Blending old &NEW
Downsizing Ellicott City couple mixes contemporary design with classic pieces in their retirement home
The plush light brown sofa, French country tables and ivory rug come from their old family room; the earthy salmon chairs are from their former living room. But the accent pieces — the couch’s throw pillows in blues and the turquoise accessories on the tables in Laraine and Bob Hardy’s new living area — are new and contemporary in design.
Two selections of artwork from around their old house — one by the front door and another over the sofa — add splashes of bright color. a grandfather clock that belonged to Bob’s grandfather presides over the setting that includes a television, giving the living-family room a classic yet not-so-formal air. Natural light streams in from windows way up in the high-ceiling living area.
“As soon as people come in, there isn’t a person who doesn’t say they love this room,” Laraine said.
When the Hardys, married nearly 55 years, decided to downsize last year from their longtime Columbia home to a senior community in Ellicott City, they wanted to use their own furnishings — though fewer of them. But they also wanted to freshen the look for their new digs.
“We wanted to transform the traditional into a more modern feel,” said Laraine, a former head nurse at the Maryland School for the Deaf. Her husband, Bob, is a retired chairman of the University of Maryland, College Park’s department of human development and director of the school’s Institute of Child Study.
The Hardys turned to JoAnn Berkoff, owner of Finishing Touches Design Service in Ellicott City, with whom they’d worked before. She helped them choose what to keep from the old house with an eye toward making the new place homey and displaying the artwork, collectibles, heirlooms and travel memorabilia that are meaningful to the Hardys.
The new single-story, two-bedroom, twobathroom duplex in the Lutheran Village at Miller’s Grant features a contemporary open floor plan and high ceilings — the lowest is 9 feet — that add to its spacious feel. The Hardys wanted the second bedroom for guests, typically