54
WBM december 2011
bed chambers provide color that pops
throughout.
Where Lee Cooney left off,
Wilmington-based designer Susan
Covington of SAC Art picked up.
Covington and her team of carpenters
and finishers—including husband, Tom
Covington—masterfully rehab furniture,
giving old pieces a new life with a
timeless twist.
In the bedrooms she added vintage
white chests of drawers retooled with
era hardware and drawer pulls. An array
of eclectic crystal doorknobs mounted
on beveled wood slabs function like
hooks and are part of the look.
In one of the three master suites
Covington designed and built an
elevated pie safe with lattice doors to
disguise an electronic mélange. In the
same room she repurposed a traditional
breakfront buffet, now a bureau.
Covington had already fabricated
the dining room table, a distressed turquoise
frame with a galvanized metal
surface, before she met her clients. With
that starting point, she says it was not
hard at all to convince them to use
shades of turquoise throughout the dining
area as the primary wall tone.
A custom corner cupboard for displaying
dishes and trays that match
a built-in hutch, which dates to the
home’s 1940s origins, is another of
Covington’s inventions. To open up the
space that also functions as a passage
from the kitchen into the living room
she moved the chandelier several feet off
center and painted it white to match a
collection of rattan dining chairs.
In the white tone-on-tone living
room—with bursts of pale blue, teals,
coral, tobacco brown and sisal—only
the original Venetian blinds remain.
Covington’s custom coffee and end
table set defines sleek contemporary
lines when placed with upholstered
sofas and armchairs. Her tufted ottoman
and white lacquered rattan club
chairs are just some of the urban beachy
accessories. Other custom Covington
pieces include a repurposed vintage
hutch for book and board game storage.