THE INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AUTHORITY JULY/AUGUST 2022

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 CONTENTS july/august

64
THE INVITING
LIVING ROOM OF
FASHION DESIGNER
ULLA JOHNSON’S
MONTAUK GETAWAY.

74
30 Editor’s Letter
32 Object Lesson A DRAMATIC BLACK
The mysterious history of the Adirondack POWDER ROOM IN
chair. BY HANNAH MARTIN A LOS ANGELES HOME
WITH INTERIORS BY
JAMIE BUSH.
37 Discoveries
AD visits celebrity fashion stylist Kate Young
in Woodstock, New York... Designer Germane
Barnes explores history at the American
Academy in Rome... The best outdoor sofas...
Montana-based ceramic artist Casey
Zablocki’s latest creations... And more!

54 New American Voices

FROM TOP: PERNILLE LOOF, STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON

Today’s rising stars of interior design.

64 Calm and Collected

At fashion designer Ulla Johnson’s eclectic
Montauk retreat, nature sets the tone.
BY HANNAH MARTIN

74 Wild Card
Interior designer Jamie Bush and architect
William Hefner reimagine a 1960s Los
Angeles home for a client with a dazzlingly
eccentric point of view. BY MAYER RUS

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 CONTENTS july/august
112
THE UPSTATE NEW YORK
RETREAT OF DESIGNER
NICK OLSEN.

102
A PALM BEACH
RESIDENCE DECORATED
BY FRANK DE BIASI.

86 Picture Perfect
For artist Vaughn Spann and his family,
home is an art-filled midcentury house
in New Jersey. BY GAY GASSMANN

92 Happy Ending
Having undergone a refresh at the hands
of Mark D. Sikes, the longtime L.A. home of
beloved filmmaker Nancy Meyers is ready
for its close-up. BY CATHERINE HONG
FOLLOW @ARCHDIGEST
102 A New Leaf
Designer Frank de Biasi updates a grand

FROM LEFT: MAX BURKHALTER, KRIS TAMBURELLO

Palm Beach manse. BY MITCHELL OWENS
SUBSCRIPTIONS GO TO
ARCHDIGEST.COM,
CALL 800-365-8032, OR 112 American Spirit
EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS@ Nick Olsen’s farmhouse in Dutchess County,
ARCHDIGEST.COM.
DIGITAL EDITION DOWNLOAD
New York, possesses all the optimism of
AT ARCHDIGEST.COM/APP. the young republic—plus some revolutionary
MARY KITCHEN’S THREE DAUGHTERS,
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP WEARING MINNOW SWIMSUITS, CELINE detours. BY MITCHELL OWENS
FOR AD’S DAILY NEWSLETTER, SUNGLASSES, AND VINTAGE SWIM CAPS,
AT ARCHDIGEST.COM/ BY THE POOL OF THEIR L.A. HOME.
NEWSLETTER. “WILD CARD,” PAGE 74. PHOTOGRAPHY 120 One to Watch
COMMENTS CONTACT US BY STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON. STYLED
VIA SOCIAL MEDIA OR EMAIL BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS. FASHION
Landscape designer Sarita Jaccard.
[email protected]. STYLING BY DENA GIANNINI. BY HANNAH MARTIN

ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST AND AD ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF ADVANCE MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS INC. COPYRIGHT © 2022 CONDÉ NAST. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 79, NO. 7. ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST (ISSN 0003-8520) is
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18 AR CHDI GE ST.COM
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JOHNSON ESCHEWS STANDARD
SEATING IN FAVOR OF FLOOR
CUSHIONS UPHOLSTERED IN GRAPHIC
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LAY DOWN ROOTS

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BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

FACT: ROOFTOPS GET WINDY.
CHOOSE SECURE SEAT CUSHIONS LIKE
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DESIGN INSPIRATION FROM THE ISSUE

