Q&A: Designing a home when design is your life

Pum Lefebure, the co-founder and chief creative officer of the Washington graphic design and branding agency Design Army, joined staff writer Jura Koncius last week on The Washington Post's Home Front online chat. Koncius had reported on Lefebure's black-and-white themed home. Here is an edited excerpt.

Q: How do you keep your white sofas clean with a dog?

A: If you have a dog, nothing is ever clean! Luna does not get on the white couch very often, she's mainly in the basement with [husband] Jake. But to cut back on a fur overload I suggest you get some nice throws that are the same color to cover your couch; this way you keep the design intent and your couch clean.

Q: Do you design your home with your favorite color? How did you do it? 

A: I like colors, but I love shades of white. I'm in a graphic design business and I work with color and patterns all day long. So when I get home I need to cleanse my palette. Coming home to a calm, white space and waking up to a clean slate is very important to me. We used Benjamin Moore's Bonifant White DC-03 throughout the house. It has a good balance for direct sun or shade.

Q: Did you find it hard to stick to black and white? I notice you do have a lot of color in your artworks. Do you find it limiting? 

A: I love a limited color palette. It's more constrained, but also more powerful. I like my entire house to read as one large space. The house feels much bigger because it is not being divided up by different colors or themed rooms. As you move from floor to floor there is continuity with each room you enter. White is also a nice foundation to let all my art shine (a museum approach). By sticking to black and white, it gives me an opportunity to play with the tone, shade, texture and then add a pop of color to stand out — and draw you in.

Q: Do you keep to black and white in your table settings?

A: Most of the time, we do use white plates and let the color of the food shine. For place mats, we use cream. I love a white and cream combination. And, of course, we have black utensils. We like to have a strict color diet. 

However, the dinner table is also where we play with color and texture. For a Thanksgiving dinner or summer party, I always use very colorful porcelain from Florence. They all are different colors and feel more festive during the holiday.

Q: Black floors are beautiful, but are they difficult to take care of? Do your dog's nails scratch them?

A: We went with black floors knowing they would scratch and wear over time, but it's more cost-effective to repaint them versus refinish and we do not wear shoes in the house, so they stay fairly clean (except for dog hair, but everyone has that problem)!

Q: How did you get the nice black gloss on your floors? 

A: The key to a deep black is to stain them first, install, then stain them again and seal it with gloss. It holds up really well and when you do get a scratch the deep stained wood does not show "scratch" lines.

Q: Do you have a mentor? If so, how did that relationship begin and what value does it bring to your career? 

A: Yes, I do have design/advertising mentors. I think it's important to keep learning and not to be afraid to ask advice from someone you respect. A good mentor can point and connect you to the right person, direction or solution. Building an authentic relationship with a mentor is invaluable.

On the flip side, I know that I also serve as a mentor to other creatives. I've realized long ago that mentorship is never a completely one-sided. When you mentor someone, you learn so much about their point of view. You can gain so much by giving.

Q: Do you design your home with design or art? If so, how do you place them?

A: I collect art; a lot of art and all types. I have a collection of 19th-century portrait paintings and still life that I get from Paris flea markets every year. They usually are set with gold frame but I take them out of it, as I prefer to see the sides of the raw canvas (it's more natural and of the moment.) 

For the formal areas of the house, we frame them by simply placing the painting in the middle of a matte board. The frame is always white and modern to offset the old.

In my loft office, I curate the paintings on my bulletin board wall and will move them around every so often, depending on what I'm working on at the time.

Q: How do you and Jake choose your art? Do you have the same style?

A: I'm in charge of buying art. There can only be one curator in the house. Luckily, we do have a similar taste and style so he usually likes what I buy. The life of a design-duo.

Q: What was your experience when you and Jake gutted your home and custom-built from the ground up? How long was the process and were you living elsewhere or on the property during that time?

A: The process was very long — around 10 years long — but there were many factors that were the cause. You have to be careful to keep your foundation intact so you are not classified as new construction because then you have new building codes, setbacks, etc. 

I also advise not to live in the house as you are building it. We had a second house that we lived in during the long build. And it goes without saying get a great architect and builder on board who can work together; we got lucky with that.

Q: I have a very small home. I know design is a constant process, but if I bring in something new, I need to get rid of something already there. But what if I still like it? Do you keep stuff in storage, rotate things in and out of view, or just replace things permanently when new things come in?

A: We rarely toss out items. At one point we had three storage units and then Jake found a large space to rent; we keep all our extra items in his workshop. Lots of the items we do not use will get used in our photo shoot — like tables, chairs, mirrors, lighting, etc. 

Q: Where is your laundry room located? It looks like a lot of stairs.

A: Jake made sure we had a laundry chute. It's a very '70s idea but super functional in a house with many levels. We can easily gather and toss items down to the basement laundry room. 

Q: All of my adult life, I've followed my mother's example and lined my kitchen cabinets and drawers with shelf liner. It's a chore and I can no longer find the tacky (not sticky) liner. Is liner really necessary?

A: Not sure shelf liner is a must-have item these days, but I know that Jake likes the rubber-based liners that can be washed easily and keeps your glassware from scuffing the insides of the drawers.

Q: My rental in Brooklyn, New York, has very dark and outdated cabinets and tiling in the kitchen. I prefer a lighter, more modern feel in the kitchen. Do you have any easy and affordable tips on how to fix this?

A: Try hanging a bright and light abstract painting on the wall if you can't do much with the actual cabinets. You can remove the cabinet doors to make it feel more open-shelf in style. Use all-white plates, if you do. For the floors, try a rug to cover up the tile and bring in a lighter color to the space. Also, unify the palette in the space. Keep it to one color, but play with texture, shape and form of the plates.