has also found a home here: simply framed in white, it hangs in a reading room that doubles as a guest room. The space is full of playful contrasts – chequered wallpaper from Schumacher, a leopard-print carpet, and a whimsical Avalon rattan daybed by Serena & Lily. “The entire home is a sensorial experience; it’s about being original, unapologetic and authentic,” says Balanis. “Every detail was chosen not with the thought of reselling, or what anyone else would approve of, but rather according to what the owners loved.” @daniellebalanis_design
