Billiards room completes dream home

“We wanted it to be so many things, but we just couldn’t make that first step in realizing our vision,” Lisa says. Most important to their vision were rooms that catered to each spouse’s interests.

For one, both husband and wife are avid pool players, so a space devoted to that activity was needed. And Lisa, a jewelry designer, needed a studio and office for her work.

Designer Dolly Howarth was able to translate those basic ideas into spaces that captured their desires. “She’s an amazing listener, and she just got it,” Lisa says.

The top priority was a first-floor billiard room designed around Martin’s tastes. “I knew if my husband was happy with that, then I would be free to pursue the other rooms,” Lisa said.

Howarth designed it around an existing Oriental rug using Art Deco overtones, as Martin, a commercial real estate executive, requested. But first, she had to do some research into the regulation space allowances required around a pool table.

There wasn’t a lot of room left for furniture, so Howarth made up for it in custom cabinetry and shelving, a wet bar, and tall bistro tables in the corners. Both husband and wife loved the result.

“It’s the first place people like to come,” Lisa said of their guests, and when it’s she and her husband, she added, “[Martin] will come home late and say, ‘Let’s just have a glass of wine and shoot a few games instead of watching TV.’ ”

Next on the list was Lisa’s office. Previously, she said she relied on a card table for her work and stacks of boxes to store her tools, beads and semiprecious stones. “I just wanted a space where I could create. [Dolly] really took the time to understand what my needs were.”

Inspiration for the room’s color scheme came in the form of a cobalt-blue Venetian glass lamp by Donghia. Lisa and Howarth originally thought of placing it elsewhere in the house, but the office was a better destination, Howarth said, so Lisa could see it all the time. The lamp also contributes to the jewelry theme of the office with its gemlike color, and the two chains hanging from the bulbs resemble earnings, Howarth said.

Adding to the jewelry theme are the window treatment fabrics by Camilla David, a Bethesda textile designer. Tiny beads are sewn into the center of the flowers, and Howarth enhanced the effect with a blue beaded trim on the bottom. A complementary fabric, also by David, provides a skirt for the round table where the lamp sits.

Crucial to Howarth’s task, however, was the work area. She found a series of small, but very bright, lights to mount on the slanted wall above the area, so Lisa could see clearly as she worked with the tiny stones and clasps.

Howarth also located a glass-top table on chrome sawhorse legs from Williams-Sonoma Home, under which a rolling cart and clear storage boxes can easily fit. “It’s good for her to be able to see under the desk,” Howarth said.

The designer then found a rug at West Elm with a chocolate-brown diamond pattern; the color complements the book shelves and cocktail table on one side of the room, Howarth says, and “I liked the way they were links” that resemble what one would see on a necklace.

The newly designed office “is a total game changer,” Lisa said. “Being able to get to everything easily and see everything easily just fuels the inspiration.”

The best part about both spaces, she said, is that they can easily accommodate husband and wife. Lisa enjoys spending time playing pool with her husband, and Martin has a reading area in his wife’s office where he keeps her company while she works.

“I wanted these rooms to be really functional for both of us,” Lisa says. As for Martin, she says, “I didn’t think it would make that big of a difference to him, but it really does.”