The teal blue kitchen island is topped by rare, deeply veined azure quartzite. Oversized bamboo lanterns help create the illusion of high ceilings.
The kitchen's white cabinets, quartzite counters and porcelain-tile floors set the background for the teal-blue island and bright floral fabric on the counter chairs.
A fluted brass-finished wrought iron light fixture adds origami-like textures in a sitting room.
Hopkins Brown combines a mix of patterns in pillows and draperies, along with a vivid-colored center ottoman in a sitting room.
A wall of windows in the kitchen brings in the sunlight, and the lush greenery of the backyard sets the tone for the vibrant florals inside.
Kelly Hopkins Brown uses a mix of Palm Beach style and traditional elements in her Old Metairie home.
The neutral hues of the family room get some pizzazz from a colorful variety of pillow fabrics and artwork.
Wallpaper with a large floral pattern is center stage in the dining room, where walls, china cabinet and draperies stick to white.
Wallpaper with a large floral pattern is center stage in the dining room, where walls, china cabinet and draperies stick to white.
The neutral hues of the family room get some pizzazz from a colorful variety of pillow fabrics and artwork.
A small sitting area in the foyer has a splash of color, but makes good use of texture and sheen.
Outside seating makes the verdant yard a perfect spot for relaxing.
Life-size peacocks strut across the colorful walls of an upstairs bath.
In an upstairs bath, trestle-patterned blue cabinetry and green-and-white wallpaper are paired with a royal blue-and-white hexagon tile floor to heighten the effect of the graphic walls.
An origami-like light fixture is a standout in the family room.
Vivid floral upholstery fits right in with the view of the yard through a wall of windows in the kitchen.
The exterior of Kelly Hopkins Brown and Greg Brown's home in Old Metairie was painted white from the previous green.
Outside seating makes the verdant yard a perfect spot for relaxing.
The teal blue kitchen island is topped by rare, deeply veined azure quartzite. Oversized bamboo lanterns help create the illusion of high ceilings.
Hopkins Brown combines a mix of patterns in pillows and draperies, along with a vivid-colored center ottoman in a sitting room.
The neutral hues of the family room get some pizzazz from a colorful variety of pillow fabrics and artwork.
Wallpaper with a large floral pattern is center stage in the dining room, where walls, china cabinet and draperies stick to white.
The neutral hues of the family room get some pizzazz from a colorful variety of pillow fabrics and artwork.
A small sitting area in the foyer has a splash of color, but makes good use of texture and sheen.
Outside seating makes the verdant yard a perfect spot for relaxing.
An origami-like light fixture is a standout in the family room.
Vivid floral upholstery fits right in with the view of the yard through a wall of windows in the kitchen.
The exterior of Kelly Hopkins Brown and Greg Brown's home in Old Metairie was painted white from the previous green.
Two years ago, when interior designer Kelly Hopkins Brown and her husband, Greg Brown, viewed the house where they now reside, it was a midcentury ranch with a green exterior, dark wood cabinets and low ceilings.
But it also had a lush backyard full of tropical plants, and Hopkins Brown saw the possibility of something entirely different — a place where she could indulge her love of color and pattern in exuberant Palm Beach-meets-Grandmillenial style.
As a college student, Hopkins Brown took design courses and owned a retail business where she gained experience in home decor, but it wasn’t until after she’d pursued several other career paths and raised a family that she was able to return to her love of design.
A fluted brass-finished wrought iron light fixture adds origami-like textures in a sitting room.
Today, she runs KHB Interiors, with an office on Metairie Road. While she’s dabbled in the mostly white interiors that many New Orleanians prefer, she says colorful interiors are her preference, and in the past four years, she has embraced her passion for bright, cheerful palettes.
Her own home draws heavily on the traditional elements typically found in Palm Beach cottages and villas. There are vivid corals, greens, pinks and blues; bamboo and vintage furniture; floral, palm, leaf and trellis motifs; awning stripes; and touches of chinoiserie.
Grandmillenial describes the brightly layered, well-collected aesthetic being resurrected and given a fresh twist by millennials, now in their 20s and 30s.
Kelly Hopkins Brown uses a mix of Palm Beach style and traditional elements in her Old Metairie home.
