Design Talk | Storks’ Nest

A Foyer that tells a Story

By Katalin Farnady  |  Photography by Ron Blunt

Interior design, the specialized profession devoted to creating and enhancing living space, often involves conceptual development, space planning, and the selection of furnishings, fabrics, cabinetry, tile, flooring, lighting, hardware, paint colors, trims, and much more. Annapolis-based interior designer Katalin Farnady often does something more uncommon by collaborating with artists to create one-of-a-kind designs. Storks’ Nest is one of her most ambitious artistic designs. For this reason, we invited Farnady to write a special Design Talk about her vision and the process she followed to achieve this striking foyer.

When designing interiors, I often like to tell a story.  The Aspire Show House recently staged a benefit for The Cancer House in Washington, DC. As I am a cancer survivor myself, the opportunity to design a foyer with original, hand-painted art walls was the perfect way to tell my own story. Foyers are important and should not be overlooked when planning your interior design. An entry room introduces your home’s personality and welcomes your guests. Using soft colors, textures, form, and materiality, I was able to add unexpected elements, dimension, and drama to this foyer. These are all things I like to add to my interior spaces.

Growing up in Budapest, Hungary, children are told many folk tales. As a child, one of my favorites was about storks who deliver babies to the front steps of the house after marriage. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer while pregnant with our first daughter. However, after all the surgeries and treatments, we both survived. The stork, a sign of hope and good fortune, arrived in my life, even during turmoil. Several years later, the stork also returned to our front steps with a very big gift—our twin daughters! Sixteen years later, I am excited to share our beautiful survival story through this foyer that features and honors the stork. Who doesn’t like to hear about a very happy ending, right?

To achieve my vision, I enlisted the talented artist Kelly Walker of Artstar Custom Paintwork. Starting with a neutral background, Kelly applied a soft transition in gradual ombré for our larger-than-life cranes. The room was carefully selected to speak to the scale and colorway of the adjacent rooms.  We selected the ombré background colors from the ash hardwood floor and kept the birds black and white to keep with the monochromatic vision.

Project rendering by Matt Miller.

INTERIOR DESIGN: Farnady Interiors, farnadyinteriors.com, Annapolis, Maryland Artist:  Kelly Walker, Artstar Custom Paintwork, artstarcustompaintworks.com

Annapolis Home Magzine
Vol. 11, No. 6 2020