The View From Up Here

Indoors and out, the Montauk home of fashion designer
Ulla Johnson is pure summer bliss (page 64). But the crowning LIGHT IT UP
achievement might just be the roof deck, a casual but functional THE BEST SUMMER DINNER PARTIES
PERNILLE LOOF

space to gather for morning coffee, alfresco meals, and LAST WELL PAST MAGIC HOUR. KEEP
CONVERSATION AGLOW WITH PORTABLE
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 ANNUAL PRICE REDUCTIONS
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LG SIGNATURE Brand Ambassador, Olivia Palermo
 editor’s letter 1. ULLA JOHNSON
POOLSIDE WITH HER
HUSBAND AND CHILDREN
IN MONTAUK. 2. ARTIST
VAUGHN SPANN AND
FAMILY IN NEW JERSEY.
3. A GRAND PALM BEACH
STAIRCASE. 4. FILMMAKER
NANCY MEYERS TIDIES
HER L.A. LAWN. 5. MARY
KITCHEN MATCHES HER
COUTURE TO HER KIDS
AND HER CURTAINS.
6. DESIGNER NICK OLSEN’S
CHARMING UPSTATE NEW
YORK RETREAT.
2
3

1 4
5

“I wasn’t looking for a cool midcentury house in the

Hollywood Hills, with exquisitely tasteful interiors.
I didn’t want a house that looks like everyone else’s.”
—Mary Kitchen
Summer and escapist houses just go hand in hand, and no matter your personal

1. PERNILLE LOOF. 2. MAX BURKHALTER, © 2022 KENNY SCHARF / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK.
vision of warm-weather nirvana, this issue of AD does not disappoint. Take our
cover story, an extravagantly reimagined 1960s residence that interior designer
Jamie Bush calls “a glamorous throwback fantasy” and West Coast editor Mayer Rus

3. AMY NEUNSINGER. 4. KRIS TAMBURELLO. 5. STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON. 6. MAX BURKHALTER.

memorably describes as “a blockbuster vision of Los Angeles swank—a fearless
pasticcio of Hollywood Regency, Art Deco, Palm Springs camp, tropical modern,
granny chic, and a dash of Morris Lapidus–style Miami Beach cha-cha.” Bingo!
Says homeowner Mary Kitchen simply, “I just love that it feels fun to me.”
Fashion designer Ulla Johnson is a master of laid-back but luxe bohemianism, and
her idyllic Montauk retreat is a perfect expression of her well-honed aesthetic. Clean-
lined and minimal yet layered and earthy, the modern house boasts a lush garden,
6
ocean and bay views, and the tempting pool shown above. The house sleeps 20, and
when all the bunks are full, “it means we’re having fun,” says Johnson’s husband,
Zach Miner. “Friends are here. Family is here. And that’s what the house is for.”
Speaking of fun, I thoroughly enjoyed writer Catherine Hong’s delightful story
about the beloved filmmaker and creative powerhouse Nancy Meyers and her
breakup/makeup with her Provençal-style house in L.A. Meyers’s influential sets are
nearly as celebrated as her many hit movies—consider the elegantly rustic kitchen
of It’s Complicated and the inviting living room in Something’s Gotta Give—and
it’s no surprise that Meyers brings her exacting eye to her personal spaces as well.
“Characters’ homes convey so much
about the people who live there,” she
AMY ASTLEY
observes. The same can be said of Global Editorial Director
her and all of the fascinating players and Editor in Chief, AD U.S.
in our summer 2022 production. @amyastley

30 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
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 object lesson THE STORY BEHIND AN ICONIC DESIGN

1 2

On Deck
3

The mysterious history of

America’s favorite outdoor chair

T
he provenance of the Adirondack chair—that sensible, slat-
backed porch staple—is murky at best. Historians aren’t even
certain it originated in its eponymous range of New York
mountains. Pressed to pin down a pedigree, most point to a
close cousin—the Westport chair—as its likely predecessor.
Around 1900, on the banks of New York’s Lake Champlain,
a man named Thomas Lee tinkered with some seating for his summer
cottage. “I can vaguely recall Uncle Tom’s nailing boards together [into a

1. SIMON UPTON. 2. NOE DEWITT. 3. STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON. 4. COURTESY OF DWR. 5. MATTHEW WILLIAMS.
1. ADIRONDACK CHAIRS AT AN
ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE BY
INTERIOR DESIGNER JOY MOYLER.
2. AN ADIRONDACKS PROPERTY
BY MILES REDD. 3. A HAMPTONS
HOME DECORATED BY NEAL
BECKSTEDT. 4. A PLASTIC VERSION Perhaps locals saw that chair, liked it, and
BY LOLL DESIGNS (DWR.COM). attempted to make their own. The slatted construc-
5. BILL CALEO AND MEGAN NOETZEL
LeFAUVE’S CATSKILLS HOME. tion of the Adirondack suggests they were made by
hobbyists working with scraps. Either way, by World
5

