houston - Ashley Goforth Design

HOU_LX25_003
HOUSTON
$ 9.95
A SANDOW MEDIA PUBLICATION
VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1
TX_LX25_COVER_SPOT.indd 3
DISPLAY UNTIL 4/15/13
12/5/12 10:28 AM
artful lodgers
an old friend creates a serene and sophisticated
new home for a relocating couple.
w r i t t e n b y su z an n e gan non
W
p h o t o g r a p h y b y nick joh nson
hen Melissa and Ray Strong learned they would
be leaving their apartment in New York’s Tribeca
neighborhood for an address in Houston, they
flew down to the city where Melissa had grown
up and walked through 10 listings in a single day. Though the trip was
not intended to end in an actual purchase, Melissa zeroed in on a
house in a leafy neighborhood adjacent to River Oaks, and soon
afterward, they made an offer. “This is the only one I liked,” she
says of the two-story structure that is now their home. “My heart
was set. It just felt right.”
Designed by architect Travis Mattingly of Architectural Solutions
six years ago, the stucco center-hall French Revival set among stately
oaks makes an elegant impression from the street and includes a cache
of bedrooms, self-contained guest quarters and 10½-foot ceilings.
Among the many existing attributes Melissa chose to save are dark
hardwood floors, Calacatta marble and travertine countertops in
the kitchen and master bath, and crown molding painted in colors
other than white.
interior design Ashley Goforth, Ashley Goforth Design
bedrooms 5
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bathrooms 7
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square feet 6,436
Above: This horseshoe-shaped French Revival
home encircles a courtyard, providing abundant
natural light to the interiors. Right: In the living
room, a bronze-limestone-and-glass coffee table
from Baker rests upon a Merida rug.
c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 174
With the exception of their art collection, the Strongs would
not be bringing many pieces down from their New York abode.
So Melissa tapped a friend from college, designer Ashley Goforth, to
furnish and accessorize the lion’s share of the new house, including
the entire first floor. The designer completed the job in seven months.
The foyer is appointed with objects procured by
designer Ashley Goforth—like the cowhide rug from
GH Leather, a Goodman pendant from Circa Lighting
and the gilded iron table of her own design—and
art collected by the homeowners when they lived
in New York. Skull, a mixed-media collage by
Peter Tunney, was acquired directly from the artist.
“Everything Ashley does is phenomenal,” says Melissa. “She gets
the big picture and nine out of 10 times I immediately love what
she presents.” The relationship worked, the homeowner continues,
because she herself is very decisive and because Goforth was willing
to entertain all possibilities, yet wasn’t afraid to be frank about the
ones that didn’t work.
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c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 177
Goforth took to her assignment with creativity and zeal, energized,
she says, not only by her client’s good design sense and confidence in
The kitchen—with its Calacatta marble
countertops, Daltile subway tile, Viking range
and Sub-Zero refrigerator—was among the
existing features of the house that the owners
chose to leave intact. It is also where the wife
says she learned that polished nickel could
stylishly co-exist with a gilded mirror.
her abilities but also by the structure’s horseshoe shape, which draws
natural light into nearly every room.
As exiles from New York, the designer surmised, her clients would thrive
in an environment of metropolitan high style. So Goforth blended
antiques with modern accessories, designed a handful of custom items—
such as the gilded iron table she installed in the foyer—and strategically
Masculine squares off against feminine in
the breakfast nook. Goforth designed a petite
banquette covered in Schumacher’s High Voltage
linen-cotton chevron and paired it with leather
chairs by Mies van der Rohe, via Design Within
Reach. Double Bunny, an oil-on-wood piece by
Hunt Slonem, hangs in the background.
placed several of the contemporary artworks her clients had acquired
in their former habitat throughout the house, where each serves as the
defining feature of its assigned space. “This house looks collected and
curated, as though it’s evolved over time,” she says.
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Goforth added warmth to the dining room with
texture and pattern through a faux bois-inspired
carpet by Safavieh, a circa 1930s French chandelier
from Carl Moore Antiques and white linen tufted
chairs by Restoration Hardware. Graphite taffeta
draperies were found at Schumacher. A work by
Steven Seinberg injects contemporary flair.
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“This house looks collec t ed and cu r ated,
as though i t’s evo lved o ver t ime. ”
c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 179
The designer also took into consideration the gender balance in
the household—Ray, who, when he’s not financing oil and gas
deals, is a competitive triathlete and recreational water-skier;
and Melissa, a legal recruiter-turned-passionate international
volunteer focused on child welfare—and used it as a template for
contrasts in silhouette and style, and color and texture. “I wanted
to achieve a yin-yang between the masculine and feminine
elements in the space,” says Goforth.
Working in a palette of charcoal gray, camel beige and white with
gold accents, the designer juxtaposed, for example, the straight,
tailored lines of a sofa she likens to menswear with the feminine
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Above: Built-ins frame a graphic painting by
Amanda Stone Talley in the husband’s study;
a collage by Tunney, In God We Trust...Sometimes,
hangs above the study sofa. Right: Tunney’s
Lonely No More encapsulates the vibe in the
den, where an antique table and zebra benches
ground the space.
The wife says the guest bedroom, with
its charcoal-gray walls and electric
cobalt pillows, is her favorite space in
the house. Pippa, the owners’ much
adored (and rescued) Jack Russell
terrier mix, seems to share her view.
c o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 182
fluidity of silk-taffeta draperies. She upholstered dark wooden
chairs with light fabrics and threw into the mix touches of
graphic pattern—a kitchen banquette featuring a chevron motif, a
faux-bois carpet—as well as materials from nature, such as cowhide
Goforth aimed for “high contrast” in the guest
room, choosing white linen draperies with graphic
black trim and pleather headboards ornamented
with brass tacks. Both were custom-fabricated.
The black lacquered chest and white porcelain
lamp between the beds is Bungalow 5.
rugs and zebra-covered benches.
Looking back on the process, a contented Melissa says, “Ashley
taught me that rules are made to be broken. Our house has style,
but it’s also really livable. And that’s representative of us.” L
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