Designer David Naylor designed an ultra-modern home filled with history and soul, wisely sidestepping the idea that contemporary spaces are cold and uninviting, and bringing life into this home.

How David Naylor Pairs Rare Finds with Sleek Architecture

It starts with an empty room. David Naylor of David Naylor Interiors spends time in the space and eventually, “…you sort of get feelings of what this could be and then you have to draw that up and see how you can actualize that, how you can take it from idea and inspiration, to the actual room itself.”

For an ultra-contemporary Santa Fe home, that meant layering older pieces – ones with history that bear the mark of the maker – into a sleek interior. The resulting space is serene and contemplative, a place that is both imminently liveable and perfectly considered.

Timeless Design in the Master Bedroom

Take the master bedroom. Your eye is drawn to three framed tribal works from Papua New Guinea. Naylor found them in a local shop, worn and frayed. They were restored and framed with museum mounts, so these treasures are now preserved as they should be. Matched with African pieces, Chinese pots, Tibetan rugs, “all cohabiting very peacefully in this one room,” he says. Clever moves like storage that wraps around the headboard blend the aesthetically pleasing with the practical.

Naylor says that unlike some other designers working in contemporary homes, he eagerly embraces the juxtapositions he can achieve by marrying the old with the new. They add texture and history he says, and take what could be a cold gallery-like space and make it a home. “If your fantasy is to live in an art gallery, you’ve achieved that. But what’s really great with old wooden pieces is that something special happens when they’re in a contemporary environment.”

How rooms flow one into another is critical to Naylor. Like the points – windows and doorways – when we come into contact with the outside world. Next to one large single-paned window are three teak balls, carved in Naylor’s studio. They bear reminders both of the man-made as well as the natural world and serve to draw your eye outdoors. “You’re on the inside and it’s more man-made. But the outside you don’t touch, but you try to marry, find a bride for it.”

A Peaceful Santa Fe Dining Room

Nature appears in the dining room as well, a cozy circular space. Naylor decided against fighting the gentle curve of nichos and instead accentuated them. Rather than filling them with two-dimensional art and destroying the curve, he instead had them painted as ‘landscapes.’ “We tried to make them look like an extension of the landscape but not being so predictable as an actual landscape. We just did the textural colors of a blue sky and earth for the ground.” The result is harmonious, peaceful, and engaging. “It was very copacetic,” he says.

The curves of the dining room are carried over into the living room – a traditional square space where he opted for a rounded sofa. “When we draw a floor plan,” he says, “we’ll do the conventional two sofas, console behind, coffee table, and pair of chairs on the diagonal. But I always like to throw in a curve option. It gets them thinking and invariably, the clients always go for it. It’s a little unconventional but it always wins the show.”

Blending Art, Function, and Character Into the Interior

It’s a home of quiet details and juxtapositions like a pool table placed front and center in the living room “It’s a lovely pool table and the younger kids in the family like to shoot pool, so we didn’t want to bury it in the basement where no one sees them anymore,” he says. A structural hammered-iron fireplace surround is softened by two Japanese pieces that hang on either side of the fireplace.

Dining room chairs are laced up with leather and adorned with coral, turquoise, silver, and Tibetan beads – taking something practical and giving it beauty and life.

Naylor uses found pieces as well as pulling from his own collection (“I’m kind of a high-end hoarder. But if I can’t find it, or know I can’t find it, we have work rooms where we can make it.”)

The result is a home that no matter how contemporary, feels grounded in its space and is in a way timeless. It’s a place to entertain and to pause: a place to call home.

About the Author

Julia Platt Leonard is Regional Editor for TABLE Magazine’s New Mexico edition, covering Santa Fe’s food, shopping, and community scene. A graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she has worked as a pastry chef, food consultant, and television reporter, and is co-founder of the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. She is the author of the novel Cold Case (Simon & Schuster) and has written for publications including The Independent. Reach her at julia@tablemagazine.com.