4 created a steady market for the seats, in which they

could rest in the mountain air.
Over the century Adirondack chairs became the

of materials from teak or pine to recycled plastic, like the one shown by Loll
Designs. “It takes a certain kind of house,” explains interior designer Miles
Redd. “Shingle, clapboard, stone—you need a traditional vernacular.” Neal
Beckstedt, who recently placed two by a Hamptons pool, gushes, “It’s the
perfect deep pitch that requires no cushion—a classic.” —HANNAH MARTIN
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 DISCOVERIES
THE BEST IN SHOPPING, DESIGN, AND STYLE EDITED BY SAM COCHRAN

KATE YOUNG WITH

HUSBAND KEITH
ABRAHAMSSON AND SONS
LEIF (LEFT) AND STELLAN
IN THEIR UPSTATE NEW
YORK KITCHEN, WHERE
OPEN CABINETRY DISPLAYS
VINTAGE ELSA PERETTI
FOR TIFFANY & CO. PIECES,
AMONG OTHER TREASURES.

AD VISITS

Weekend Attire
Renovating a Bauhaus-inflected house
for her family, celebrity stylist Kate Young
pivots nimbly from fashion to furniture
P HOTOGRAPHY BY WI L LIA M GEDDES STY LED BY C HRISTINA LA NE ARCHDIGEST. COM 37
© 2022 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. The Sotheby’s International Realty trademark is licensed and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International
Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. The Sotheby’s International Realty network fully supports
the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. All offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice.
 GREECE
IONIAN ISLANDS
Seeing is can’t
believe-ing.

Nothing Compares.
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S O T H E B YS R E A LT Y.C O M
 DISCOVERIES

1. MARIO BELLINI FOR B&B ITALIA SOFAS, ISAMU NOGUCHI CEILING LIGHTS, AND A CHARLOTTE PERRIAND DINING TABLE
IN THE LIVING ROOM. 2. THE STAIR’S BLUE-PAINTED BANISTER; EERO SAARINEN LOUNGE CHAIR.

I
2

get very mood-board-y,” muses fashion stylist Kate

Young, reflecting on her approach to designing her own
homes. The same, she explains, is true when it comes
to devising red-carpet ensembles for the likes of
Jennifer Lawrence, Selena Gomez, and Dakota Johnson.
“I like to study, pick pieces, and mix it all together.”
So one might say that her own personal Oscars has been
the circa 1945 Bauhaus-style house in Woodstock, New York,
that she shares with her husband, record executive Keith
Abrahamsson, and their two sons, Stellan and Leif. Armed with
modernist William Muschenheim’s original plans (sleuthed
from Columbia University’s Avery library) and aided by their
architect friend Graydon Yearick, the couple set out to revive
the spirit of the home, executing a near gut renovation after
purchasing it three years ago. “A lot was replaced to look like
the original,” Young says, alluding to new light boxes and stealth
built-ins. “Everything really was made for living and ease.”
Strategic additions paved the way for the couple’s en suite
bath, a roof terrace, and a larger kitchen that nods to Richard
Neutra’s VDL House. Open birch shelving displays Young’s
pottery collection, which includes terra-cotta vessels by Elsa
Peretti for Tiffany & Co., angular Vallauris plates, and a selec-
tion of her own work (thrown at the nearby Byrdcliffe Arts
Colony). “I’m prolific—I make so many ugly things,” Young
demurs of the family’s daily wares.

