STUART AND KRISTIN DARNELL KNOW THE SOUTH’S design world inside and out. Their to-the-trade showroom, Darnell & Company, is a mecca for vintage finds and artwork, a space chock-full of carefully curated furniture, art, accessories, and more from around the world. As such, the Darnells have access to the best in interior design. So, in 2019, when it was time for the couple to choose an interior designer for their new townhome, one would think they would be overwhelmed at the thought of whom to pick.
“Ironically, though, it was an easy choice,” Stuart Darnell laughs. Designer Teri Thomas was at the top of the list. “I’ve known Teri for more than forty years. We wanted someone that had a similar aesthetic, and Teri is such a good designer. Her aesthetic aligns with ours. We had a lot of antiques and artwork, and we knew Teri could marry all of that together.”
For Thomas, the project was an exceptional opportunity to work with the collection of antiques, vintage pieces, and artwork the couple had amassed over the years. “To be able to work with the types of things they’ve collected and their curated sense of style, it was an honor for them to have asked me to help them,” she says. “I do think that we have a simpatico sense of style. I certainly do all types of interior design work, but what I like personally and what they like are very similar.”
Having downsized from their home of twenty-four years, the Darnells had to pare down and decide which pieces would fill their new home. Thomas was tasked with editing the furniture, artwork, and accessories, a job she was delighted to have considering what she was pulling from. “They allowed me, which was so fun, to pick and choose, keeping in mind we wanted to use the very best they had, which was not hard to do,” Thomas says. “That’s why this was such a wonderful collaboration. Every single thing they had to work with was unique and individual. It felt like the right thing sort of stands up and raises its hand, and you know it had to be in their home.” Such was the case with the large vintage painting Thomas added to the piano room. “They showed me that piece in their showroom, and I was like, ‘OK, we’re done. It’s going in,’” the designer laughs.
The painting informed the earth-tone color palette for the intimate space, where the Darnells play and listen to the piano and entertain friends. “That painting is the first thing you see when you walk in the door of the home,” Thomas says. “It completely drove the color palette, the style of furnishings, the accessories; it drove the whole room’s design. Sometimes things just say, ‘Here’s where I need to be,’ and everything feeds off it.” While a traditional furniture layout would be the obvious choice for the small, rectangular room, Thomas opted for a nontraditional, off-center floor plan, which encourages conversation and feels less fixed and more fluid.
The rest of the home is designed much like an art gallery, with walls showcasing the Darnells’ vintage artwork and sculptures. Thomas’ knack for seamlessly coupling old with new is on display throughout, as well, with traditional European antiques beside modern artwork and vintage rugs infusing a pop of color in otherwise neutral rooms. “My job, as I saw it, was to fill in with rugs and furniture and upholstery and all the things that pull the whole cohesive look together,” the designer says. Despite their eye for design, the couple knew that they needed Thomas to help bring their vision of an eclectic mix of old and new, traditional and modern, to fruition. “Teri had the ability to see through all that we loved—the artwork, antiques, midcentury pieces, fabrics, wonderful furniture—and create this design that Kristin and I just love,” Darnell says.
Though completed, the home is still a work in progress, as the Darnells continue to collect and their style evolves. “We travel a lot, so we acquire a lot of things that we love,” Darnell says. “We’ll find a new piece and call Teri up and ask her where to put it in our house, still. At the end of the day, the finished project feels and looks like us, but it was Teri, too.” For Thomas, the project was a unique opportunity to work with close friends. “They wanted it to be fabulous, so I brought the best I could bring,” she says. “I didn’t want to let them down. I wanted them to look at their home and love everything they see in it. And I think we really captured that.”