A pendulum reaction to the minimalist monochromatic design scapes of the last several decades, it incorporates traditionalist influences — think classic wallpapers, pleated lampshades, botanicals, blue-and-white ceramics, skirted furniture, cane, wicker and Staffordshire dogs — that might have been found in their grandmothers' houses, and updates them by mixing in modern pieces.
When the Browns found their house, it met several requirements on Hopkins Brown’s wish list. It was not open concept like their previous home, which offered little privacy. With five bedrooms, the couple could each have a home office (Greg Brown is a regional insurance sales manager) and still have two guest rooms to accommodate their three sons and their spouses when visiting.
A wall of windows in the kitchen brings in the sunlight, and the lush greenery of the backyard sets the tone for the vibrant florals inside.
What really set the house apart, though, was the spacious backyard framed by waxy elephant ears, Monstera and fragrant ginger and fully visible from the kitchen’s wall of windows.
They bought the house during the first year of the pandemic, but Hopkins Brown still was able to remodel the space in three months. She renewed the kitchen with quartzite counters (white on the counters and a richly veined blue-green on the island) and large porcelain-tile floors.
Existing cabinets were painted white and the base of the island light teal to pick up the color of the quartzite top. She also added new hardware.
The kitchen's white cabinets, quartzite counters and porcelain-tile floors set the background for the teal-blue island and bright floral fabric on the counter chairs.
The view of the backyard set the tone for the exuberant floral she chose for the counter chairs, the garden-inspired rug in the breakfast area and the cabana stripe of the chairs around the table.
The view in the kitchen was such a draw that the Browns repeated the effect in the adjacent family room and sitting area. Where there was a single window, there are now three.
Hopkins Brown also carried the same color palette through to those rooms, grounding the blend of colors with white walls and upholstered seating but at the same time mixing patterns freely: chinoiserie drapery, a zebra stripe custom ottoman; and leopard, floral, abstract and chinoiserie pillows.
Wallpaper with a large floral pattern is center stage in the dining room, where walls, china cabinet and draperies stick to white.
New built-in bookshelves painted rich Dutch blue are given a glamorous finish with gold-toned Hollywood Regency hardware, a 20th-century style referenced often in the house.
Art, sconces and accessories, including a tropical throw layered atop one of the white swivel chairs and banana-leaf ceramics mounted near the television, mimic the exotic display of greenery framed by the windows.
Bold wallpapers dress the dining room and three of the newly renovated bathrooms (including one with life-size peacocks). The white of the dining room’s wainscoting, drapery and vintage china cabinet temper the impact of the large blossoms climbing the walls.
Life-size peacocks strut across the colorful walls of an upstairs bath.
But in an upstairs bath, Hopkins Brown added pattern on top of pattern, pairing a green trellis wallpaper, cabinets with a similar trellis relief, and a royal blue-and-white hexagon tile floor to heighten the effect of the graphic walls.
“The key is the patterns must be dramatically different, and it’s based on the color scheme,” said Hopkins Brown. “In that room, I use complementary colors.”
Hopkins Brown says people are often scared of committing to pattern, but wallpaper in a powder room is a great antidote.
Outside seating makes the verdant yard a perfect spot for relaxing.
“Everyone sees it ... but it’s not in their face.”
While large light fixtures might be counterintuitive for low ceilings, Hopkins Brown used them throughout the house to make the rooms seem larger.
“There is actually a way you measure for light fixtures when ceilings are lower, but I always scale up in size,” she said. “It’s an illusion, but it works.”
In an upstairs bath, trestle-patterned blue cabinetry and green-and-white wallpaper are paired with a royal blue-and-white hexagon tile floor to heighten the effect of the graphic walls.
A formal crystal chandelier hung low in the foyer, oversized bamboo lanterns above the kitchen island, and a fluted brass origami-like fixture in the sitting room punctuate the house with a modernized take on old school.
Hopkins Brown is always on the hunt for pieces from other eras to work into her décor. The dining room’s 1970s china cabinet and the living room’s cocktail table are both vintage chinoiserie finds that she repurposed with white paint. The bamboo chairs around the breakfast table are vintage as well.
Hopkins Brown knows well the impact that design can have, whatever an individual’s tastes. It can change a whole mood, attitude and mindset, she said.
“A nicely designed and beautifully decorated home or room, at a certain level, can make you happy.”
Hopkins Brown’s must-have decor picks:
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