See a Philadelphia Interior Designer Transform a Generic New-Build Home

Designer Rasheeda Gray turned a large and boxy new build in Philadelphia into a colorful, eclectic escape, ornamented with artwork and travel mementos, for a newcomer to the city.

By: Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason

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Photo By: Brian Wetzel

New Build in an Old City

Interior designer Rasheeda Gray knows all about taking risks. After 15 successful years as a vice president of marketing, she decided to pursue her lifelong passion for interior design. Now, the Philadelphia-based interior designer has turned her business and marketing experience into Gray Space Interiors, a thriving design studio with an impressive following and a growing list of satisfied customers. So when her latest client needed to fill a newly built townhome in the city’s historic Manayunk neighborhood, Rasheeda was the perfect pick.

Filling a White Box With Color

Rasheeda's client was a transplant to Philadelphia and “had been in the home for less than three months when she called me,” she says. Living by herself, the client needed help to fill the 2,500-square-foot space, starting with the living room. Because newly built spaces tend to lack some of the architectural flourishes that characterize the older homes in a city like Philadelphia, Rasheeda went the extra mile to give her client's home some personality. As a result, the room is designed to strike a fine balance between bright colors and calm neutrals. The modern color palette plays off of some of the room’s more traditional furniture elements, creating a striking mix.

Old + New

For Rasheeda, great design isn’t always about the new and shiny. For a client adjusting to life in a new city, it was important to keep some familiar pieces around. And building a design concept around pieces the client already loves is a great way to make the job even easier. “The open concept living and dining room area was one of the easiest areas in the home to design,” Rasheeda recalls. “We incorporated some of the client's existing pieces like the sofa and dining table while ensuring it was cohesive with the rest of the home.”

Art Can Unify Design

A coherent color palette is one of the most important steps in making sure that a room looks well-designed. But when there are more than three colors to contend with, tying them all together can be challenging. To connect the eclectic palette in her client’s living room, Rasheeda used two large colorful paintings hung over the sofa. The multitude of colors present in the two pieces incorporate nearly all of the colors present in the room, allowing the whole vignette to come together seamlessly.

A Bit of Contrast

“The home was built in 2017 and fully renovated, so it was in excellent condition,” Rasheeda says. “All it needed was the right furniture and wall coverings.” With no major renovation projects to undertake, the designer was free to spend more time finding pieces like this massive entertainment center for the entertainment room. The farmhouse style of the piece is a beautiful counterpoint to the more contemporary look of much of the other furniture. Minimally decorated with just a few accessories, it’s clear that the TV is the main attraction here.

Keeping It all Together

Coherence is key for Rasheeda when designing a home. The entertainment/recreation room in this home is designed to incorporate color and comfort, and to promote entertaining. A more relaxed palette fills this room, while still keeping the red and blue highlights of the living area. The gray and white geometric rug, while a different pattern, also recalls the rug in the living room, to bring continuity to the entire space.

A Matter of Taste

While the living room is filled with homages to past travels and distant lands, the personal touches in the recreation room are from destinations that are much closer to home, but no less loved. When this space was in need of some personality, Rasheeda recalls, “we framed posters from some of her favorite concerts including Prince and the Roots, and hung them above the sectional as artwork.” The result is a perfect combination of personal history and colorful art that gives every guest a glimpse into the things this homeowner loves.

Travel Mementos

Describing her personal style as, “contemporary with a global influence and nods to traditional lines,” Rasheeda was the perfect designer for a client who wanted to fill her new home with reminders of places past. The carved wood pieces, earth tones and palm plants in the living room are all nods to the client’s time in Indonesia. Thinking of the result, Rasheeda feels that, “the global influence throughout the home, which speaks to the client's travels, is one of the things that stands out the most about the design of this home.”

Color Shift

Taking a step away from the vibrant tones of the living room and recreation room, the bedroom feels like more of an escape. Soft earth tones of brown and green replace the bright reds and blues, for the type of calm environment that transports you from a crowded city to a tropical resort or island getaway. The green, geometric wallpaper evokes the feeling of the thatched walls of a grass hut while the texture of everything from the side tables to the bedding gives the room a handmade feel.

Bedroom Escape

Designers are supposed to love every room, but invariably, there’s always a favorite. And while this home is full of well-designed rooms, the designer’s favorite space in this home is clear. “I love the bedroom,” she says. “The patterns and colors used are memorable but it's also very serene.”

Art From Abroad

“I love the client's elephant art pieces in the bedroom,” Rasheeda confesses. Like the carved furnishings in the living room, the art and decor of the bedroom are a gorgeous reminder of the client’s time in Southeast Asia and were purchased during her travels in Indonesia. The incorporation of these art pieces on the wall and over the bed helped to solidify the room as Rasheeda’s favorite, and worked to complete the room's aesthetic. “It feels balanced,” she says.

Bring It on Home

Looking at the finished work and the way that she was able to help a new arrival feel at home in the City of Brotherly Love, Rasheeda feels there’s a lot to be proud of in this project. But when asked what she loves the most, the designer answers easily: “What I love most about this home,” she says, “is how each nook of the home has a special piece that tells a story.”