Inside Barry Dixon's Elway Hall

[Music] it really was love at first sight I remember distinctly the sound I heard the PE gravel crunch under my tires when I pulled into the driveway and some trees blocked the view of the house and as I rounded and heard that PE grapp I saw the house for the first time and I felt like I was home I had seen this house in my mind still to this day 25 years later if I'm away for a day or a month when I hear the PE gravel my heart rate s CL it's like my blood pressure drops and I exhale and I'm home I'm Barry Dixon I'm will Thomas and you're here at lway Hall our home in the Virginia [Music] pmon in 1907 Mrs spilman the lady that the home was given to as a wedding present loved the preik Architects and writers and was influenced I think with certain symbolism HH Richardson was the architect that worked on this he had on his staff at the time when this was designed Stanford [Music] white when I purchased the house a local Builder who builds estate homes had this pin ship for buying older homes that were in disrepair and needed work it was almost too new looking cuz it had these wonderful old bones but everything was painted white just Builder white they had fortunately left a lot of the wooden panel walls and things like that in the library and this old Great Hall when I was sort of bringing it back if you will was celebrating and preserve the bones of the house and I want it to be a modern lifestyle in the Old Shell that's compatible with what happened before with an old house like this a lot of people me included feel more like stewards than owners and we don't possess the house it possesses us we both agree that part of being great stewards is opening up the house to friends and Charities and sharing [Music] the warron hunt which is a fox hunt is the second oldest hunt in the United States like we've tried to modernize here at Elway and roll with the times it's a no Kill Hunt when guests come and they see the hunt they often feel like they're seeing a painting come to life and when you see the hunters in their Scarlet or pink coats and you see the hounds you think is this a painting is this down ABY but it is Alive and Well I think what any home sees through its window eyes needs to be brought inside that outside in thing isn't new with me it's just a I think a tenant of good design it's wonderful for me to wake up in our bedroom here we wake up with that panoramic view of the Rolling Virginia Hills of fauler County I can't tell you how many herds of deer that I've watched we always talk about how we love the Simplicity of the landscape and then you enter this design space that's so layered I think it's a great ju [Music] deposition I would say right now in the fall with this weather one of the most enjoyable things we do at Elway is to sit out on the loia and and I have some music piping out there and we'll have our coffees or maybe some breakfast and it's just great we're out there 2 three hours and don't realize where did the day go what I like to think is that it feels worldly and hospitable those are primary things for me I had kind of a peretic childhood my father's position with International firm required us to live all over the world different world class designers would have the home ready for us when we got there I remember moving to Numa New Caledonia and David Hicks had put this home together for us fairly quickly a Deb pattern on the walls the ceiling perfectly ran into the pattern it was a run on with the draperies waking up in bed and looking up at the ceiling and looking at all the pattern and thinking this is a good thing it's a trick I use to this day thought of creating like a little private Lush treasure box of a room with upholstered walls and ceiling draping maybe all in one pattern I do it often I've done it here at laway Hall and I've done it for multiple clients all over the world that lifestyle moving from country to Country continent to continent with different homes and different styles I think subliminally I was becoming a designer didn't know it you'd bring things with you you leave certain things behind and you would brindle them into the interior of the next place it's sort of a global crazy quilt of aesthetic that you learn to layer one on the other I think I think that's why as I started to design laway hul it wasn't challenging I wasn't daunted by the thought of bringing life and comfort and intimacy even within those large spaces because we' seen that so many times in these other homes that we had the Good Fortune of experiencing as we were growing up Southern Hospitality to me is about making people feel comfortable and making people feel at home and anticipating their needs it's also making everyone feel comfortable in Intimate spaces they feel comfortable to have a drink and put it down anywhere I don't think coasters belong in any home if we're too worried about a surface more worried about that than the conversation we're having that's not hospitable that that's not hospitable bless you bless you bless you it's small things like that though that I really think of certainly for my own home and that I try to impart for the clients that we're working for there's really nothing off limits in the home we don't try to protect anything the dog can sleep on any chair in the house kids can come in and go into any room we don't worry we serve red wine at every party there's nothing off limits I don't love smoking but I never say you can't smoke because that seems inhospitable there you go thank you I think a Hallmark of good design is that someone walks into your home and they realize who lives there that the home resonates with the homeowners what would come across when people come into our own home is that we're maximalist than minimalist and he's more minimalist than than I so I think part of that has been the fresh air that's wafted through these Halls the feel of the home now is a layered mix of worldly elements old and new things that we find some connectivity one to the other to make it collage and malange into a single thought it works as a whole but then there are individual things that are considered as it's put together I think we've quilted this house into place we put a lot of work into the house but it it's given back to us in a way it's given us our past because we have so many incredible memories here our present because we're living in the present day in this and enjoying it daily in our future because we're planning for things we're going to do I've now lived here so long too that it makes me feel like I'm still connected that I've shared so much life here with friends and family that may not be here any longer I still feel connected to them and that makes it even more special for me

Channel: Schumacher1889

Views: 142,891

Keywords: restoration, maximalism, layered decorating, layered, history, historic, elway hall, Pre-Raphaelite Art, hh richardson, architecture, stanford white, stewardship, warrenton, virginia, fox hunt, preservation, landscape, fall, autumn, loggia, barry dixon, southern hospitality, david hicks, interior design, decor, house tour, pattern, lifestyle, global design, hospitality, gracious living

Id: 9CYN9cVLGlw

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023