40 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
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 DISCOVERIES 1

1. IN THE COUPLE’S ROOM, A GEORGE

NELSON BED FROM DESIGN WITHIN
REACH DRESSED IN LITHUANIAN LINENS.
2. THE KIDS’ OEUF BUNK BED AND A
VINTAGE KIM MOLTZER CHAIR. 3. A HANS
WEGNER CHAIR IN THE FAMILY ROOM.

like Mario Bellini sofas and a round

pine dining table designed by Charlotte
Perriand for the French ski resort Les
Arcs. The vibe in mind, Young says, was
“utilitarian, family-friendly, high design.”
Her family of four, plus Nagini—
the Siamese cat, named for Voldemort’s
snake—typically drive upstate from their
Brooklyn home after school. Weekends
are spent with friends hiking the Comeau
Property trail or skiing Hunter Mountain.
At home, Abrahamsson often returns
3
from walks with a garbage bag full of
moss, which he uses to fashion quilt-like,
A vacation to the Côte d’Azur, where the family stayed Japanese-style gardens all over the 15-acre grounds. Stellan,
at Hôtel Les Roches Rouges and visited Eileen Gray’s E-1027 meanwhile, has become quite the budding mycologist, forag-
house, crystallized the prevailing decorative sensibility. “I ing for the black trumpets and chanterelles that Young then
wanted everything to feel light, well designed, and warm,” prepares with tagliatelle, butter, and wine. (“It’s epic,” she says
Young says, describing the mental tableau she collaged during of their pasta dinners.) Outdoor cooking is Abrahamsson’s
the trip. Shocks of color in the spirit of the French Riviera now domain. Using their Francis Mallmann–inspired firepit and
appear in the form of a school-bus-yellow faucet, a cobalt rail- homemade rotisserie, he’ll roast whole pigs or chickens for
ing, and the tomato-red outdoor spiral staircase that leads to up to 20 friends—supplemented by Young’s prodigious crop
the roof. (That ascent echoes one at the former Massachusetts of organic vegetables.
home of Walter Gropius, who served as an enduring influence “I always thought I’d live in a glass house with just slabs
for Muschenheim.) Textiles throughout the house tend toward of concrete. That’s my fantasy, but in fact I’m a cozier, messier
sturdy Baltic linens, some inherited from her Lithuanian person,” admits Young. “And Keith likes everything to be
father, others gleaned on Etsy. “Fashion is my job, so for fun I wood—he would live in a tree house if he had his way. So this
shop for furniture,” says Young, pointing out early purchases is the merging of that.” —CHLOE MALLE

42 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
 E L I Z A B E T H H A R R O D , S O L O I S T, T H E R O Y A L B A L L E T

savoirbeds.com
 DISCOVERIES

ARCHITECTURE

Alternative History
From contemporary Miami
to ancient Rome, Germane
Barnes mines the nexus of race
and design

A
t the American Academy in Rome, a Baroque
villa atop the Eternal City’s second-highest
hill, the recipients of the annual Rome Prize
gather five days a week for lunch at 1 p.m.
After loading their plates at the buffet, these
30 or so scholars and creatives in residence
1. VALENTINA SOMMARIVA. 2. MARK ANTHONY WAITE.

sit at tables that run the length of the courtyard’s loggia. That
community and diversity of expertise is, according to current
architecture fellow Germane Barnes, “one of the cool things
about being at the academy.” While breaking bread, he muses,
you could ask any question aloud, like What were the racial
dynamics of ancient Rome? “And an archaeologist might chime
in.” (The answer? It was complicated.)
In his own work, Barnes, founder of the Miami-based 2
Studio Barnes and assistant professor at the University
of Miami, explores the ways that race and architecture are 1. GERMANE BARNES OUTSIDE THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN
ROME. 2. BLOCK PARTY, AN INSTALLATION BY STUDIO BARNES
intertwined. His project during his half-year residency in IN COLLABORATION WITH SHAWHIN ROUDBARI AND MAS
Rome focuses on the classical orders of the columns—Doric, CONTEXT FOR THE 2021 CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL.

44 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
 DISCOVERIES

1 2 3

1. A RENDERING OF A DETAIL OF A FORTHCOMING TAPESTRY FOR BARNES’S SHOW AT NINA JOHNSON GALLERY (NINAJOHNSON.COM).
2–3. A SPECTRUM OF BLACKNESS: THE SEARCH FOR SEDIMENTATION IN MIAMI, PART OF MOMA’S 2021 “RECONSTRUCTIONS” EXHIBITION.
4. A CHAIR FROM STUDIO BARNES’S 2020 “UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS A CROWN” SERIES.

