BOLD ALL OVER - Andrew Howard Interior Design

Written by Amy Elbert
P h o t o g r ap h y b y J e s s i e P r e z a
AND Colleen Duffley
Produced by Elizabeth Beeler
BOLD
all over
a young florida
designer revisits
a house once
designed by his
father, updating
classic details
with lustrous
finishes and
sophisticated
patterns
a
ndrew Howard is accustomed to nudging nervous clients into making strong design statements, but no coaxing was required for friend
and client Jennifer Ward, who couldn’t get
enough glam. “I would characterize this design
style as Mad Men meets Valentino and Jen,” laughs Howard, a Jacksonville, Florida, interior designer who helped Jennifer and her
husband, Peter Sleiman, update their home in Ponte Vedra Beach.
It’s part Hollywood decadence (think Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), part comfort (the couple loves to entertain), and totally
pet-friendly (they have one rescue dog and a cat who have free rein
in the home). “Jen has a very modern aesthetic, and she’s also a
warm human being,” Howard says. “This design reflects both.
“Before I took over, the house was big and spacious with great
light and volume,” says Howard, whose father, James Howard,
designed the interiors, including the architectural detailing, when
the house was built in 1995.
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Andrew
Howard grew
up surrounded by
design. Family vacations
often were spent touring
antiques shops and sites
such as Biltmore with his
father and stepmother,
James and Phoebe
Howard, Jacksonville,
Florida, interior
designers. Today, the
Howards share offices
in Jacksonville and have
shops there and in
Atlanta and Charlotte,
North Carolina.
Foyer An antique Swedish daybed covered in a Zimmer + Rhode silk is
paired with modern tables from the Mrs. Howard shop near Jacksonville.
Dining room Designer Andrew Howard tamed the tortoiseshell wall covering
from Cannon/Bullock with a dusk-blue ceiling. A chandelier from Ironies is
made of slices of agate. Designer Andrew Howard leans on one of the four Ionic
columns separating the foyer and living room. The Greek key-motif area rug is
from Tai Ping Carpet. Kitchen Onyx backsplashes and the hood facing are
backlit for drama. Preceding pages The living room is all about glamour, with
luxurious fabrics and textures. Art above the mantel is by Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Jennifer and Peter took ownership of the residence several
years ago and worked with James Howard to update the interiors.
During that period, Jennifer got to know Andrew, and their design
personalities clicked. So when she was recently ready to shift from
florals and antiques to a modern aesthetic, she turned to Andrew.
Jennifer’s bold instincts allowed the younger Howard to play
with edgy materials and patterns he’d been longing to use. First up
was the faux tortoiseshell wall covering he’d spotted in a New York
design showroom. “I’d been dying to use it but had been hesitant to
show it to anyone,” he says. Jennifer loved it.
“Jen wanted to update the rooms and make the experiences in
them feel more memorable,” Howard says. The wall covering, printed
on heavy artisan lokta paper—Nepalese handmade paper—does just
that, giving the dining room an unforgettable, dramatic presence.
To top off the room, the designer painted the tray ceiling a deep
blue trimmed with cocoa brown molding, and even Jennifer was
surprised by this choice. “When I said blue for the ceiling, both the
decorative painter and Jen gasped,” Howard relates. “But in my
opinion, blue was the most logical choice, as it gave some relief to
all the warm colors.
“I lost a lot of sleep over that room,” confesses the generally
confident Howard. “The wall covering, the blue ceiling, trim color,
yellow leopard rug, and ostrich chairs—it was bold. But I found the
rooms you lose the most sleep over always come out the best.”
Drama also played out in the nearly 30x20-foot living room,
where the couple frequently entertains large groups. “This is the
first room you see when you enter the home,” Howard says. “It’s
the center of the house and has magnificent ocean views. It really
needed to be a showstopper.”
For the floor, Howard chose a 25x17-foot navy-and-cream wool
rug he designed—an electrifying 21st-century version of a traditional Bargello needlework pattern. “I had to reshape and
re­imagine typical Bargello patterns,” he explains. “We rendered
this in Photoshop about 10 different ways until the spacing of the
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I found the rooms you lose the most
sleep over always come out
the best.
—interior designer Andrew Howard
Bedroom A faux bois (wood-look) wall covering from Nobilis gives the
bedroom a restful and somewhat masculine feel, says Howard. The Roman
shade fabric is “Tassara” from Pindler & Pindler. Howard added two tufted
stools at the foot of the bed. Bathroom Inspired by a David Hicks fabric
design, Howard had the wood floor painted with a large-scale hexagonal
pattern in shades of cream and gray. The mirror is from Oly Studio, and the
box sconces are from are from Visual Comfort. Homeowners Jennifer Ward
and Peter Sleiman. Exterior The Ward-Sleiman house sits between the
Florida Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.
lines was absolutely perfect.” He lost some sleep over this space,
too, he admits, but not as much as over the dining room. “It’s bold,
but the rug’s electricity provides that needed juxtaposing element
to all of the decoration.”
The large-scale pattern of the rug opened up possibilities for
fabric choices in a variety of pattern sizes. The chaise is covered in
a medium-scale herringbone that stands up to but doesn’t compete
with the rug. Jennifer insisted that the fabrics had to please the cat,
too, so Howard chose a snuggly cotton velvet for the chaise longue.
Seating was also selected with human entertaining in mind; the
chaise and armless chairs make it easy for people to perch and share
sitting spots. Howard designed a crescent-shaped sofa covered with
blue velvet—a luscious color somewhere between cobalt and royal
blue—that complements the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean.
The room’s silver-leafed, multiarmed chandelier remained in
place by virtue of its size—nearly 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall. Howard
had planned to replace it, but finding another fixture with the
proper scale proved difficult and unnecessary. “Once the room was
done, we loved it just the way it was.”
Windows and French doors are draped in velvet panels with an
ogee scallop on the leading edge. The velvet curtains, while admittedly not a typical fabric choice, drape beautifully and play nicely
against the back of the blue velvet sofa, explains the designer.
The spacious foyer with its 12-foot-plus-high ceiling was updated
as well, with a high-gloss white paint with a blue-gray tint on paneled
walls and millwork. “Lacquered surfaces are so gorgeous and unexpected,” says Howard. “They are the new wallpapers.”
An antique Swedish daybed was spruced up with silk upholstery
and paired with a chrome-based coffee table topped with petrified
wood. These combinations of old and new—with fresh takes on traditional forms—are what make the spaces work, Howard says. A
father and son story played out to stunning effect.
Interior designer: Andrew Howard
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For more information, see sources on page 164
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