Photos by Kate Russel

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It’s among the most compelling interior design challenges: a client in love with the strong lines and clean aesthetic of contemporary architecture but who also wants a home that feels cozy and welcoming. Chandler Prewitt, head of the award winning Santa Fe-based firm, Chandler Prewitt Design, recalls addressing this challenge with a client whose Santa Fe home was still under construction, meaning they were able to decide on every aspect of the interior, including all surface finishes.

Chandler Prewitt Design Warms Up Modern Contemporary Architecture

“It’s something we considered very early on in the design phase,” Prewitt says. “We talked about how to add warmth and soften the architecture, keeping it clean and modern but with a lot of soul in the organic materials and finishes.” Among those finishes: oak woods, cream split-stone accent walls, distressed timber beams, and limestone porcelain tile in the entry hall. The next design layer, furnishings and fabrics, added color, texture, and a sense of history and craftsmanship, while décor and styling fine-tuned the space for the homeowners’ lifestyle and needs.

A Santa Fe Home Designed Around Family Life

In this case, the Connecticut-based couple knew the wife would spend the most time in Santa Fe. She would enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle that includes skiing and hiking. Her husband would join her at times, while their two grown sons would visit during holidays and special occasions.

Prewitt describes the homeowners as a “very cute couple—the husband just wants her to be happy, so this whole thing was for her. He didn’t need to have much input.”

As a result, Prewitt worked closely with the wife, a professional fashion stylist, discovering immediately that their personalities clicked and they communicated well. He quickly understood that his client wanted a house that “feels comfortable and not at all ostentatious.” Among her most important goals was a homey space for family gatherings, with guest rooms for the adult sons and a third guest room for future grandchildren. The “kids’ room” needed to be gender-neutral and a space the children would continue to enjoy as they got older, Prewitt says.

Cool Colors and Detailed Accents

The client was very drawn to cool blue and soft terracotta palettes, which turned out to be ideal for this room. Prewitt suggested twin beds accented by upholstered headboards in a Chinoiserie pattern by Thibaut.

The husband’s study features similar colors, along with a custom wood desk and bookcase by local furniture maker Studio J Leslie. Sculptural lighting completes the space. An avid fisherman and outdoorsman, the husband also provided a large set of shed elk antlers found in the mountains. The designer enlisted a local artisan to create a wall mount for displaying the antlers above the study fireplace.

Modern Interiors with Subtle Southwestern Influence

While the clients love spending time in Santa Fe and appreciate the culture, landscape, and outdoor activities, they weren’t interested in traditional Santa Fe motifs. Prewitt instead focused on furnishings and textiles such as Belgian linens and antique rugs, which for the couple suggest a feeling of home and beauty, while also incorporating subtle elements that speak of the Southwest.

Locally carved wood entry doors were inspired by late seventeenth century Spanish Colonial doors. Oversized endgrain entry hall consoles by Mimi London and a stone coffee table by Formations reference the scale of the Rocky Mountain landscape.

Letting the Santa Fe Landscape Take Center Stage

The landscape is the star of the dining room’s design, where large, black-framed windows on three walls look out on a panorama of untouched public lands. “We did explore ways to soften this space with plants or drapery, but instead we decided to just allow this area to stand out as a place to take in the views and to keep the room clean and functional,” Prewitt says.

A similar decision by the homeowner gave precedence to the simple beauty of smooth lime-wash walls, without the visual stimulation of artwork. Especially in the entry hall and master bedroom, the result is a strong sense of balance and calm.

“We did wonderful things to make the space engaging while honoring the client’s personal preference for minimal artwork,” Prewitt says, adding, “She loves the home, she says it feels like a place where she can really unwind. It’s a source of joy for her and her family.”

Story by Gussie Fauntleroy
Photography by Dominique Vorillon
Interior Design by Chandler Prewitt
Architecture by Lorn Tryk
Construction by Prull Custom Builders

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Designing a small condominium in Santa Fe offered both challenges and opportunities for interior designer Melinda Browning. At only 1,200 square feet, the second home was decidedly petite and the interior lacked any strong architectural elements. Browning needed a condo design that injected visual interest, made the most of the small space, and felt cohesive throughout.

Santa Fe Condo Design That Maximizes Small-Space Living

Color proved to be crucial.