Ionic, Corinthian—that uphold the portico, antiquity’s His piece in Chicago, meanwhile, was an homage to the block
precursor to the porch, an essential element of the modern party. As he wrote: “The block party does not obey traffic
Black American household. His goal is to design a new order regulations, it does not obey permit jurisdiction, and it most
(or “column disorder”) that abandons European standards certainly does not obey traditional urban principles.”
in favor of forms and proportions rooted in Black culture. His In 2021, Barnes also won Harvard’s Wheelwright Prize,
research mines the lesser-known contributions of North the Architectural League Prize, and an inaugural grant from

so I can break them.”

1 & 4. COURTESY OF NINA JOHNSON GALLERY. 2 & 3. NAHO KUBOTA/MOMA.

at New York City’s Museum of

—JANELLE ZARA

46 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
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CasaBellaResidences.com Artist’s Conceptual Rendering

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MAKE REFERENCE TO THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED BY SECTION 718.503, FLORIDA STATUTES, TO BE FURNISHED BY A DEVELOPER TO A BUYER OR LESSEE.
1400 Biscayne Condominium (the “Condominium”) is developed by PRH 1400 BISCAYNE 1, LLC (“Developer”) and you should consult only the Developer’s Prospectus for the
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48 ARCHDI GE ST.COM PRODUCE D BY MA DELINE O’MAL LEY

 DISCOVERIES

CASEY ZABLOCKI WITH HIS DOG, INGRID, IN HIS

MISSOULA, MONTANA, STUDIO.

ARTISAN

Turning Up the Heat he could achieve using

Montana-based ceramic artist Casey Zablocki the age-old method.

fires up his most ambitious work yet After apprenticing for

masters like Hun Chung
Lee in South Korea,

C
the Michigan-born
asey Zablocki is sleep-deprived. It’s mid-April; talent found himself at the Clay Studio of Missoula, where he
his ceramics studio has been running 24 hours still rents a cave-like anagama kiln. “I don’t use any glaze,”
a day for the past week; and he’s working the he explains. “It’s all wood ash from the fire being pulled through
night shift, firing the wood-burning kiln from the kiln, landing on my work, and melting at a high, high heat.”
midnight to six in the morning. “It’s a physical Temperatures regularly reach up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
and mental marathon, like running up a moun- His latest creations—his most ambitious yet—are big. Fired
tain,” Zablocki says by Zoom. After the call he’ll doze a little, in two parts, one piece stands nearly nine feet tall and weighs
chop more wood, and do it all over again. roughly 1,200 pounds. (Zablocki wants to go bigger, but he’d
This is how the artist works. Due to the risk of forest fires need a new kiln for that.) Over the course of a year, he’ll go
in his home base of Missoula, Montana, he limits himself to just through some five tons of clay, sculpting chairs, benches, tables,
two main batches a year, once in April and again in December. and nonfunctional artworks in an intuitive, almost spiritual
At the time of our conversation there was even more heat as process. “There has to be some kind of energy transfer between
KAYLA MCCORMICK

he prepared for his September solo show at New York’s Guild the kiln and me,” Zablocki reflects. “I have to read what’s
Gallery, the fine-art extension of Roman and Williams Guild. going on—the color of the flame, the smell of the atmosphere,
Zablocki fell in love with wood-fired pottery as an undergrad, the sound of the wood burning. These all tell me different
attracted to the richly textured, at times crystallized surfaces things.” rwguildgalleryny.com —HANNAH MARTIN

50 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
Behold!
The sheer beauty
of soft blinds.
Graber Sheer Shades function like blinds, but feel like soft, fabric
shades for incomparable design and sophisticated light control.
 DISCOVERIES 1

DEBUT

Ciao, Bella 4

1–4. ETNA SETTEE,

MARELLA CEILING LIGHT,
BUILDING BLOCKS SOFA,
AND SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
COCKTAIL TABLE, ALL FROM
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BY ROBERT McKINLEY.
and armrests. Occasional tables are similarly clever, combining fragments of richly veined marble
with timber columns or spheres, the latter peeking through stone tops via circular cutouts. Lighting
nods more directly to Northern Italy: Inspired by chimneys in Venice, a series of conical table lamps
incorporate wood salvaged from the port city’s boat docks, while ceiling fixtures mix handblown Murano
glass with rattan from the Treviso village of Barbisano. Each surface begs to be touched, and that’s
exactly the goal. Says McKinley: “Monea is a collection that represents my spirit and is designed from
the heart. It is meant to be timeless—made with materials I love.” moneanewyork.com —SAM COCHRAN

