Designer Profile:
Sheeran Howard King
Co-owner, Palazzina
145 Chenoweth Lane
897-7870
“I try to work with pieces my clients have already acquired and love — their heritage pieces and family heirlooms. I always ask to see what’s tucked away in the china cupboard.”
Business: Launched last spring and staffed by two full-time designers, Palazzina specializes in unique and hard-to-find European-style gifts, furnishings and accessories from makers such as Cipolla Pewter, Artel Crystal, David and Michael, Highland House, Hickory Chair and Paul Burrell’s new line, Royal Manner.
Education: B.A. in psychology with a fine-arts emphasis, University of Louisville, 1970; additional training in interior design at the Interior Design Institute
Experience: 15 years
Project: Living Room
Downsizing can create the perfect opportunity to change a home’s ambience. For this living room, Sheeran Howard King used furnishings and accessories from throughout the client’s very formal and very traditional former home to create a comfortable spot for guests to congregate. The result is much less museum-like and much more welcoming — just what the client ordered.
“The original fireplace mantel was a sore spot because it was too contemporary. I designed a new one that was more French in style and had it made by a local woodworker.”
“I love an ottoman in front of a fireplace. People like to perch there. The client already owned the Baker ottoman, so I just had it reupholstered in a deeper shade of teal.”
“Original Mucha posters of violinist Zdenka Cerny inspired the chocolate and watery-blue color scheme. Furnishings the client already owned were simply re-covered to match. The J. Robert Scott tete-a-tete couch — originally leather — was reupholstered with a chocolate velvet by Stroheim & Romann.”
“For the window treatments, I chose balloon shades with tails in a chocolate silk to preserve the view of the patio. I also had the windows tinted to protect the client’s furnishings and art.”
“An Artifacts library table balances out the weight of the grand piano on the other side of the fireplace. Above it, hung salon-style, is the client’s collection of 15th- through 18th-century French and Italian drawings.”
