Interiors by John Chadwick

Residential Gallery
Lobbies & Corridors
How We Work
Elevators
Commercial Gallery
Current Projects
References
Project History
Designer's History
Publications
Search

The Lund Home

A Tropical Paradise in Quail Creek

 


By M.J. Van Deventer
Photos by K.O. Rinearson

 

Visiting the Quail Creek home and garden of brad and Irma Lund is like taking a tropical vacation. The front gardens are blooming with lush impatiens, elephant ears, sweet potato vines, lantana, purple heart, nandinas, azaleas, hydrangeas and a weeping cypress tree. It’s an incredibly, almost overwhelming, beautiful display that sets the stage for a spectacular home with unmistakable style.

The Lunds like a house to have an interior design theme. For their previous homes in Crown Heights and Nichols Hills, the relied on New York designer John Chadwick, formerly of Oklahoma City, to help them create specific looks.

“First we had English Colonial, then a jazz theme, then California contemporary. This time we wanted a tropical motif,” Irma said. When they moved from Crown Heights to Quail Creek a year and a half ago, they also wanted to downsize. Their son Henry was heading off to college, presenting the couple with the opportunity for a smaller space.

“We’re gypsies,” Irma laughed. “We like to move a lot.”

Irma grew up in Honduras, where her mother is a college president and her father is a retired attorney. Brad grew up in Tulsa and is now the CEO for Express Sports.

The entry to their latest home features a backdrop wallpaper of soft varying shades of beige and taupe stripes. The eye-catchers are the furnishings: an elegant carved console, a beautiful mirror and silver lamps that have brass leaves, bring the lush and luxuriant gardens inside. Parquet floors are used throughout the main living areas in this home, which adds to its open and airy feeling.

The living room makes the most dramatic thematic statement. Chadwick made two major suggestions for this room. First, build a wall of bookcases to house Irma’s books. “I love to read,” she smiles. Next, replace the windows overlooking the rear gardens and pool with French doors, opening the house to a more efficient design. Now guest traffic flows beautifully for the frequent entertaining the Lunds like to do.

It is the living room’s sectional sofa and matching draperies that relate the tropical theme so well, Chadwick used a soft golden beige corded fabric for the back and sides of the sofa, and then splashed the front and cushions with a lively print in white, red and green florals.

For contrast, he placed two chairs in front of the fireplace, upholstered in a red, green and taupe striped fabric, And on the opposite side of the room, he upholstered a chair that had sat in Henry’s bedroom for ten years in a leaf green and placed a tomato red textured silk on a facing walnut chair, A textured grass cloth basket-weave paper adorns the walls. “I think the textures John chose for this room are wonderful,” Irma said, proclaiming this her favorite room in the house.

While the perfect complementary fabrics are always important to Chadwick, he also believes elegant lighting is important in any room — so he installed a series of tiny can lights in the living room ceiling for the proper accentuation.

The adjacent dining room, perfectly situated for entertaining, has a dramatic oval table edged with a highly polished burled wood and a thin oval of black outlining the inner section. The chair seats are upholstered in off-white leather and the backs repeat the tropical floral fabric motif of the living room. A beautiful glass-front china cabinet adds a sparkle to the room, as does the beautiful crystal chandelier that has moved every time the Lunds have.


Red leather bar stools cozy up to the granite bar overlooking the kitchen, which is quite contemporary in style. Stainless steel appliances provide a crisp modern look and cabinet knobs were changed out to reflect a sleeker shimmering style.

An unusual black cabinet with gold trim houses Irma’s large selection of cookbooks. “I love to be in the kitchen cooking because I have such a wonderful view of the rear garden,” she said.

 

Brad’s favorite room is the den. “He wanted a Frank Sinatra style in the den,” Irma said. And Chadwick delivered. The room is anchored with a houndstooth carpet in muted grays and blacks. The sofa and two matching chairs are in a red leather that easily elicits a “Wow!”

A wall of bookcases for Brad’s books includes a wine cooling refrigerator and thick glass shelves holding a variety of crystal wine and champagne glasses. The walls are soft gray with a textured paint. Complementing the color of the walls are two small chests in a metallic silver that add a lot of flash to the room.

An oversize black leather ottoman does double duty as a place to put plates of food and drinks, “Brad and Henry spend a lot of time in here,” Irma said.

The master suite, which also opens to the pool and rear garden, is currently a work in progress. New draperies are scheduled to arrive in a few months and other changes are afoot in this room. “When it’s finished, I think this will be my favorite room,” she said.




 

 

Irma considers the outdoors as another room. The rear garden is located near the kitchen, making entertaining alfresco a simple matter, Close to the entry to the kitchen is a small herb garden with rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, lemon verbena and oregano within easy reach.

The pool is flanked on the east by a wall of every variety of cedar you can imagine. A small covered patio near the kitchen hosts an eating area, Overlooking the pool on the north are four chaise lounges, upholstered in subtle beige, and a grand fireplace painted soft gray. To the south of the pool, the landscaping includes hydrangeas, trailing roses, camellias, bromeliads, begonias and Swedish ivy.

But it is the magnificent pots, brimming with trees and flowers, that make this garden oasis so special. A weeping willow anchors one pot by the pool, surrounded by monkey grass, begonias and sweet potato vines. Other pots feature crotons, hibiscus, ivy, bromeliads, pampas grass and lantana.

Irma says the next landscaping project is the creation of a cutting garden on the north side of the home, which previously served as a dog run. “There’s plenty of room to do that,” she said as we walked the space.

“If we don’t move,” she laughed.

“But there’s this house we found.,,”

• House Porn Wednesday •
• Mixing patterns is easier than you think in decor •
• Refreshing Green •
• Contemporary Jewel •
• A Tropical Paradise in Quail Creek •
• Rhythms of Tuscany •
• New Flatiron Style •
• From the Bible Belt to the Big Apple •
• Design Focus: John Chadwick •
• Studio Style •
• What's Ours is Yours •
• The Designer's Oklahoma Residence •

 

Home | Residential Gallery | Lobbies & Corridors | How We Work | Elevators | Commercial Gallery | Current Projects | References | Project History | Designer's History | Publications | Search
Copyright © 2015 All Rights Reserved

Interiors by John Chadwick


Revised: October 16, 2015
Web Design:  Keith Reding Designs, Inc.
Seven Park Avenue
Suite 14D

New York. New York 10016

Telephone:
212-685-8900

E-mail:  JChadwick@InteriorsByJohnChadwick.com