1. NICOLE FRANZEN. 2 & 4. READ MCKENDREE. ALL OTHERS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES.

52 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
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 DISCOVERIES

Coast to coast, today’s rising stars of interior design

are reinventing tradition, challenging staid rules of
good taste, and leaving their mark, one room at a time...

Duett
Interiors
“Portland was never on my radar,”
says Tiffany Thompson, founder of
Duett Interiors, reflecting on her
adopted Pacific Northwest home.
Six years ago, however, an open
mind led her to Oregon, where she
has discovered a community of
talented makers. The New York–born
designer has long been inspired
by American cities, having previously
lived in Chicago and Miami. Today,
jobs continue to take her nationwide,
from Minneapolis (where she recently
completed the home of NBA player
D’Angelo Russell) to Houston, the site
of projects under way for former NFL
player Darryl Sharpton. But when it
comes to current decorating gigs,
Thompson can’t help but be partial to
her own house, a 1960s split-level
ranch. Upstairs, primary living spaces
err on the side of serene (“almost
like an art gallery”), while downstairs,
guest rooms nod to hospitality hot
spots like Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel
in Manhattan. A forthcoming furniture
line and other hush-hush endeavors
promise to keep her busy; still, col-
laboration with clients remains the
top priority. “It feels like this beautiful
symphony,” notes Thompson (photo-
graphed at a Portland project) of
her creative process. “As a designer,
WILL MATSUDA

I’m going to push you and ask,

‘Who is your future self versus who
are you now?’ ” duettinteriors.com
—MADELEINE LUCKEL

54 PRODUCE D BY ALISON LEVA SSEUR

 DISCOVERIES

Prospect
Refuge Studio
In Minneapolis, where turn-of-the-20th-century
Craftsman-style houses dominate the vernacular,
Victoria Sass of Prospect Refuge Studio has carved out
a niche transforming “old homes for young families.”
True to that calling card, her work is decidedly varied,
mixing contemporary furnishings with family heirlooms
and layers of bucolic patterns, in rooms that cordially
defy categorization. “People are complex,” says Sass
(photographed at home with daughter Irene). “We’re
not just organic, natural, neutral. We’re that and we
like neon. Finding ways to get all of that together and
let it speak to the complexity of a family is exciting.”
That’s a dialogue she’s finessed over time, growing up
between California and Minnesota, and studying in
Copenhagen. After several years working for a Twin
Cities commercial practice, Sass founded Prospect
Refuge Studio in 2015 to focus on residential work and
“grow a more intentional portfolio.” That now includes a
lakeside cottage for a sustainability-conscious couple
in Iowa and historical renovations in her hometown.
As ever, Sass delights in variety. Case in point: her
“pandemic purchase,” a 1983 Viking liveaboard whose
interiors she’s giving a new, albeit totally retro, look. The
44-foot-long boat will be traversing the Saint Croix River
this summer. prospectrefugestudio.com —MEL STUDACH

Little Wing Lee

“I’m always thinking about the narrative of a place,”
explains Little Wing Lee, asking, “What story is being
told here?” It’s an approach this Brooklynite honed
working in documentary film for a decade before
shifting to design. (She credits an exploratory class
at Harvard for the career change.) She cut her teeth
at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Rockwell Group, and
Ralph Appelbaum Associates, where she worked on
the exhibition design for the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African American History and Culture.
That project, she recalls, brought together “my two
interests and loves.” (Her undergraduate degree is in
African American studies.) Today Lee does triple duty
as the design director for Atelier Ace, the founder
of the interdisciplinary global network Black Folks in
FROM TOP: CHRIS MOTTALINI, SEAN PRESSLEY

