House Tours: A Pretty and Practical Home

Interior Designer Lucy Penfield took on the challenge of making all the rooms in this house flow together while maintaining elegant spaces for the grown-ups and creating new areas that could handle the wear and tear of a growing boy. She conquered this challenge with lively colors, exotic accents, and durable furnishings. Asian touches, such as the coffee table and antique bench at the fireplace, are design staples throughout this living room.

Lucy kept the neutral wall color in the living room, but enlivened the space with splashes of salmon, red, yellow, and blue. Accents with organic shapes add a modern touch to the home's traditional base.

A shapely wing chair and bronze drum table bring sculptured, curvy forms to the square fireplace. The seating area also creates an interesting contrast with the symmetrical mantel arrangement.

Lucy made the space more modern by using traditional shapes, such as the boxy sofa, and covering them in neutral fabrics. Then she added colorful pillows and artwork. Modern art gives stylistic balance to the living room's traditional upholstered pieces.

The master bedroom is full of grown-up glamour. A hint of sparkle on the throw pillows takes the robin's egg blue and mocha brown palette from pretty to spectacular.

A mirrored top and shelves add an unexpected touch of glamour to the otherwise plain wooden nightstand.

Get the Look: Dress up ho-hum furniture with mirrors. The only prerequisite is that the edges are square and the surfaces flat. For a DIY project, use mirrored tiles from a home store. Otherwise, have a professional fit mirrored glass panels to your plain piece of furniture.

A curtained doorway -- called a portiere -- provides a soft transition between the sleeping space and dressing area. Adding something black gives the room visual weight, therefore each space has its own black armoire -- one for the TV and the other for accessories, sweaters, and linens.

In the family room, Interior Designer Lucy Penfield mixed formal and casual pieces for a collected look. A traditional skirted sofa is paired with bright prints. At the center of the room, an antique Chinese elm coffee table with a woven top can withstand bumps and spills.

Durable fabrics are an essential design element in the family room. Rugged cotton canvas upholstery on side chairs and heavy-duty textured cotton on the sofa offer durability and an elegant look. Easy-to-reach colorful canvas bins tuck under the window seat to make kid-friendly storage space for toys, books, and art supplies.

Modern meets traditional head-on in the family room. Vintage-inspired lamps, baskets, and plenty of down pillows cozy up boxy upholstery and modern art.

The family room addition includes a sunroom. Simple, affordable wicker furniture, happy colors, and Asian-influenced gardening stools give the room a fun and comfortable vibe. This is the family's favorite spot on sunny days.

Outdoor furniture on the deck adjacent to the family room offers a place to sit and enjoy the outdoors.

Designer Tip: Indoor-outdoor fabric is no longer just for the outdoors. Lucy uses selections for headboards, sectionals, and built-in eating nooks. This choice is perfect for families because clean up only requires a soapy sponge.

A beverage cart holds outdoor essentials such as refreshing drinks and extra cushions for guests to sit on. The homeowners can bring all of these items indoors during cold or rainy days.