Finding a Personal Style

When Arizona-based designer Christina Forrest of 21 Interiors works with a client, she doesn’t bring her own agenda to the project. “We like to say that ‘your style is our style—just well designed.’” This means Forrest’s design process is just that, a process.

“We work with every client to find their style, and then make suggestions based on that,” says Forrest. This approach took a complicated turn in the design of this Scottsdale, AZ, home featured in Cambria Style magazine.

Forrest says, “It’s a house in the desert, but the owners were from the south and love Southern coastal style. So that was a bit of a challenge.” The owners also wanted a space that would be extremely durable and low maintenance—and plenty elegant—as the house was destined to be both a casual gathering place for extended family and a frequent entertaining hub.

Forrest interpreted the “coastal” style as a respect for the colors and tones of the natural surroundings. Since this home was surrounded by the warm colors of the desert instead of bright blue sea, she used lots of natural wood, featuring rift-cut white oak with a custom stain on all the cabinetry throughout the house—kitchen, pantry, built-ins, bathroom vanities—as well as on the floors.

She balanced the expanses of wood with bright white walls and surfaces, including Cambria Ironsbridge quartz design on the kitchen counters and a plaster finish on the large custom range hood. Repeating black and gold accents in every room—even in the surprisingly elegant pantry—turned up the style quotient and created a sense of coherence throughout the house.

Through all the elegant design choices runs a theme of practicality. The double islands in the kitchen, for example, are ideal for prepping, serving, and dining table-style. Cambria surfaces provide worry-free beauty, as do the wood cabinets and performance fabrics on the upholstery.

A mash-up of “coastal” and “desert” might not seem like an obvious choice, but here it added up beautifully to a modern, comfortable, family-friendly home that’s perfectly in tune with its owners’ unique style.