When Genevieve Lovelace set out to recreate part of a midcentury Pike Creek home, the style she employed came naturally to the designer. The six-bedroom house is a work in progress, but Lovelace’s mission was to transform the dining room and the pool house into midcentury moments that would be suitable for the family of four. Client and designer quickly found they were on the same page; the owner had done her homework. “Word of mouth is typical in Delaware, which I’m so grateful for,” Lovelace says. “She reached out to me just through knowing people, and I believe she was following me on Instagram as well. She put her full trust in me.”
Both spaces demanded their respective identities. The dining room had a somewhat contemporary look that didn’t make a strong impression; however, Lovelace saw great potential in its high, slanted ceilings and ample square footage.
Because the kitchen features dark colors, the client wanted to nod to that in the dining room, but pops of color became key to the concept. Actually, more than pops: The mural-like custom wallpaper from Wallmur commands attention with its freeform hues of blush, coral, steel gray and beige. “We didn’t want something that was too tiny of a pattern because it was such a large space,” the designer explains. “We really wanted to go with something abstract but still felt like it was for a family raising children. It is actually multiple pieces of wallpaper, but the contractor was amazing and made it seamless.”
It is no easy task coming up with an imaginative dining room—exemplified by the bold wall covering and the iconic “Atomic Age” Sputnik chandelier—that is both design-forward and festive to a child’s eye, but Lovelace achieved it. “This is their main dining space, so although it looks very design-forward, it needed to be functional for everybody to sit in and eat in,” she says. “Although it looks magazine-worthy, it’s still being used every single day.”
“This is their main dining space, so although it looks very design-forward, it needed to be functional for everybody to sit in and eat in.”
Speaking of sitting, the set of orange velvet dining chairs, with their barreled, scalloped shapes—Lovelace sourced them from Amazon—pay tribute to midcentury. “You feel like you’re tucked in when you’re sitting there,” she says of the chairs, which embody the spirit of the room and enliven the owner’s existing table, which has an oval wooden top set upon a see-through, cinched metal base.
Unfinished, underutilized and earmarked for storage, the pool house was due for an even bigger overhaul. “With its untouched wood, it was calling for a refresh,” Lovelace says. “When I got in there, I felt like it could pull [off] a coastal vibe. I didn’t want to take away from the wood, but the entire interior, from the floors to the rafters, came in for a whitewash.” The sand-colored, seven-piece seating area, with its removable and washable seat cushions, came from Wayfair.
Lovelace conjured an inviting and comfortable space, just off the in-ground swimming pool, with several places to linger. The wicker egg chair commands a corner, and the breakfast bar was not only painted white but refined to become functional, with storage inside. Two changing rooms are secreted away, and café lights surround the double-tier wicker chandelier to create magical post-pool evenings.
“My client wanted to host a lot of birthday parties in there, a lot of kids parties, and she wanted to have friends over,” Lovelace says. “I wanted it to feel mature and elegant but also somewhere kids could have fun.”