Blue was the choice for this second home. “I’ll use color as an element that might be a consistent thread throughout the space,” she says. “It might not be the same blue, but it will be in the same vein and you’ll see it repeating.” This idea of repetition is critical for Browning. “I’m looking at the space as a whole and saying, ‘What am I going to repeat throughout the entire residence?’”

For example, with the exception of the bathrooms, wood was the flooring choice throughout the first and second floors, staircase, hallways, and the two bedrooms. “We did put it in the kitchen because I think kitchens can handle a hardwood floor,” she says. The same philosophy was in play when it came to tile. “It’s the same tile in the living room and in the kitchen – again, repeating elements from space to space.”

And if a home is lacking architectural details? The condominium was essentially a white box, so the challenge was how to gently add them. “We wanted to create architecture where there wasn’t really any in the existing space. We did that with vigas in the living room, panelled ceilings in the upstairs, and the iron banister.”

Adding Architectural Character to a Small Condo

For that striking banister, she worked with Santa Fe based ironsmith Steve Dulfer – her go-to for custom ironwork. Because they’ve worked together often, she’s comfortable giving him the freedom to come up with creative solutions that answer her brief. “Steve came up with this idea to create the double rail, to create interest in the limited amount of space we had to work with,” she says.

The space below the stairs – often overlooked or forgotten – was put to work for both design and storage reasons. “I wanted the whole wall underneath the stairs to read as built-in cabinetry,” she says. She purposely decided against making the powder room and laundry room doors look like doors. “I really wanted them to look like they were part of this whole built-in cabinetry look.” The result is a clean, uninterrupted line, and a more spacious feel.

Creating a Spacious Feel with Fewer Design Elements

Fewer elements, Browning finds, make the space look less cluttered and larger. That meant opting for a banco for seating on one side of the dining room table with antique chairs from northern New Mexico on the other. She also added a drapery panel – a clever way to provide a sense of division between the dining and living rooms. “It’s only the length of the banco, so if you’re sitting there, you feel like you’re in a separate space from the living room.”

For the master bedroom, a king-size bed was a must and helped orient her thinking about the rest of the room. “There wasn’t a lot of room for other pieces of furniture anyway, so why not go all-in and make the bed – which is going to be a very large percentage of the footprint-the centerpiece of the whole room?”

It’s all about creating balance, like pairing an iron bed frame with lighter drapery. “Iron by its very nature is weighty, it’s heavy. It has a very masculine presence. And the drapery on the bed with the very pretty bow ties, softens it so significantly and still makes it a very feminine space.”

Looks and logistics drove a decision to opt for a double-window treatment with drapery panels and sheers, which she says are making a comeback. “We were dealing with a space that is pretty close to the street, lots of pedestrian traffic within ten feet of the windows, but still a strong desire for natural light from the clients,” she says. “They can close the drapery panels when they’re away, but when they are there, they don’t ever need to close them because the sheers give them enough privacy and they still get light.”

Putting Personality Into a Second Home

For the couple – both on their second marriage – there was the added challenge of navigating between their personal collections. What stays and what goes? “Second marriages really do present an interesting and fun challenge because usually people are coming in with a lifetime of collecting and have things that are important to them,” she says.

For all her clients, Browning spends time to unpack what matters and why, and to gently challenge what they think will work or won’t. “I can usually sit down with the two of them and find some combination of all the elements they want, that people sometimes can’t even see, and where they have common threads.”

At the end of the day, Browning said it was all about the couple arriving from the airport and feeling that ‘this is home.’ “It’s fully complete, even though it’s small. Everything was considered, right? There was no space that we didn’t really think about in a considered way.”

About the Author

Julia Platt Leonard is Regional Editor for TABLE Magazine’s New Mexico edition, covering Santa Fe’s food, shopping, and community scene. A graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she has worked as a pastry chef, food consultant, and television reporter, and is co-founder of the Santa Fe International Literary Festival. She is the author of the novel Cold Case (Simon & Schuster) and has written for publications including The Independent. Reach her at julia@tablemagazine.com.

Photography by Jonathan Tercero
Interior Design by Melinda Browning

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