Suite Success
By Pamela Gwyn Kripke
Furniture and interior designer Jan Showers reigns refinement over a Dallas penthouse.
Just because one can, does not mean that one should. Perhaps this is the essence of elegance—that elusive, indefinable quality so many of us want attached to our names. Surely, we can gild the ceilings, mirror the fountains, paint away every Pantone hue, but true refinement comes from knowing what not to do.
This Dallas penthouse, a 10,000-sqaure-foot sprawl of conventional architecture, could have emerged as a shrine to overstatement had it fallen into less adroit hands. But how lucky for it, not to mention its inhabitant, to have linked up with Jan Showers, ASID, a Dallas-based interior designer known nationwide for urbanity and polish. “Both Jan and I try not to try too hard,” says owner Nelda Cain, who was drawn to the apartment’s expansive space and incomparable views. “Sitting in the living room gives you the feeling that you’re in tremendous splendor viewing all the diverse parts of the city.” From the terraces, which wrap around two sides of the 12-foot walls of windows, one can look over almost all of Dallas. “It is so vibrant to see the renovation happening all the time,” says Cain, who worked with Showers for several years before the project was complete.
The vision for the space, an open plan in a 21-year-old postmodern-style construction, was an atmosphere reminiscent of the late 1930s and ‘40s. “The real challenge was to figure out how to make the enormity of the place cozy,” says Showers. “We began with a philosophy of subtle glamour, clean lines, nothing fussy…and we had a lot of ground to cover.”
Showers started in the main living room, which is divided into five seating areas, keeping the element of scale firmly in mind. “I had to put a lot of thought into the pieces, making sure they were not too big and not too small relative to the height of the ceilings and breadth of the room.” The furniture is either French antique or new, from Showers’ own collection, and all comfortable, with the occasional character or period chair thrown in. “Seating must be inviting,” says Showers. “The nice thing about this home is that Nelda can enjoy it as a place to live in every day and also entertain in. You can come in and just sit down.”
To visually link the five distinct areas, Showers doused similar neutral colors throughout, incorporating tone-on-tone textures in soft champagne, pearl and honey tones. “When you use this sort of palette,” she explains, “you need to play up the woods, so I choose a wonderful mix of rosewoods, mahoganies and satin woods.” Venetian glass floor lamps and parchment shades provide reflection and warmth. The walls are painted in a pale biscuit, chosen to show off Cain’s art collection. They are interrupted by two fireplaces and complemented underfoot by a graceful, pale wall-to-wall carpet.
Next, Showers moved into the library and entertainment areas, including two main seating spots, an intermediate dining area and a dining room. Dark, ebonized hardwood floors weave down a hallway into the library, which is paneled, curtained and busied with books and a rug underneath. The dining area houses an 86-inch table that seats 10 and custom mid-century chairs, suitable for large groups of guests or small dinner parties. Another hallway leads to the living quarters, consisting of three bedrooms and an office. There are seven baths in total. “It is clearly a woman’s apartment, nothing slick to it at all,” says Showers, “with the master the most feminine room in the house.” Here, she used one of Cain’s favorite shades, robin’s egg blue, for the silk duvet and pillows, dueling vintage Venetian lamps and patterned Stark carpet. Manhattan tables in blond and an upholstered headboard in polished Parish leather entice the blues to pop. The second bedroom feels similar to the master, with peaceful aquas juxtaposed with white. Lush quilted bedding, diamond-patterned carpet and a sleek bench seat combine with a white quilted-satin headboard, tailored bed skirt and crisp alabaster lamps for a tasteful richness. Glossed caramel woods punctuate the room gracefully, in what Showers likes to call a “timeless glamour.” The third bedroom is a child’s playroom.
Creating this soft, contemporary home was a natural match for Showers, whose furniture line is represented by David Sutherland showrooms in Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, as well as Tui Pranich & Associates in New York City. When Showers could not find a sofa of a certain look, or a certain mirrored piece or a chair of the right dimensions, she designed her own. Beginning with 25 pieces, and now couting 120 plus, she crafted a collection that had everything, so that a client could have the entire look. Her Dallas office also boasts a showroom of antiques.
“I try to create what does not exist in the market,” says Showers, who will add new dining chairs, lamps, and chandeliers to the line.
For Cain, who had purchased several pieces from the collection before embarking on this project, Showers had the luxury of time. “So many clients are not willing to wait, but Nelda was. And, she knew exactly what she wanted, and what she wanted fit with what I do.”
“What she loved, I loved,” says Showers, who encourages her clients to express what they desire. “That’s the whole purpose, after all. I am decorating for someone. If it is not just right for that person, it’s not successful.”