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Alise O'Brien
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kitchen interior in an updated ranch home.
While many an interior designer might flinch at a '50s ranch house--with images of Leave It to Beaver, pot roast, tuna casserole, bad paneling and rooms of indistinct personality running through their heads--Tim Rohan saw potential.
Owner of T. Rohan Interiors, he recognized a house with "good bones" perfectly situated on one acre in Ladue. Eleven years and many dumpsters later, that old ranch is now an oasis of sophistication. The father of two boys (Jack, 13, and Teddy, 17), Rohan and his wife, Ginny, wanted privacy and luxury. He had the know- how to make it happen.
Since he was young, Tim Rohan had known he would do two things: Surround himself with beautiful objects and arrange them for others. Now 48, Rohan has been designing the interiors of St. Louis homes for more than 20 years.
While luxurious simplicity is a hallmark of all the home furnishings Rohan sells, he has one furniture mantra: "If it's not comfortable, it's not worth owning." Function is as true to his design credo as the subtly refined pieces created in his workroom. Antiques form the backbone of Rohan's designs, culled from visits to local dealers as well as regular trips out of town.
Despite the challenges of a firmly retro house with difficult architectural configurations, Rohan imagined a more refined, elegant European house. Before moving in, Rohan and architect Richard Cummings spent three months working on the blueprints and house plans. "I am a firm believer that you plan your work and then work your plan," Rohan says. "It keeps you on schedule, on budget and on your priority list."
Once the plans were completed, the walls and ceilings began to tumble down.
Then came the renovation of the basement. A lower-level den was paneled with doors from an old apartment building, and a second staircase was added. Rohan also had a guest suite with a bathroom built and moved the upstairs kitchen downstairs--no simple feat--to become a kitchenette in the laundry room.
Next, Rohan redivided all the living spaces, cut in doorways, put in a new front door and a second hall, installed 16 pairs of French doors, restored (and personally hand-stenciled) hardwood floors and had bookcases built. Along the back of the house, a 100-foot-long, 1,500-square-foot addition became a long galley kitchen, an extended hallway, a dressing room and a sitting room off the master bedroom.
Rohan's preferred period is Regency, exemplified by a sense of symmetry. Architectural balance flows throughout the house--columns, entries, French doors, bookcases and matching chests are all paired and complemented by a color palette dictated by a Fortuny fabric in the living room, creating a warm, inviting color scheme. Varying shades of butter, ecru and gold are repeated throughout. As Rohan sees it, "The better your antiques and art, the less color you need."
Perhaps the dining room holds the most dramatic reinterpretation, transformed from a pink-accented, Wild West-themed nook to a sophisticated chamber tented in 200 yards of linen. Black lacquer poles with gold acanthus leaves frame the ceiling.
More recently, Rohan converted the master bath into an oasis patterned after a Roman spa. Limestone covers the walls and floors, offset by two Biedermeier mirrors and mirrored French doors. Oriental rugs and soft, buttery tones create a visually soothing and unabashedly luxurious room.
Aside from the unifying palette, the house serves as a backdrop for Rohan's many collections of 18th and 19th century tea caddies, urns, wood finials, tortoiseshell boxes, Napoleon II papier-mache trays and chairs-- many chairs. "I have almost never seen a chair I didn't like," Rohan says.
The home's interior is not the only part that's been reinvented, with architectural detail and a color scheme of taupe shades added to the exterior. Over the past decade, the Rohans relandscaped the entire property. The front yard was torn out and replaced with a courtyard complete with brick walk- ways and ornamental trees. Eighty-five white spruces provide a private backdrop that is 220 feet long, spotlighting Rohan's latest venture into the world of pool and terrace design.
Rohan says he wanted to create a private island in the backyard. He did. This sanctuary includes three terraces. The upper is a semi- circle framed by a holly hedge, while an adjacent brick terrace offers shade and cool respite from St. Louis' summers. Below, a third terrace outlines the 48-foot-by-20-foot pool, with one end featuring elliptical steps that mirror the pool's shape. A graceful pergola covered in honeysuckle is complemented by group- ings of furniture, which offer a variety of entertainment and relaxation options. Looking around, Rohan declares the renovation complete: "It all works--inside and out."
It all started with a '50s ranch. Now redux.
