A Lively Lake Charles Redesign

The drink bar features colorful green cabinets and a small painting from The Foyer in Baton Rouge.

When residents in Lake Charles decided to update the interiors of the nearly 5,900-square-foot home they built nine years ago, they turned to Rachel Cannon, founder, creative director and principal interior designer at Baton Rouge-based Rachel Cannon Limited. “The homeowner was in a sorority with a friend of mine and sought us out when they needed help with their home,” Cannon says.

The five-bedroom, six-bath home, which is located on a golf course, previously lacked cohesive design and did not reflect the homeowners’ tastes. “There was a lot of pink, and she doesn’t really like pink,” Cannon says. “We sought out to help change that.” Instead, Cannon turned to nature, the dessert case at the bakery and fashion for inspiration. She then infused the home with greens and blues to draw on the exterior landscape, plus touches of coral to brighten the space.

“We knew it needed to be energetic but peaceful, which is not an easy combo,” Cannon adds. “Those small additions of a slightly brighter green and the coral help to make the space feel peaceful and fun.”

(Left) The painting in the foyer is a commissioned work from Baton Rouge artist, Kim Meadowlark. | (Right) The dining room chairs are covered in Perennials performance fabric.

While each project turns out quite differently, Cannon and her team follow the same processes to reach the final result. In this instance, which included selecting paint colors, furnishings, rugs, art and accessories, Cannon followed a specific process for soft furnishings. It included an in-home consultation, a design services proposal, scheduling dates by which furnishings must be chosen, design inspiration (including a private Pinterest board to share ideas), space planning, creating the design scheme, ordering, follow up and installation.

“We call our aesthetic vibrant traditionalism,” Cannon says. “We take the best of classic design and infuse a little joy with our color palettes. We helped [the homeowner] find her aesthetic. Before, she couldn’t tell you what she wanted, but she knew what she didn’t like and what didn’t work for them. The house has really beautiful natural light, so we wanted to play into that with a foundation of soft color and a few bold moments sprinkled throughout.”

For example, playful wallpaper in the powder bath flaunts an assortment of lips in varying shades of coral on a light blue background. And in the foyer, Baton Rouge artist Kim Meadowlark created a commissioned piece of artwork on white background with peppy pops of color.

(Left) The Lips wallpaper in the powder room is by Voutsa. | (Right) Cannon sourced the majority of decorative accessories from Wayfair.

While wood flooring anchors most of the floor plan, the homeowners recently installed brick flooring in the kitchen. Cannon introduced color to the area with blue barstools that also help to tie together the public spaces on the first floor.

Cannon selected performance fabrics for the redesign, making it easier for the homeowners to maintain the new design elements for years to come. “While no fabric is totally indestructible, there are so many advances in upholstery that it makes it so much easier to not have to compromise taste for durability,” she says.

Overall, Cannon explains that this project is a great example of how her firm can easily work with clients remotely. “Our process is the same, whether clients are in town or out of town, and we are structured so that it should be easy for the client to move through the process,” she says.