Discovery lane
Bossiers embrace contemporary style
Today’s contemporary style can be a combination of both traditional and modern looks. The term is “transitional” and can span a long continuum.
With that in mind, Katie Bossier has embraced the more contemporary style of the Beau Chene home she and her husband, Ed, purchased after Katrina but has impressed her more traditional/transitional sensibilities on the home. Her touch has turned it into a showpiece that nicely merges transitional flair with the clean lines of a contemporary house.
Katie and Ed were planning to rebuild after the storm destroyed their previous home — until they saw this Biloxi house. “It was love at first sight,” Katie says. “We rounded the corner into the room where the aquarium is and that settled it for us.”
The couple, not having any experience with a contemporary home, were thankful that the previous owner was willing to part with some of the furnishings that were crafted specifically for this house, including the dining-room suite, a long curving sofa in the aquarium room, some bedroom furniture and a sofa in the living room are original to the house.
But after the deal was signed, “I cried for a week,” Katie says. “I just didn’t know what to do with a contemporary home.” The Bossiers had just purchased very traditional furniture for a temporary place while they were dealing with the aftermath of Katrina. “Everything I brought in just didn’t work,” she recalls.
She finally decided she had to work with the house instead of letting it dominate her way of life.
“When we bought the house, the pool was surrounded by black scored concrete,” she says. They replaced it with light-colored tumbled marble and used deep ocean-blue tiles for the pool’s coping.
The living room, with its 24-foot ceilings, has windows that look out to the pool, so for it, she chose colors in both fabrics and hard surfaces that tied these areas together.
The floors, in warm brown and taupe hues, now blend beautifully with the area around the pool. The same is the case for the outdoor furniture, which is neutral in color and transitional in style, which suits the contemporary styling of the living-room furniture.
Katie’s good friend, Rebecca Maybee, an interior designer at Mechiston Hall Galleries, helped her with fabric and furniture choices. “Rebecca was great,” says Katie.
She also enlisted the help of artist Marty Wilson. She commissioned him to duplicate original pieces she had of his that were destroyed in the storm. He also helped her restore many personal photographs that she initially thought were irreparable. The coastal flair of the art and sculpture she and Ed have collected warm the entire home.
While this home may not be the image of ultra modern, all of the conveniences certainly are. The kitchen has state-of-the art appliances, and the integrated vacuum system is no less than space age.
Keeping her focus is difficult when she is so used to a different style, she says. “Now, I even find myself buying handbags and jewelry that are more contemporary.
“Owning a home like this alters your entire way of thinking.”