wedish antiques are Loi
Thai’s weakness. One
sight of a piece with
classical lines, a muted
palette, and a pretty pa-
tina, and he’s in love.
Fortunately, it’s a romance that
fits beautifully into his home. For
one thing, his partner, Tom Troe-
schel, understands and approves:
The two visited Sweden 16 years
ago and were immediately smitten
with the design sensibility they
found there. For another, the cou-
ple own Tone on Tone (tone-on-tone
.com), an antiques store in Bethesda,
Maryland, that specializes in Swed-
ish pieces. (They opened it four
years after their first trip to the
country.) “We find the aesthetic
very clean, and Scandinavian an-
tiques feel current,” says Thai.
The same can be said about their
gracious home in Washington, D.C.
It’s filled with old European ele-
ments—French doors and windows,
English pottery, lots and lots of
Swedish furniture (naturally), and
a Belgian-inspired garden—but it
doesn’t come across as a stuffy les-
son in design history. Instead, it
feels contemporary and inviting,
and that’s largely due to Thai’s dis-
ciplined approach to decorating.
To achieve an airy, “almost
ethereal” vibe, Thai explains, they
gutted their 1916 house, turning a
warren-like first floor into an open,
light-flooded living space. They
laid down new whitewashed floors
that are bright “but not slick like
a bowling alley,” says Thai. They
also stuck to a soft palette of whites,
creams, beiges, and grays—with
impactful pops of green to refer-
ence the garden. “Limiting a pal-
ette can elevate your décor,” says
Thai, “and give your home a point
of view.” And what an inspired
view theirs has. —Fan WinstonADD AN ACCENT COLOR
Thai layered in bursts of
green. “It’s my favorite
color,” he says. “Plus, Swed-
ish furniture tends to in-
corporate shades of green,”
as with this antique secre-tary, which has its original
paint—kelly green on the
inside and olive on the
outside. A collection of 19th-
century Swedish water
carafes rests on top. Oppo-
site: The kitchen cabinets
were painted a light gray,02
LESSON NO.
s
which subtly offsets
the white Carrara-marble
countertops, cut extra-
thick in the European style.
Two vintage green General
Electric pendant lights
visually anchor the island.84