A musical family enlarged their home and asked PB+A to design its interiors. The first task was to integrate a new music room with the adjoining living room. We envisioned the music room as a stage and designed a backlit stained glass ceiling with musical motifs, to enhance its theatrical effect as focus of attention. Friends watch family members perform trumpet, clarinet, marimba, piano, and chimes from a circular seating area close to the musicians. Beyond, stools around a bar-height table offer views over the lower seating. We selected the furniture, rugs, draperies, and lighting.
Pleased with their living/music room, the client asked us to design cabinetry and lighting for an informal dining room between kitchen and family room. The cabinetry incorporates stained glass and lighting to shape and enliven the space with color, light, and the feeling of nature. The stained glass suggests lush planting. It is front-lit or back-lit, by sunlight or by dimmable fluorescents, depending on time of day.
The client wrote, “The lit glass needs the lights turned on to speak, which is usually a nighttime event. So we have lots happening, but not too much since they speak at different times…. The lit glass is ... blue, the pass-through glass is … green. We see green during the day and blue at night. Wonderful.”
Simona Budeiri designed the stained glass, and artist Keith Lubell executed it using American hammered, antique and rolled artisanal glass. (Photos © Eric Lippe and © Simona and Peter Budeiri)
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