Design, and the principal of her own firm, Studio

& Projects, where she has taken on local hospitality
jobs like Bar Bête (pictured). In her role at Ace, for
which she’s putting finishing touches on the brand’s
new Toronto hotel, Lee extracts narratives from a
given city, conjuring “spaces where people are at
ease.” In her independent practice, meanwhile, she’s
working on a new Harlem building for the National
Black Theatre, finalizing her first major residential
commission, and beginning to conceptualize product
lines, among them rugs with Odabashian. Pressed
to describe her style succinctly, she says, “I’m a
modernist—but I really love texture and color and
pattern.” studioandprojects.co —HANNAH MARTIN

56 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
 A CENTURY OF STYLE
From editor-in-chief Amy Astley and Architectural Digest, AD at 100
FROM LEFT: ANTHONY COTSIFAS; JASON SCHMIDT; OBERTO GILI

celebrates the most incredible homes of the past century, showcasing

the work of top designers and offering rare looks inside the private worlds
of artists, celebrities, and other fascinating personalities.

Marc Jacobs, Jennifer Aniston, Diana Vreeland, India Mahdavi, Peter Marino,
Kelly Wearstler, Oscar Niemeyer, Axel Vervoordt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Elsie de Wolfe,

abramsbooks.com/AD100
DISCOVERIES

David Lucido
Until two years ago, David Lucido
confesses, “I had zero connection to
Florida.” Raised outside Manhattan, he
studied graphic design at Washington
University in St. Louis, settling in the
Big Apple after college. The Sunshine
State, however, has proven to be an easy
fit for this young talent, who launched
his own firm in 2019 after six years as a
private interior designer for a major art
collector. (“I did everything from yacht to
office to dorm room,” he recalls of the
creative catchall gig. “It’s where I learned
everything.”) Approached by the hit
restaurant group Le Bilboquet to design
its Palm Beach location, Lucido flew
south during the pandemic, intending to
stay only temporarily. But when his Deco-
inflected rooms—think streamlined curves,
seaside glamour, terrazzo, nickel, oak—
became the talk of the town, Lucido stuck
around, handing out business cards at
the bar and reveling in South Florida’s
new energy. (He still keeps “one foot” in
New York.) Today, Le Bilboquet’s refined
pivot from local decorative tropes has
given way to major jobs like a production
studio in L.A. and a mansion in his adopted
hometown (pictured). “Is it weird how
much I like Florida?” jokes Lucido, citing
the welcoming community, abundance of
local artisans, and—of course—the weather.
“I needed that change.” davidlucido.com
—SAM COCHRAN

ORI HARPAZ
 DISCOVERIES

Studio Ahead
Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia, founders of San
Francisco–based Studio Ahead, want to fill a perceived
void in the marketplace. “San Francisco tends to go for
either seriously traditional design or the kind of spare,
modern look that appeals to the tech crowd, with not
much in between,” explains Rajai, who grew up in the Bay
Area as the son of Iranian parents. “For all of the city’s
forward-thinking liberal culture, design in San Francisco
remains fairly conservative and Eurocentric. We wanted
to celebrate interiors with a more layered, multicultural
texture, tapping into the incredible community of
fabricators who work in this part of the country,” adds
Dendiberia, a native of Samara, Russia, who alighted
on the West Coast eight years ago. Studio Ahead’s
roster of projects speaks to the elasticity of the partners’
vision. They’re currently working on a home heavily
influenced by the solarpunk movement, a penthouse
that represents a contemporary interpretation of
classic Art Deco, and a high-concept, quasi-industrial
meditation/hangout room for a San Francisco marketing
firm. In addition to interiors, Rajai and Dendiberia
(photographed at a Bay Area job site) have developed
a signature collection of biomorphic furnishings, as
well as an online journal spotlighting intriguing Northern
California artists and artisans. Says Rajai, “The more
voices and viewpoints you can add to a conversation, the
more exciting it becomes.” studioahead.com —MAYER RUS

LK Studio
“I want spaces to feel personal, well balanced, not too
decorated,” reflects Lily Dierkes—spaces, in other words,
that look “like they’ve always been that way.” And as this
designer is showing, she’s got a knack for it. Two years
ago, in a pandemic lifestyle move, Dierkes relocated from
L.A. to Hudson, New York, where she launched her own
firm, LK Studio. At the time, she had been working for the
FROM TOP: EKATERINA IZMESTIEVA, STEPHEN PAGANO

