This Virginia Family Home Is a Masterclass in Mixing Vintage and Custom Pieces (2024)

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Liz MacPhail, the founder of Liz MacPhail Interiors, had finished designing a Houston home that featured a mix ofcustom, heirloom, vintage, and new pieces when she learned her clients were relocating across the country to Charlottesville, Virginia. This put the designer to the test and made her question if everything would also work in the new home.

MacPhail's clients' new home is a 7,500 square-foot 1930s Tudor which is complete with five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms—all of which needed an update. In this instance, simplicity and beauty played equally key roles in the home's design.

"We learned our client reallyloves textiles, simple designs, function, art, artisanal pieces, and a space and home that's full of beautiful things that are needed—not a lot of superfluous adornments or accessories for the sake of it," MacPhail says.

Before furnishing the space, she completed a light renovation in almost all of the home's rooms and took a heavier hand to the kitchen, main bathroom, and powder room. MacPhail explains how the main objective was to do as little as possible because the home was beautiful to begin with.

The designer's main concerns were updating the home's windows, paint, and light fixtures in addition to tackling the kitchen, main bathroom, powder room, and basem*nt. "The main bathroom had not been updated in years and wasin pretty sad shape for a house of this quality and for these busy, working parents," she comments.

In the kitchen, which any designer will argue is the heart of the home, MacPhail got to work completing a "facelift" to ensure the space felt more like the homeowners—the space had been updated recently but just didn't reflect their style.

When they moved in, the kitchen featured wallpaper, faux beams, giant island pendants, bold countertops, and a pastel blue on the cabinets.

"Wepared down and simplified in color and palette to change the overall feel and even use of the space for them," MacPhail explains, noting that she salvaged and reskinned the cabinets that had originally been in place.

Since MacPhail had the opportunity to work with repeat clients in such a brief period of time, her values and ingenuity were put to the test.

"Our firm's ethos is to buy what you love and to invest in quality over quantity and disposal pieces," she says. She explains how buying quality that you love will last you through the years regardless of where you end up.

However, MacPhail didn't expect to be challenged so quickly after she had completed the first project. The designer was able to ensure that the thoughtfully selected pieces for the Houston home would have their moment to shine in Virginia.

For example, a pair of matching credenzas that she had designed and fabricated for the Houston living room has since been split up; one sits in the entryway and the other lives in the media room. A chair from the Houston family room now serves a new purpose in the media room, too, while chairs from the formal living room in Houston are now situated in the dining room, where they form an additional seating area by the windows.

MacPhail reworked art placement in the new home, too. Although the layout was different than the previous home, MacPhail was able to pair the art and furniture in various ways depending on the room and it eventually worked out.

"I actually love moving art around in my own house from time to time, I find it helps me see it and appreciate it again sometimes in a new way." All in all, every item from Houston ended up serving a purpose in Virginia. MacPhail says, "There wasn't a single piece they broughtwiththem that we didn't use."

In general, MacPhail always prioritizes using family heirlooms in her work and offers suggestions for those looking to do the same.

"We always start our projects with new clients by taking a detailed inventory of what they have, and we aren'tafraid to ask if there are pieces wecould get access to," MacPhail says. She explains how many of her clients will then draw from their parents or grandparents, who are eager to pass along certain items.

MacPhail says that they all look at the options together and make decisions on what to keep and what to pass on to narrow down the pieces. Then, she collaborates with her clients to see which ways the pieces can be used throughout the home.

"Just because it'sa dining room buffet doesn't mean it has to be in the dining room," MacPhail notes. "Think of where the piece could be the most useful to you and in your home."

In this Charlottesville home, the dining room chairs belonged to the client's maternal grandmother. MacPhail refinished them and had their joints strengthened before reupholstering them in a Holland & Sherry hair-on-hide in a soft, neutralpalette.

A buffet that had belonged to the client's paternal grandparents now sits beside new Apparatus Studio sconces and contemporary pieces by Austin-based artist Claire Oswalt.

"All these pieces are paired with really simple, almost Shaker-inspired pieces," MacPhail adds. She designed a custom dining table with Syd Furniture and sourced the living room coffee table from 1stDibs.

While the home's furnishings are simple, MacPhail did go a bit bolder with wallpaper. In the powder room, she used a Rebecca Atwood pattern, which MacPhail describes as delicate but still colorful.

The pop of pastel colors gives the home a playful energy without overwhelming the classic sconces and metal hardware finishes.

MacPhail says that her clients appreciate that they didn't have to purchase many new items and were able to infuse their new home with their personal taste. "I'm proud we didn't waste but were able to still make it really feel like [them]," she says.