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Morningside Modern

“Art & Soul” as seen in the Rue Magazine Winter 2025 Issue

WHAT STARTED AS A BLANK CANVAS BECAME A STYLE MASTERPIECE WHEN THE DESIGNER TAPPED MODERNIST DESIGNS, STATEMENT ART, AND RICH COLOR AS HER MUSES.

Laura, a student of art and history as well as design, turned to the past to give the home yet more gravitas—soul, if you will. Specifically, she leaned into modernist design movements from the 1920s and ‘30s. “It was fun to go back to the great modernists,” she says, “and think about how can we use them in a new way. We then thought about what we could mix in that’s contemporary, that’s fresh for today.”

Laura was particularly inspired by the Bauhaus movement and its use of curved yet streamlined designs. “When I think about modern and design, I think a lot about shapes,” she says. “And the Bauhaus group did such a good job of using shapes when they were coming up with their designs and furniture.

this house was just a box, so we needed to soften it up a little bit.

For the Clients, it was the thoughtful details that truly turned the house into their home. Built-in benches in both the living room and primary bedroom, for instance, provide perches to boost their beloved cats up to window height and give both humans and felines a place to enjoy verdant views.

To give the cavernous space more architectural presence, Laura designed a divider with open shelving that would define the living area but allow it to be seen. It also serves as a sideboard for the dining room. The built-in was milled from white oak to visually tie to the home’s original floors, one of its best features.

Whether through spherical pendant lights, a circular Saarinen “Tulip” table, or a celestial tryptych in the primary bedroom, circles and curves play an important role in the design. But of course, any modernist will tell you that form follows function.

On the lower level, what was once another blank, open space became a media room big enough to host family movie nights and cozy enough to settle in for board games. Inspired by actual theaters, draperies divide the room and add dramatic effect.

The collaboration between client and design team resulted in a basic box becoming a sophisticated and personal home. “Laura’s been really great to work with,” Harrison says, “both in coming up with ideas, but then also incorporating feedback and helping make it ours.”

“The celestial art [by Corrina Sephora] was in the project from the first concept board,” Laura says. “I love it when I can say we built this room around art!”

To give the primary bath a calming spa vibe, Laura and team mixed tile from Pratt & Larson. “They’re made in Portland, Oregon” Laura says, “the glaze captures the natural light.” The vanity wall is long, so she broke it up with two built-in towers that come together to form a soffit. The mirror, framed in marble, features an Apparatus sconce.

“We wanted this guest room to be saturated in color,but also simple —a quiet respite from the busy world.”

In the case of art, Laura also received what was, for her, the ultimate reward. “My ‘art’ is mixing art into the interiors,” she says. “That’s so important to me. These aren’t throw-away interiors, they are meant to be. We love to help our clients build collections to last a lifetime. And when I ran into the Clients at a gallery opening they said, ‘You’ve turned us into art people.’ And I felt like, well, I did my job.”

As seen in Rue Magazine, words by Sandra S. Soria
Photography by Joseph Bradshaw

Project Details

Mood

A mood board showing selections for the combined Living and Dining Rooms. A mixture of contemporary and vintage modern pieces make up the selections.
Elements

A mood board showing selections for the combined Living and Dining Rooms. A mixture of contemporary and vintage modern pieces make up the selections.
Design Sketch

A design sketch by Founding Principal Laura Jenkins shows the view from the Dining Room into the adjacent Living Room.
Mood

The bedroom mood board during the early stages of the design process was composed of various swatch and finish samples.
Design sketch

Renderings fro the Primary Bedroom showing custom furniture, lighting, and artwork for the space.
Mood

The game room mood board during the early stages of the design process was composed of various swatch and finish samples.
Design sketch

Renderings showing custom elements for the Game Room and Bar millwork.