Kimberly Leydig Gordon Rob Grimm

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Charm, character and history all drew this newly married couple to the Central West End. When it came time to turn “his and hers” into “ours,” a husband’s love of history and tradition, coupled with his wife’s affinity for contemporary styles, created an interior decorating dilemma. Luckily, interior designer Susan Sommer entered the equation. Blending these two distinct styles resulted in an artistic, inviting space where they both felt at home.

“This was a designer’s dream home,” Sommer says, “because we started with a fresh canvas and were able to help them with every detail of the design process.”

When the couple began house hunting during their engagement in 2004, one of the conditions was that their new home would be located in St. Louis City.

“We both grew up in the city, and we love riding our bikes in Forest Park and walking to the locally owned boutiques and restaurants in the West End,” the homeowners explain. “We love the urban lifestyle and the convenience the city offers.”

The expansive brick home, which was originally built in 1950, made its first mark on St. Louis history two years later when it was featured in Town & Country Magazine. Alfonso J. Cervantes, who served as mayor of St. Louis from 1965-1973, also called this West End house his home.

The home’s interior offers intriguing glimpses into local history. The formal dining room table was purchased from one of the exclusive homes that once lined the streets of Vandeventer Place, one of the most elite and elegant St. Louis neighborhoods in the late 19th century.

“I’m very history-minded, and I love antiques and family heirlooms for their sense of the past,” the homeowner explains. The home is filled with family antiques and artwork, from his grandmother’s china that graces the historical Vandeventer dining room table to the pair of mid-19th-century oil paintings depicting his great-great-grandparents, who lived in the city generations ago. “I draw a lot of comfort from things that have been part of my family.”

The couple was convinced that his love of family heirlooms and traditional décor clashed with her penchant for transitional contemporary styles. “We couldn’t visualize how contemporary and traditional styles could work together,” they admit. “We were afraid our individual personalities would disappear.”

Sommer actually encourages clients to combine diverse styles, such as recovering traditional furniture with updated and modern fabrics, to help create interesting rooms. Using raspberry and gold stripes to cover the dining room chairs and rich red velvet leopard fabric for the refinished antique chairs in the living room, old furniture is given a fresh facelift.

Sommer explains that elements of traditional design, such as antiques, oil paintings and Oriental rugs, offer a classic baseline for blending other design styles. “The addition of contemporary elements and accessories to the traditional template gives the room vitality and interest,” she says.

The living and dining rooms showcase traditional and contemporary design, in unison, which creat a space with a transitional feel. Traditional antiques like the grand piano, family portraits and antique end tables line the periphery of the room, while contemporary furnishings with curved lines and updated fabrics are featured in the inner seating area. The lofty metal chandelier, with its flowing branches and parchment shades, crowns the room with a modern aura.

Under the expert guidance of Sommer, her assistant interior designer, Laureen Wilder, and contractor Jeff Markway of Markway Construction, the house was stripped to its bare bones when the remodeling efforts began two years ago.

On the upper level, Markway Construction reconfigured the space, knocking down walls and transforming wasted closet space and two smaller bedrooms, which were formerly servant quarters, into an inviting family room with built-in bookshelves and a generous guest bedroom suite with a kitchenette.

Markway Construction also rebuilt the kitchen, which had contained a large butler’s pantry and preparation area, into an open kitchen, dining and sitting room. Metal cabinets and vitriol tiles were replaced with contemporary ceramic tiles, and a granite breakfast island was added. The builders also custom designed a curved, floor-to-ceiling window, which offers spectacular views of the garden and pool.

The couple explains that creating an inviting and livable space throughout the home was a central guideline throughout the remodeling process.

“We wanted it to be formal enough for entertaining, but informal enough to enjoy pizza and a beer with our kids,” they explain. “We didn’t want rooms that looked like a museum that no one ever goes into.”

The first step was to lighten and brighten the home by introducing a warm paint palette, using contemporary fabrics, and painting all the woodwork and baseboards white.

The wood floors, previously painted black, were refinished to a light walnut shade. Gray walls were transformed with shades of robin’s-egg blue, buttery yellow, creamy ivory and designer wallpaper.

In the living room, the striking Oriental rug, a family heirloom, provided the cornerstone of the entire home’s color palette, with its royal and robin’s-egg blues, burnt orange, fleshy salmon and dusty rose tones.

Sommer looked to the color scheme to create a consistent base for blending the traditional and contemporary styles. The same color palette is featured throughout the home, but each room emphasizes different dominant and secondary colors, which creates underlying uniformity and prevents every room from looking the same.

“Whether it is the shape of the furniture, the mix of accessories or creative combination of color,” Sommer explains, “we look at every aspect of design from an artistic viewpoint and want to help our clients create a masterpiece.”