Yesterday, you learned about Mrs. Nancy Pyne, the doyenne of Far Hills who helped to resuscitate Schumacher’s Hollyhock Chintz. In the post, I mentioned that Mrs. Pyne had left her beloved Cherryfields (pictured above) for greener, rather smaller, pastures. In that mention, I referenced the fact that Mrs. Pyne had actually traded houses with John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross of the eponymous home ware line, Dransfield & Ross. Above and below are photos of  the living room of Cherryfields during Mrs. Pyne’s tenure, under the direction of Mr. Albert Hadley.

I love the look of this classic Parish Hadley room … notice the overabundance of Hollyhock Chintz. For a rather traditional room, I find it quite strange, albeit quite fabulous, that Mr. Hadley declined the use of a rug. How straightforward, how simplistic, how modern, how Hadley.

And here we have the redesign by Dransfield & Ross. Apparently, they wanted to keep the drapes that had been chosen by Mr. Hadley, but when they took them down to have them restored, they had a visit from Mrs. Pyne who declared that she would never speak to them again if they put the drapes back up. As a result, in deference to Mrs. Pyne, the windows remain naked. Interestingly, Dransfield & Ross have kept the floor naked as well, not too dissimilar to the decor during Hadley’s reign. On one hand, this living room is much more colorful today, in the way that Dransfield & Ross have designed it. Note the peonies on the mantel and on the center table. However, as shown above, the room during Mrs. Pyne’s residence was quite colorful itself, with the Hollyhock Chintz, yellow brocade upholstery on the sofas and chairs, family portrait above the mantel, and the overabundance of fresh floral arrangements.

So what do you prefer? Do you recognize the modernity in Mr. Hadley’s 1962 design? Or do you prefer the overtly simplistic re-design as done by Dransfield & Ross?  Despite my deceptively negative undertone, I adore the Dransfield & Ross redesign, however, I can’t ignore the modernity of the 1962 Hadley design. As undecided as it may seem, I appreciate and love each design equally, as they are at once so completely different and yet so inherently similar. Both are evenly featured in both my inspiration folders and my Pinterest boards. But do you have an opinion? If you do, we would love to hear it.

 Photos courtesy of House Beautiful & Elle Decor