Hallmarks of Scandinavian design include natural lighting and elements (especially wood); soft, muted colors; and an overall simplicity to create a sleek, comfortable space. That’s exactly what homeowner Adie Kaplan Mears and her husband, Brian Mears, wanted for their new home in the Freret neighborhood. The couple, who met in 2013, lived in an existing home on the same lot, but they needed more space as their family grew (they now have two children: Ayla, 5 and Avi, 1). Adie, who studied architecture at Tulane University (but who now works in the film industry), had specific goals for redesigning their home, but, after speaking to many contractors, she and Brian realized that the perfect solution was to demolish the existing home (except for an existing garage) to make space for a new build.
The Mears turned to Alexander “Alec” Adamick, principal at Adamick Architecture, to bring their vision to life. “We chose Adamick Architecture because we had several mutual friends and they came highly recommended,” Adie says. “I was struggling with what I wanted the exterior of the home to look like, and they helped us come up with great options.”
Because the Mears wanted to keep the existing garage, the team at Adamick Architecture suggested a New Orleans townhouse style for the new home. “Adamick came up with great ideas for the windows, especially at the front of the house, with the bump-out in our office,” Adie says. “I had told them I wanted some stained wood-plank siding, and I love that they came up with the idea to do it not only on the entire front porch, but also in the bump-out. The warm wood makes the entry look really inviting and it pops against the painted siding.”
According to Adamick, Adie was the driving force behind the architectural aesthetic. “I worked with her to layout the overall space planning,” he says. “Alex Barthel and Judy La did the exterior design. We worked with the client to make sure that the overall concept would work with her vision.”
The resulting 3,000-square-foot home features a ground floor with a front porch; a powder room; a pantry; an open kitchen, living and dining area; and a covered rear porch. A thoughtfully-designed contemporary stairway leads to a second floor with a play space for the kids, a home office, a bathroom, two children’s bedrooms, a walk-in laundry room and a primary suite. By placing the play area and the office at the front of the house, the bedrooms maintain privacy by being located off of the street. “Ultimately, like many clients, Adie did all the interior selections, and we worked with her to realize some of this vision (like the custom stairs and the custom niche at the top of the hall as well as the master bathroom),” Adamick says.
For the new home, Adie wanted clean and modern design, all while fitting in with the aesthetic of New Orleans architecture. “One of the most important things to us was natural light,” she says. “The other thing was tall ceiling height. We have 10-foot ceilings now on the bottom and top floor. I wanted the space to be light and airy and modern, but not sterile. We also wanted an open floor plan so that we could see our kids while we were cooking and so that we could be a part of everything while we entertained.”
In fact, one of Adie’s favorite spaces is the upstairs playroom. Open to the hallway, it features a vertical stained-wood screen that overlooks the stairs. “It’s really fun to be able to walk down the stairs and still see whoever is in the playroom,” she says. “It has a window seat/storage bench overlooking Valence Street with a lot of windows and great light.”
Adie also loves the front entry, which features a bench built into the stairway with another stained wood screen like the one in the playroom. “I love how open and inviting it feels,” she says. “Another favorite design feature in the house is the arched niche at the top of the stairs. It’s a nice moment. I love to stop and look at the photos I have on the white oak shelves, and I just take everything in. Yet another special place is our walk-in shower and soaking tub combo in the master bath. I love the look of the floor-to-ceiling tile, and I love having the soaking tub in the shower almost creating a wet room. We opted not to put glass on the threshold; it makes the shower and bath area feel like it’s one big room.”
Meanwhile, the Mears opted for kitchen cabinets that end with a built-in bench that becomes seating for a dining table (which Adie found in an inspiration photo). “We didn’t want a formal dining room, and I thought [this solution] would be perfect for our family and lifestyle,” she says.
In addition to the wood screens and the master shower/bath combo, other custom elements include the front steps, the back screened porch (with the same stained wood from the front of the home) and the front window in the home office. “Brian and Adie both work from home, so there is a great office at the front of the house on the second floor,” Adamick says. “This office space has a unique front window that is a design element. The staff looked at traditional New Orleans architecture to create a massing and then removed and added to the massing to create a new form.”
Challenges during the process included working within budget while still accomplishing Adie’s design goals. “Adie did some great shopping to find floors that worked within her vision and were on budget,” Adamick says. “So, the clients really did a great job overcoming a budget that was not unlimited and getting a really nice contemporary design, which is often more expensive than traditional construction.”
When it came to the interiors, Adie took the reins to elevate the spaces that Adamick Architecture so thoughtfully designed. She opted for a neutral color scheme (such as gray/light taupe cabinets in the kitchen, engineered white oak floors and white walls) except for in the bathrooms. “I love sage green, so I knew I wanted our master bath to have sage green wall tiles,” she says. “It’s such a calming color. In the kids bathroom, I took a risk using mint green tiles with the pop of black. I love old vintage bathrooms with colored tiles and black pencil moulds, but I wanted to do something more modern.”
Adie also chose to use Farrow & Ball Mizzle (her favorite shade of green), which she took halfway up the walls in Avi’s room to suggest a modern wainscoting. And in Ayla’s room, she had a colleague from the film industry paint a simple pink mural of the sun on one wall.
Overall, Adie says that the family’s new home satisfies a lot of needs that they lacked in the previous home. “Our old house was so small and cramped that we couldn’t really get away from each other at all,” she says. “Now there are so many different spaces to go and either be by yourself or as a whole family. The tall ceilings and space makes it so much easier to breathe. Something we definitely want to add is a pool in our backyard. We have plans to redesign the backyard and turn the shed into a little modern pool house/cabana. Stay tuned for that in a few years.”
