Scarsdale, New York
Powder Room
For a delightful client with an impressive art collection from her home of South Africa, I was tasked with bringing a creative flair into the powder room in her Scarsdale home. Inspired by the earthiness and colorful flavor of the pieces in the client’s art collection, we took an unconventional approach to this space. A cool, cement tile brightens the main wall while navy floors in a woven pattern bring that artistic element and a wenge-stained shelf across the mirror functions as a place to accessorize. This shelf matches the finish of the floating sink, which has the double-win of looking very cool and of occupying just a minimal space. The client magically found the tiniest stool ever to accessorize the corner, which unfortunately the photographer did not capture.
Living Room
My clients enjoy entertaining in their home and wanted to make the living room feel more inviting while adding additional seating. Their home is a 1920s cottage in Scarsdale. During the project we renovated a bathroom, replaced all the windows, refinished the floors and painted the interior. For this room the clients asked me to bring in new elements to complement and pull together the husband’s spare modern furniture with the wife’s Victorian chairs, heirlooms passed down from her grandmother’s family. The colors and forms in the room were mostly neutral and masculine and the wife felt the effect was too cold.
For the new wing chairs we selected an updated version of a midcentury form, which appealed to the husband’s love of modernism while adding some color and femininity. We brought in a beautiful pale blue and cream carpet which made the space feel lighter, cleaner, and more stylish. These purchases added a feminine element that had been missing before. We reworked the fire place, which had received an unfortunate renovation in the past, to bring it back to a classic feel appropriate to the architecture.
This room represents a mix of the two owner’s personalities and distinct tastes. It reflects their travels and their family history. The wife is South African and the room features a large photo by the South African photographer Greg Anderson, as well as a grouping of bold African carvings (not shown). It feels good because it is bright, well organized, and has many seating choices to accommodate larger groups. My client is an extraordinarily gracious woman and I know the parties she holds here must be fun, because she is the type of person who makes a design meeting feel more like high tea at a nice hotel.
