Top Shelf: Adding built-in bookshelves to the living room brought order to the room while providing a pop of color courtesy of Farrow & Ball’s “Inchyra Blue.” The custom design also beautifully showcases local artist Molly B. Right’s bottle-cap homage to Frida Kahlo. A brass and wicker side table from Hollywood at Home and vintage shearling chair from 1stdibs add texture and dimension.
Past Perfected: Architect Beau Clowney designed the house for Jenny and Joe Keenan when daughter Lily, now 13, was still in the womb, and Jay, 14, just a toddler. The horseshoe shape allowed for a large family room (pictured above to the left with its own porch) looking out over the Old Village. That space was designed as a homage to a former sweet shop that once occupied the lot.
Jenny and Joe Keenan, daughter Lily and son Jay.
art works: When it comes to art, “Buy what you love” is Jenny’s mantra. “It doesn’t have to match your furniture, fabric, or rug. If you love it, you can put a piece of art anywhere,” says the designer. For her home decor refresh, she rearranged existing art, finding a new home for this abstract Brian Coleman piece in the living room. Centered above the fireplace, it clashes comfortably with the vintage sofa covered in the Kelly Wearstler “Graffito” fabric in “Salmon/Cream.” Pup Rowdy clearly approves.
TIME FOR TEXTURE: The bright, white kitchen was revived with some key texture changes: wooden shelves replaced painted ones and a stainless steel hood was swapped for plaster trimmed in oak.
Curtains fabricated in Zak+Fox “Sauvage” linen added interest to the adjoining dining area. Other fabric changes—giving a favorite settee a fresh new look courtesy of C&C Milano and the Robert Kime floral (sourced at Charleston’s Fritz Porter) on the chairs—instantly transformed the space. The vintage “Uchiwa Hana” chandelier by Ingo Maurer completes the beachy boho look.
ZOOM ROOM: The octagonal dining room saw little use pre-pandemic, so Jenny turned it into a handsome home office for her husband, Joe. Inky blue Phillip Jeffries grasscloth wallcoverings and drapes fashioned in Romo washable linen in “Linara Blueberry” set a dramatic yet soothing backdrop for the custom white oak desk by carpenter Ryan Mckiernan, vintage Baker Furniture sideboard, and Kate Holstein photograph of Maui’s Honolua Bay from Mount Pleasant’s Heart of Gold Gallery.
Corner Office: Tucked in the laundry room/butler’s pantry, Jenny’s home office features whimsical wallpaper by Cowtan & Tout, a mid-century French lamp, and a favorite Slava Roubanov sketch from Charleston Artist Collective. The adjoining hallway showcases a vintage chandelier from 1stdibs and Mona Kuhn’s Private from Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta.
HOME, SWEET HOME: The family room is the Keenans’ haven. Modeled on the former sweet shop that occupied the lot, its tall walls and vaulted ceilings provide plenty of space to showcase the couple’s photography collection and custom Jeff Jones tobacco stick chandelier (“We literally built this room around that fixture,” says Keenan, only half-jokingly.)
A small nook in the far corner holds a Hostetler Custom Cabinetry crafted desk and two Design Within Reach chairs for schoolwork, illuminated by a South of Market pendant light
Teen Scene: Stone and leather (in the form of a terrazzo coffee table from Anthropologie and sofa from West Elm) are durable yet great-looking choices for the garage-turned-kids’ hang space.
Throw in some bespoke Dear Keaton lights made from African baskets and a stylized photo of LL Cool J from Heart of Gold Gallery, and it’s the coolest room on the block.
Just outside, a surfboard rack and outdoor shower make it a practical drop zone, too.
How forced downtime prompted her to rediscover her own home
