Fashionably Late
A former fashion editor at Marie Claire and Self magazines in New York, Lauren Shapiro had lived in her Chevy Chase home with her husband and their son and daughter, now both teenagers, for 15 years. Though Shapiro had done some remodeling over the years, she put off doing the master bedroom. “It was a dark, uninviting bedroom, with a poorly laid out and dated bathroom,” she says.
Shapiro came across Kensington-based interior designer Regan Billingsley in a local design publication and did some online research of her work. Billingsley had also lived in Manhattan, and when she and Shapiro met, they clicked right away. “Lauren used to be in fashion, so she has that sophisticated New York aesthetic,” Billingsley says. “She wanted the space to be neutral and sleek, with a savvy hint of glamour, a little sheen, but cozy.”
Photo by Raquel Langworthy. Produced and styled by Charlotte Safavi
“The room used to have a cold harshness about it, with high-contrast white moldings and putty paint,” says Billingsley, who decided to warm everything up with creamy colors. The soothing palette of soft off-white and beige extends to the furniture, which Shapiro says is “neither too masculine, nor too feminine, with clean, classic lines.” Patterns are deliberately faint, reading as solid from afar. In the window seat area, the Roman shade has a muted stripe and the pillows feature a petite floral-geometric print. To add variety and visual interest, Billingsley mixed textures: There’s a tailored, plush chenille headboard, velvet accent bed pillow, leather-topped bench, and a fluffy mohair throw at the base of the bed.
Photos by Raquel Langworthy. Produced and styled by Charlotte Safavi
Photo by Raquel Langworthy. Produced and styled by Charlotte Safavi
A tall custom storage unit between the bathroom’s two sinks eliminates the need for cabinets underneath. “Overall, we went with warm grays and crisp whites in the bathroom to create a fresh, timeless look,” Billingsley says of the bathroom, which has subway ceramic-tile wainscoting, Carrara marble floors, and exposed chrome pipes.
“There was this huge 1980s power-couple double shower that took up so much room,” Shapiro says of the former bathroom, which was covered in green marble. In its place, she opted for a separate glassed-in shower and freestanding bathtub. By Landis Architects/Builders, the bathroom includes a simple, eye-catching black tile
border on the floor, which Billingsley designed.