Talking with my friend, artist Jean Wilson Freeman, about interviewing designer Kelly Ford, she says, “She’s kind of a mystical soothsayer with those 80s-era renos.”
I mean, seriously, it just had to be in the story. And she’s right; Ford has an undercurrent of late 70s/early 80s West Coast glamour that peeps up in an otherwise lush tradition, one that embraces fine antiques, custom millwork, boutique hotel finishes, and editorial-leaning florals.
But it’s an eye for 21, utilizing art, books, photography, and fabrication that often sets Kelly Ford’s work apart. She can also pick the right barstool like no other and utilize a sconce in a surprisingly ideal locale.
When Ford offered us a look at her own completed renovation in Parkins Mill, I jumped at the chance. Her Instagram account @fordinteriordesign had been hinting at it for months, and don’t we all just want to step into a designer’s home? The 1979, two-story traditional needed a new kitchen and adjoining dining room, and a large sunroom had always been in Ford’s plans. Tying it together with a hard-working mudroom and a back garden filled with southern plants and wildflowers made perfect sense to the designer, who also runs the fresh-cut flower company Fields South with her best friend, Megan Runion.
Ford and her husband, Jim, found the home in 2014. Its location was right for them and their two children, Naphtali and Bauer, and the bones were good enough to renovate the interiors over time. The house was painted, and landscape installed. They updated the bedrooms and baths, but the designer recognized that the kitchen needed a complete overhaul, including moving a load-bearing wall.
“It was literally falling apart. Only one burner out of four worked; we were at a breaking point,” says Ford. “There was one tiny window in the kitchen. I love to cook and love having people over. Even my husband, who hates to spend money, said ‘It’s time.’”
The English Kitchen
Ford worked with Lucas Anthony of Transcend Custom Homes to push back the kitchen wall and add windows to overlook a soon-to-be cutting garden. “It was all very intentional,” Ford says.
The kitchen boasts zero upper cabinets. The 4’10” designer says her uppers are unnecessary since she can’t reach them unassisted, so instead, she gained a kitchen flooded with natural light and installed a marble shelf the length of the wall, a nod to her admiration for English kitchens, which she says are minimal by design.
The space centers around an antique island, an original shop counter dating from 1780. Ford found it online and had it shipped from England. Michael McDunn, who Ford calls a true craftsman and irreplaceable, modified it to fit the room’s footprint, adding open shelving on its backside. Remnants left over were recycled back into the kitchen, including hardware, which was installed on an adjacent cupboard pantry.
“Styling shelves is my all-time favorite outlet, so I did a huge cupboard that takes up most of a wall,” says Ford. “I’ve got antiques in it, and glasses, and pottery, and I use every single thing.”
The kitchen is a mix of old and new, and though there’s a hard dose of antiques in it, she resolved to keep it light and bright. The tile is unglazed terra cotta from Morocco. She admires real materials, things that are handmade, and its old-world feel interplays with the antique island. Unlacquered brass hardware adorns modern inset slab cabinetry, and the faucet is unpolished nickel. “I picked these finishes because they will never go out of style,” she says.
The Moody Dining Room
The dining room is decidedly darker and shows Ford’s deft hand at pairing neoclassical elements with mid-century furnishings. “I feel like a house should be full of all the things that you love but there’s still a rhyme and reason to choosing it all,” says Ford. “For me, I lean toward moody and, often, more masculine styling.”
The designer is known for installing custom-built banquets; her own is paired with a mid-century table and neoclassical chairs, modern lighting, and modern art, including a notable, large Eli Warren portrait. There’s a hoard of striped pillows, and the wallcovering is a subtle stripe, too. Roman shades are in Tartan by Ralph Lauren. “It’s the icing on the cake,” Ford says.
The Stylish Small Space (or two)
Nearly six years ago, Ford saw a stack of marble at SlabCo and fell hard for it. She always pictured it in her kitchen, but by the time the renovation was a go, only a slab remained. It became an apron-front floating vanity in the powder room and the backdrop for art photography by Aaron Green. “It’s spirited,” says Ford, “and adds a little retro glam moment.”
The mudroom boasts mural wallpaper from Poland in a landscape scene that lends the space some directional pull. The tile, like the kitchen, is Moroccan.
The Sentimental Sunroom
Some may think of enclosing a screened-in porch as an afterthought, but Ford had been planning their sunroom since she first saw the house. She hired Resonant Woodworks to help bring her vision to life.
First off, there’s no TV. She calls it a room to hang out and be together in, without distraction. The room is big on texture, from fabrications to the limestone on the fireplace; there’s even white oak flanking the ceiling, covering sheetrock.
“It’s my room of nostalgia, things that remind me of my dad and my grandparents,” Ford says. She names Bob Yearick, owner of We Took to the Woods, as influencing her styling in the space; a croquet set stands in one corner, a nod towards one always perched in her grandmothers’ mudroom; two mallards sit on shelves as well as antique paint brushes she bought while living in China in her early twenties.
Handmade tile from Spain lies underfoot, but a dark rug adds to the room Ford describes as “a little bit lakehouse with a hint of a chill vibe.” The goal was simply cozy, and to achieve this, the sunroom houses lots of antiques and antique paintings punctuated by modern art, tons of pillows and blankets, stacks of books, and comfortable seating.
When asked what the finished renovation has achieved, Ford says, “It’s a complete feeling. Each room is different and serves its purpose, and I allow myself to go to those spaces when I’m in that mood. It’s everything I wanted for us.”
