A Colonial-Inspired Family Room Gets Upgraded With Modern, Sophisticated Details

Nestled in the park-like grounds of the Santa Anita Oaks neighborhood of Arcadia, California is an historic 1937 Federal-style home—Locke House— designed by architect, Gerard Rae Colcord, known as “Hollywood society’s architect.” The home is modeled after an East Coast country estate.

In 2020, Locke House was chosen to be the Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Now in its 56th year, the venerable showcase is one of the longest-running house and garden tours in the country. The 6,700 square-foot home was reinterpreted by 17 interior designers and four exterior designers and was an opportunity to completely reimagine what the home could be, more than 80 years after it was built.

In our recently released aspire design and home Showhouse Issue, we sat down with Fiona Lau to learn more about her creative process in designing the Family Room for this project.

aspire design and home: How much time did you have to complete this room, start to finish?
Fiona Lau: We finished the Family Room in 3 months.

aspire: What was your biggest challenge? Did you have a Eureka moment during the process?
Fiona: One of the challenges was the original family room had a low ceiling. Since the ceiling height is low, I designed the drapery from floor to ceiling to make an illusion of a taller room. Also, when selecting furniture, I intentionally chose low-profile furniture. This, in turn, gave another vision of a higher ceiling height. I also did a little trick at the ceiling design in order to give it more depth to the room. The custom-made ceiling was designed with different levels and layers which created interest as well as a taller feel.

Since the family room was painted with a dark blue color with gold color as an accent, we were afraid the room would come out too dark. However, the painting was nicely done, and it became very elegant and trendy at the end. This combination of blue and gold is very trendy these few years, and creates a timeless, luxury, elegant feeling. In order to brighten up the room, I selected reflected materials to give more light to the room. The velvet drapery, shiny area rug, reflective wallpaper, mirrored deco and lighting fixtures could brighten up the room.

aspire: What did you and your team accomplish that you thought would not happen in time?
Fiona: A Schedule is harder to arrange during a pandemic. There was a lack of staff which caused the work to slow down. However, everyone was very united and tried to finish the work within the time scheduled.

aspire: What was your inspiration for this room?
Fiona: The design for the family room was inspired by the home’s Colonial façade but with a modern classic take. We wanted to create a space that exudes warmth and comfort but also sharpened with modern details.

aspire: Despite the fact that there were so many designers involved, there is an inherent cohesiveness to the home. Did you all converse/collaborate? Or was this a completely individual process?
Fiona: Pasadena Showcase had a color chat/color board for the designer to select, and the color chat was very well conceived. All the designers had to choose their color theme from the color chat provided. Designers were able to view each other’s design concept during the formal presentation held by PHSA, and made adjustments accordingly to make the house more cohesive.

aspire: Is your preference for a showhouse a small space or a large space? Does one or the other provide a better opportunity to stretch your creativity?
Fiona: In my opinion, both small spaces and large spaces can present the design concept and creativity. However, I think a large space has an adventage to create a feature wall since it has more space. Like in my family room, I custom-designed one of the wall shelves to be opened to create the feature wall. I intentionally made the center open to create this unique floral wall on this custom-made open shelf. Each of the floral wall deco was highly detailed and delicately made with gold finishes, and they were multi-dimensional to give more interest to the wall.

aspire: Describe the town of Pasadena in one sentence.
Fiona: To me, the City of Pasadena is a central city where there is a lot of beautiful historical architecture with great businesses.

This or That?

aspire: Paint or wallpaper?
Fiona: Three walls with paint, and wallpaper as an accent wall
aspire: Hardwood or rug?
Fiona: Hardwood floor with area rug
aspire: Beach or Mountains?
Fiona: Beach
aspire: Saturated Color or Black and White?
Fiona: Black and White
aspire: Brunch or Dinner?
Fiona: Brunch
aspire: Midcentury or 18th Century?
Fiona: 18th Century
aspire: Draperies, shades, or nothing?
Fiona: Draperies
aspire: 2001: A Space Odyssey or The English Patient?
Fiona: The English Patient
aspire: Week at the spa or Week of Broadway shows?
Fiona: Week at the spa

Click Here to view more interviews for the designers of Pasadena Showcase House of Design.

Photography by Peter Valli.

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