A Reclusive Retreat

Interview with Duväl Reynolds
Pictures courtesy of Rustic White Images

Inside designer DuVäl Reynolds explains how The Neverending Story, Harry Potter, and Sherlock Holmes impressed a uniquely inventive but extremely balanced room.

How did your design journey start?
I really went to varsity for neurology however left college and labored in New York for a bit earlier than transferring to the DC space. I acquired a job on the design agency California Closets, the place I found that I had way more of a knack and keenness for design than I had realized. So I went again to highschool full-time at evening to get my bachelor’s diploma in inside design. I opened my very own agency in 2017.

How did the Introvert’s Quarters challenge come about? Are you an introvert?
I labored on this challenge for Home Lovely journal, who requested me to design a room in an 11,000-square-foot place for his or her annual Entire House challenge. It was the primary actual present home I had ever completed; between that and the truth that Entire House may be very well-known in my trade, I felt overwhelmed and was buckling a bit. I referred to as the market director to debate it, and she or he merely requested, “If this was your home, what would you do with the room?” That supplied the psychological and inventive freedom I wanted.

And, sure, I’m an introvert. Individuals can’t inform as a result of I don’t come off as one: I appear very social and personable. However I would like a number of recharge time on my own, and I might love a room just like the Introvert’s Quarters, the place I may disappear and really feel like I used to be elsewhere. However I didn’t need the challenge to appear time-stamped into an period. I wanted it to really feel nearly fantastical but additionally grounded in practicality, so there’s a daybed, a sitting space, a desk, and a studying nook for having fun with books.

What objective did you design it to serve? Ought to it’s used as a spare room or a examine, maybe?
It may operate as both—it may even be a visitor room due to its measurement and options. The room itself is about 18 toes by 18 toes, and the daybed is round 54 inches extensive, nearly the scale of a queen mattress. As well as, the house has a walk-in closet, which is made for a person but in addition has female touches equivalent to pink paint, and a dark-blue lavatory lined with moldings and millwork.

The wallpaper is sort of eye-catching. Inform us about it:
The wallpaper was the very first thing I obsessed over for this challenge. The one I selected may be very dramatic, playful, and imaginative, setting the tone for the house. My purpose was to encase the room with this superbly imaginative aesthetic with out it being overwhelming or an excessive amount of of a focus. To that finish, I solely put it on components of the wall and ceiling whereas concurrently including millwork to the bottom, which I went heavy with to make sure that it might maintain its personal. Total, the whole lot within the room does: the chairs, the sitting space, the closet, and so forth.

What drew you to that particular wallpaper?
Unbeknownst to most individuals, I’m very a lot emo—the kind of one that will sit within the rain and cry to myself. I don’t know why, however in my head, I’ve all the time felt like the child who has no pals and is an outcast, though in highschool I used to be voted hottest and was homecoming king. That wallpaper made me really feel like Bastian in The Neverending Story, as if, by means of it, I may escape actuality.

What was your inspiration for the distinctive bookcase?
I’m an enormous fan of Harry Potter and of the fantastical world typically. By incorporating millwork and customized metallic framing and wiring into the bookcase, I made it nearly match the model of the library you see in these films. I additionally designed it so there’s a dichotomy of components enjoying towards one another; its doorways present a way of captivity that grounds you, however the books present your escape.

You’ve described this room’s total model as a mixture of darkish academia and grandmillennial. Would you elaborate?
Actually. Darkish academia is like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or Sherlock Holmes’s Diogenes Membership, a spot the place he and his brother would honor and respect information by pondering in quiet. I can relate to that, which is why I blended in particulars like a bust, telescope, and magnifying glass. Grandmillennial, additionally referred to as granny stylish, is an aesthetic that elicits a way of nostalgia. By mixing the 2 on this room, I wished to stability two very various things: the imaginative pursuit of exploration and studying and the grounding consolation of grandma’s home.

Being purple and inexperienced, the furnishings additionally stands out. Is {that a} nod to the vacations?
100%. These colours remind me of Christmas, which I like—actually, my spouse and I hold our tree up for months after the vacations. So though the room is darkish, there’s a sure contact of Christmas festivity and happiness. The vacations nonetheless evoke that for me, and I wished it to be mirrored on this challenge.

For more information, go to duvalreynolds.com