Lake Fong, Post-Gazette In the family room of a Fox Chapel house, designer Kathleen Clements placed two Ralph Lauren sofas, an antique Oriental table and two Victorian-period wing chairs. Click photo for larger image.

Balance is a beautiful thing. Seeing it in nature is proof of a higher power, but finding it in the home is evidence of great interior design. The comfortable coupling of gloss and matte, old and new, stylish and staid can be an Olympian feat for the uninitiated. Guiding the willing to a more perfect union of decorative livability is interior designer Kathleen Clements.

Clements, who has offices in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and Pittsburgh, has been featured in major shelter magazines. Her work is distinctive in that it never looks done.

"I'd say 99 percent of the time my clients like more, and I like less," says Clements. "I am very much a minimalist. I've had to be."

As she describes it, her vagabond lifestyle curtailed any inclination to collect: "With my husband's profession we can't afford to collect things that aren't important."

Lake Fong, Post-Gazette The 11-foot antique table in the dining room was found during a trip to Chicago. The client wanted that particular style, and the rest of the room was designed around it. Click photo for larger image.

Tom Clements, former quarterbacks coach for the Steelers, is now offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. But his wife still comes regularly to Pittsburgh to see friends and family -- and to work, of course. Two years ago, her first job in Pittsburgh was a house in Fox Chapel. The owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, was introduced to Clements through a mutual friend.

"Truthfully, one of the requirements was that the palette and design be calm," says the owner. "We have enough chaos with four boys."

With that directive, Clements chose Benjamin Moore's Grant Beige as base for the cottage-style home.

"What Kathy likes to do is lighten and darken the same color," says designer Anthony Lamb, who teamed up with Clements when she came to Pittsburgh.

He was indispensable as a source for resources, Clements says. With his input and that of the house's owner, she created a family friendly environment that looks as fresh today as it did when it was first completed.

"The color palette and all the textures make it easy to live with and sophisticated," says Lamb.

In addition to lightening and darkening her base shade, Clements used matte and gloss finishes throughout the rooms. She first used the technique in her shop, Sister Agnes in New Orleans.

"I decided to make all the walls glossy to highlight the furniture. I loved it so much; everything that went in there looked spectacular," she says.

In the Fox Chapel home, Clements had the walls painted in an eggshell finish and the ceilings in a darker semi-gloss. While painters may balk at the suggestion, she says it's worth insisting.

"It's so conducive to reflecting light and holds up so much better than flat paint, which shows every mark and tends to go flatter over time," she says.

To show off the ceilings, she used recessed lighting in most of the rooms, supplemented by a spare iron chandelier by Studio Steel in the family room and Holly Hunt box-shaped lanterns in the hall leading to the dining room.

Contrary to what most novice decorators think, a darker shade on a ceiling doesn't close a room in; it gives the space a cozy ambience that tends to balance the less-is-more decorating style.

"It's more inviting and rooms look much richer when it's not all exactly the same color or finish."

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette A trestle table, also found in Chicago, is used as a desk in the office. Click photo for larger image.

Clements had the wide-plank maple floors stained dark on site rather than prefinished in the factory.

"All the craftsmen thought she was crazy," remembers Lamb.

Doing them on site meant the floors had a less uniform color, exactly the effect Clements was looking for.

"It gives it the feel of something that's been there a long time," she says.

But it takes more than floorboards to give a house a sense of history. That comes from the home's architecture and carefully selected furnishings. Collected from shopping trips to Paris, Atlanta, New York and Chicago, the furnishings are a mix of antiques, contemporary and period pieces. Clements accompanied the lady of the house as they searched the shops and flea markets, looking for things that felt right.

"It starts out as a general idea," says Clements. "Part of it is a getting-to-know-you process with the client."

She also sees the trips as a way of developing a style.

"Putting yourself out there and going out of town, doing an exhaustive search for just the right thing, really helps define the look."

The antique dining room table is a great example of that; it determined how that room would evolve. They came across the table in Chicago (along with the trestle table used as a desk in the office).

"It was actually what the client had in her mind," Clements remembers. "She wanted a long, old table and everything went from there."

Once the 11-foot piece was in place, there wasn't room for any other large furniture. So a server was constructed between two columns that separate the dining area from the hall. Six of the eight dining room chairs came from an antiques shop in Houston; the two others were reproduced to match in New Orleans; then all were covered in a Ralph Lauren raffia fabric. The room, like the rest of the house, was allowed to evolve without a strict blueprint.

Clements admits that basing a room's design on one piece can be risky.

"Sometimes people get hung up on one piece of furniture and an entire room must be built around it. It's really common that by the time the room is done, they are over the piece."

So Clements usually advises her clients to think of each room as a blank canvas.

"It depends on the person's willingness to let go. I would rather limit myself to some really important pieces. I think a house is a prettier, more inviting place when it's less cluttered."

Though each room had a different beginning, they all avoided being overcrowded with knickknacks. In the sunken family room off the kitchen, two Ralph Lauren sofas are separated by an antique Oriental table from Weisshouse. The two Victorian period wing chairs in front of the fireplace nearly had to be wrestled away from other potential buyers in a shop in New York City.

"We just happened into this store and as soon as we saw those chairs we both knew they were perfect," Clements recalls. "But while we were walking around, some other decorators started sitting in them and taking an interest," prompting Clements and her client to find the shop's owner and commit so he could shoo away the competition.

Bargaining was more the modus operandi in the Paris flea market where they picked up the pair of clear glass floor lamps for the office/den.

"They almost have a contemporary feel to them," says Clements, who encourages her clients to mix things up. "I think a fabulous house is all about the combination of looks."

She believes infusing traditional with deco or Swedish or French prevents a room from looking too studied.

"When you pair a corduroy sofa and a French lambskin sofa in the living room with a mirror that was once a manhole cover over the fireplace, you are creating a home that can be lived in," says Lamb.

Lamb, who's also a designer for Weisshouse, also appreciates Clements' use of subtle textures to create interest, like the sisal runner trimmed with a moss green suede that goes up the steps in the front hall.

The bookcase in the living room was a Chicago find. The antique dealer loved it so much that he delivered it personally.

"It's 19th century and fit the wall so perfectly," says Clements.

"We had actually considered doing built-ins there before they found it," says Lamb.

In the office, a unique style of built-in cabinetry by Paul Shea hides all the work space. Made to look like part of a plain paneled wall, the cabinets open up on either side of the fireplace to reveal computer and storage space. Under the window seat, similar panels hide file drawers.

"I spend all my time in the garden, which is why I'm so happy the inside is so easy to maintain," says the house's owner.

Her bird nest collection and fresh cut flowers add an organic element.

"When the client is involved this way, the overall result is less decorated. It becomes more about the personality of the owners," says Clements, who is working on two homes in Sewickley, a place in Manhattan for a Broadway producer and a residence in Malibu, Calif.

In the end, she says, it's things you like and want to live with -- not things a decorator decided would focus a certain room -- that breathe life into a home.

For more information on designer Kathleen Clements, go to www.kathleenclementsdesign.com or call 412-877-3641.