headboard

Modern Glamour

INTERIOR DESIGNER LISA SHERRY’S LOVE FOR JUXTAPOSING STYLES AND
TEXTURES PLAYS OUT IN THIS MODERN LOFT BEDROOM

WRITTEN BY BLAKE MILLER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RON ROYALS
DeskWhen interior designer Lisa Sherry was ready to expand her High Point, North Carolina-based company, Lisa Sherry Interieurs Inc., she looked to the rapidly growing city of Charlotte, just ninety minutes south of the furniture capital. But finding the right second home for the growing design firm provided a challenge for Sherry, who wanted a space that showcased her work but was also multifunctional so that she and her team could use it by day as a workspace and by night as a place to entertain and spend the night.

After visiting several different options throughout Charlotte—walk-in storefronts, older homes—Sherry found herself in the recently built mixed-use condo complex The Metropolitan, which boasted not only a spectacular view of Charlotte’s new greenway but also of the city’s growing skyline. “I looked at four or five different places,” says Sherry. “Once I saw the loft—it was modern, it was new, it had great natural light, it was a great location—I knew it was perfect.”

Before moving into the space, Sherry and designer Jordan McDermott did a floor plan of the entire loft “to see what would work feasibly for our workspace,” says Sherry. In December 2008, Sherry moved into the two-story, one-bedroom loft. “I always like to juxtapose a space with modern and then bring in more antiques,” Sherry says. “It’s all about the mix.” After installing a two-story-high collage wall featuring collected vintage photographs, lithograph prints, antlers, and more, coupled with a modern tulip table, Philippe Starck Victoria Ghost and French antique wingback chairs, a cowhide rug, and a custom oversize sofa, Sherry began working on her master bedroom. Her goal with the approximately 500-square foot space was “to make it functional. I knew it would be a space that we wouldn’t really use for clients, but it wouldn’t be a communal space either,” she says. “It’s really about making it multifunctional, but I also wanted it to be a calming getaway space.”

One obstacle to overcome: With an open loft master bedroom, the two-story windows allowed for a direct view into the bedroom area from the outside. To achieve multifunctional meets serene and privacy, Sherry installed a large velvet floor-to-ceiling drape on a ceiling mount rod. “Day to day the drape is open,” she says, “but at night you can close it and it really makes a great cocoon.”

The bed, though, is what truly creates the calming vibe of the bedroom.When Sherry purchased the antique French button-tufted headboard seven years ago, she knew someday there would be a home for it, not knowing that it would be her own. The pink satin headboard “creates a softness adding to that cocoon feel,” she says.With the neutral walls serving as a backdrop for the soft color palette, Sherry put to work her trademark design of juxtaposing different styles and textures.
bathroom portrait  

While the fabric headboard is of French boudoir style, the glass side tables, from Worlds Away and Arteriors Home, evoke a more sophisticated yet contemporary look. “I didn’t want typical heavy wood nightstands,” says Sherry. “I always like to mix in bits of glamour. It adds that sparkle of light when the sun shines through the window, but they also disappear so it keeps the space light and airy.”

The antlers above the bed offer an organic touch, while the bedding from Anthropologie evokes the calm and serene feel. “I love to juxtapose organic and found objects with the glamour of more refined pieces in a room,” says Sherry. To add to the multifunctional space, Sherry utilized an open area of the loft bedroom by adding a desk from West Elm, an iron zebra bench, and a silver star mirror at the top of the stairs to serve as another workstation.

To offset the calm and serenity in the master bedroom, Sherry looked to the bathroom to make a dramatic design statement. “I love faces as opposed to full body art, and I’ve always loved portraiture,” says Sherry. “I felt like this was a great opportunity to showcase our painting and faux capabilities that we can do for walls.” So instead of wallpapering or painting the bathroom, Sherry pored over some of the work McDermott had drawn in the past, and “I had her draw something up. We knew we wanted it to stay monochromatic: gray,
cream, black, and silver.” The result: A large portrait—it took McDermott 18 hours to complete it—provides a pop to the otherwise drab, small bath.

Never one to crowd a space, Sherry used minimal accessories in the bathroom: an iron ladder, which is generally an architectural display element, serves as a towel rack. Opposed to overhead lighting, Sherry placed a small lamp on an Asian garden stool to provide ambient light to the small bath. “Using predictable things in unpredictable ways,” says Sherry.

Now six months after moving in, Sherry feels at home in her second live/work space. “I wanted the bedroom to be a peaceful retreat,” she says. “Life is too short to not have fun and break the rules of traditional design. I always say, the only rule is that there are no rules.”