ELECTRIC REGENCY

Glamour, symmetry, and a bookish emerald study: In Richmond, Suzanne Kasler and Carter Skinner usher in a new era of bravado for so-called neutrals.

- 

The clients' directives The Richmond, Virginia, empty nesters were downsizing from a were, well, direct. stately Georgian, here in the land of stately Georgians, and wanted to go a little bolder in their next nest. On their tree-canopied corner lot in Windsor Hills, the wife asked architectural designer Carter Skinner and Atlanta-based interior designer Suzanne Kasler for a courtyard-centric, Regency-style house steeped in her favorite colors: black, white, raspberry, and brown.

"That was it-no other color options," recalls Kasler. The lone exception would be a vivacious green library. Beyond that, the scheme was set. "I've never had a client who pushed us creatively quite like this," Kasler adds.

And yet she was thrilled. Perhaps because it was a never-before idea, or perhaps because of the exciting style prescription. A fan of Regency's classic symmetry and graphic punch, indulgences of Hollywood glam, and glints of gold, she notes that it has a very modern air but still retains a foundation of tradition. "The challenge was to take the colors," she explains, "the Regency details and elevate them together in a sophisticated, timeless way."