 |
| LONG LIFE: Over the years, Beverly and Sally have mixed timeless new pieces with beautiful antiques and artifacts. It was not an overnight process. “We ordered the Fortuny fabric for the sofa in the formal living room before Sally even knew she was pregnant,” Beverly remembers, “but the baby arrived before the fabric did.” |
Perfect Blend
Inspired by grand European estates, a Northern Hills resident and her designer create a warm family house spiced with touches of the Far East.
 |
| COLLECTED: A bedroom sitting area combines all of Sally’s great loves: art and nature (the framed botanicals), mellow colors (the toile and pillows), and exotic elements (the antique Indian dhurrie). (Left) A piece of Cantonware from the Hatcher collection shines against this red and black antique table. |
In one of those all too rare collaborations between homeowner and interior designer, Sally Timberlake Hoffman and Beverly Field, ASID, have created a comfortably genteel family home in Northern Hills. Ask either of them the secret to this interior’s appeal and they’ll say color.
 |
“Beverly and I are both keyed in to color,” Sally says. “When we started working together, I showed her a book on Italian art and told her that these are the colors I love. The soft, timeworn colors of Italian frescos were our inspiration.” Beverly gave her these mellow colors in exhilarating abundance: wonderful upholstered pieces in every combination of robin’s egg blue, creamy yellow, and the softest shades of red; warm wall colors; and accent pillows in a riot of muted shades. But this is not a bland, pastel palette; splashes of bold color—navy blue, sunshine yellow, deep scarlet—in the upholstery, the art, and the accessories inject energy and breathe life into the dcor.
 |
| IT’S ALL IN THE MIX: Beverly topped Sally’s bed in the same Colefax & Fowler fabric she used to upholster it. Never one to shy away from mixing color or pattern, she covered the small slipper chair to side of the bed in a pink ribbon print and used a red-and-white toile in the sitting area. (Below) An 18th-century chest of drawers is functional and beautiful. |
Likewise, Sally’s eclectic mix of smaller furniture pieces and decorative objects, ranging from Venetian mirrors and Cantonese ceramics to Parisian chandeliers and Afghan textiles, adds to the layered, collected look that is a hallmark of European style. “Neither Beverly nor I get hung up on provenance,” Sally says. “I have a background in art history, so provenance intrigues me and can add to the appeal of a piece, but I don’t have to know everything about a piece to be enchanted by it.” So Sally’s home is a wonderful, global mix of fine pieces and more humble accents, where Fortuny-clad sofas rub shoulders with pieces upholstered in simple cotton and the dark wood floors are covered in antique Indian blue-and-white striped dhurrie rugs.
 |
The mix reflects Sally’s extensive travels and creates interest, drawing your gaze around the interior. The wandering eye is rewarded with small delights such as needlepoint pillows sharing the couch with striped pillows fashioned from a pair of antique Turkish trousers; a diminutive pair of Spanish chairs flanking a blue Venetian rococo sideboard; and several yards of 18th-century wallpaper showcased in a four-panel folding screen. Tucked into a corner of the den, a stack of Chinese chests is topped with a painting on wood. “I don’t know anything about this piece,” Sally says of the painting, “but I think it’s marvelous. Just look at the colors.”
Scale is also a major factor in the success of this interior. “Beverly taught me an important lesson about scale when we first worked together in the early ’90s,” Sally says. “I was in a much larger, grander home. I thought we’d need to fill those rooms with very large furniture, but Beverly showed me a book of the finest homes in England and Ireland, pointing out that the furniture was all of human scale. Even with soaring ceilings, the pieces worked well.”
“I ordered classically styled pieces of human scale,” Beverly says. “Not only did they work beautifully in the old house, but they also make these smaller rooms grand but livable. We built a strong foundation of timeless pieces.”
 |
| BORDER CROSSING: The dining room is a bit of what Beverly calls “high Bohemia.” In this room, Sally’s ethnic pieces take center stage and her more traditional antiques play supporting roles. George III chairs with original horsehair seats surround a table topped with a stunning tribal dowry cloth from Eastern Europe. (Below) English majolica plates share wall space with an Italian mirror found in Milan. |
Using a unified color palette and pieces of similar scale allows Sally design flexibility. Move a chair from the den to one of the bedrooms or from the formal living room into the den and it works. Swap out the blue-and-white Cantonware from the Hatcher collection over the living room fireplace with the Catesby botanical prints on the mantel in the den. Replace a piece of her art collection with one of the many, striking mirrors scattered throughout the house and you might be hard-pressed to say which is more beautiful.
“I love ethnic pieces and ’proper’ antiques,” Sally says, “but I don’t like anything too stiff or predictable.”
“Sally has a certain flair and sense of adventure that translates into her pieces and her home,” Beverly says. “It’s always fun working together because Sally is so open to breaking the code of ˜too much good taste.”
“We started mixing the antiques and more exotic pieces,” Sally says, “and it started to feel good. So we kept mixing. And now it feels like home.”
 |  |
 |  |
| (Clockwise from top left) An avid gardener and artist, Sally appreciates the both the subject and the skill of the Catesby botanicals. Beverly hung Sally’s collection of Afghan warriors robes in the dining room. “They’re more dramatic than any art we could have chosen,” she says. Beverly knew immediately that Sally would be drawn to the vivid colors and exotic print on Brunschwig & Fils Kandahar fabric. A stack of Chinese chests collected over the years is topped by an oil painting on wood. The painting’s provenance is a mystery, but it’s one of Sally’s favorite pieces. |
How to Get the Look
 |
1. Mimic the classical styling of George III dining chairs with Pottery Barn’s Stefano chair. $259 each at Pottery Barn, 3220 Knox St. 214-528-2302.
2. Get the English country manor look with today’s faded upholstery fabrics and a collection of needlepoint hunt-themed pillows. Sofa ($1,685) and pillows ($375) available at Room Service, 4354 Lovers Ln. 214-369-7666.
3. Add a bit of the exotic to your walls by hanging a Turkman coat. $95 at Another Time and Place, 2815 N. Henderson Ave. 214-824-1875.
 |
4. Stack three or four well-traveled chests in an entry or awkward corner or let them take center stage—to add storage and interest. $499 at Jaya, 5370 W. Lovers Ln. 214-352-5115.
5. Colorful and intriguing, an Uzbekistani textile can be used as a tablecloth or in any number of ways. $112 at Another Time and Place, 2815 N. Henderson Ave. 214-824-1875.
6. Ornate mirrors lend weight and importance to wall space—and bounce around all of that glorious natural light. $995 at Robb & Stucky, 7240 North Dallas Pkwy., Plano. 972-403-3000.
