Photograph by Rustic White
When he’s not cultivating his interior-design business, 23-year-old Kevin Francis O’Gara puts his feet up in this cozy study/media room at his home in the Manchester neighborhood near Morningside-Lenox Park
Cocooning colors
“I knew the room would be fabulous in a dark color because it doesn’t get much natural light anyway,” says the Atlanta native, who started his nationally recognized blog Thou Swell as a sophomore at Westminster. He chose Behr’s “Dark Truffle” for a rich, dark brown paint with neutral overtones.
Alluring accents
The mural-like wallpaper depicting cranes (from Milton & King) is designed to draw attention. “The large scale of the pattern was key to making a grand statement,” the designer says.
Step softly
To warm up the concrete floors, O’Gara added a vintage Turkish rug.
Netflix nest
His TV-watching zone includes a Home Depot sectional, 24-inch faux-fur pillows, and a clever coffee table from Txtur, with four flippable squares that can be hard (for a mug of coffee) or padded (for feet).
Designer tip: “Every room needs something old,” says O’Gara. “Heirlooms and antiques are the character and ‘glue’ that elevate new decor.” The convex Federal mirror on his wall has an aged patina, plus sentimental value, as it was made by his grandfather Olin Shivers, an Atlanta pediatrician.
This article appears in our April 2021 issue.