AD100 titan David Netto, under whom she honed her eye
for color and pattern, contributing to projects like the beachy
Bahamian abode that recently graced the pages of AD.
(He praised her in the May 2022 article, noting, “All projects
have their heroes.”) Today she’s putting her own spin on
classic Americana, in projects that range from a pre-war
apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (pictured) to a
Georgian-style manse in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Wall
stenciling, painted floors, and punchy patterns harken to
folk art, while palettes take inspiration from Shaker villages.
Dierkes, who studied film and previously worked as a
production designer on music videos and commercials, gets
a special thrill from designing second homes. “You can
use things in a country house you might not use in a city
apartment,” she notes. “It’s fun to do something a little
theme-y.” lilydierkesdesign.com —H.M.

60
 A designer resource from the
editors of ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

FE NCE S

P E RG O L AS

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.Find your next role—or land

your next hire

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first listing free, plus discounts
on subsequent posts

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posted daily

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JOBS.ARCHITECTURALDIGEST.COM Bring inspired ideas for your outdoor home to life with
Walpole Outdoors. Schedule your free design consultation today.

walpoleoutdoors.com | 866.901.2474
DISCOVERIES

Studio Roene
As résumés go, Julia Sobrepeña King’s
is tough to beat. Over the course of nearly
two decades, she cultivated her craft
in the offices of five of the most influential
design firms working today—those of
Kelly Wearstler, Michael S. Smith, Waldo
Fernandez, Commune, and Charles de Lisle—
all of them AD100. Eight months ago, King
struck out on her own, hanging a shingle
for Studio Roene in San Francisco. (She is
photographed at her new office.) “After
years looking through someone else’s eyes,
I finally had the opportunity to articulate
my own vision,” says King, who was born in
the Philippines and moved to San Francisco
in 1996. The designer’s inheritance from
her formidable mentors becomes apparent
in her penchant for blending disparate styles
and sensibilities. “I like mixing seemingly
contradictory colors, textures, and forms—
things that spark conversation—and then
finding harmony in the differences,” King
explains. “The question for me is how, in the
age of Instagram and Pinterest, do you
create something genuinely new, perhaps
a little weird but always livable?” King is
currently addressing that challenge in
residential projects throughout California.
“First and foremost, a house must be inviting
and casual,” she opines. “If a client doesn’t
feel completely at ease, I haven’t done my
job.” studioroene.com —M.R.

NICOLE MORRISON
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CALM AND
COLLE

IN ULLA JOHNSON AND ZACH MINER’S

MONTAUK LIVING ROOM, A VINTAGE
MARIO BELLINI SOFA SITS WITH A 1950s
ROGER CAPRON COCKTAIL TABLE, A
MOROCCAN TUAREG MAT, A 1950s
BRAZILIAN CHAIR BY MARTIN EISLER AND
CARLO HAUNER, AND A HANDMADE
SHELL BAG FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
 At fashion designer Ulla Johnson’s eclectic
Montauk retreat, nature sets the tone
TEXT BY HANNAH MARTIN

CTED
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PERNILLE LOOF
STYLED BY MARTIN BOURNE
 LEFT JOHNSON IN
THE GARDEN, WEARING
ONE OF HER OWN
DESIGNS, THE SHIBORI-
DYED INDIGO SYLVAN
DRESS. RIGHT WITH ITS
LARGE WINDOWS OPEN,
THE HOUSE TURNS
INTO A PSEUDO PAVILION
COME SUMMER.

U MAKEUP BY MARY WILES USING KAT BURKI SKINCARE FOR TRACEY MATTINGLY.
lla Johnson and Zach and find their home. Things you plant come back in a slightly
Miner can’t stop talking different place. It’s such a beautiful evolution.”
about their garden. “It’s The same could be said of their home out east, constructed
a spring bounty every circa 2010 by MB Architecture, where they retreat on week-
weekend with new things ends with their three kids. Like the garden, it’s a little different
in bloom,” says the fashion on every visit: The modular vintage Mario Bellini sofa might
designer. Her verdant remain in a leftover configuration from last night’s dinner party;
surroundings, after four a stray piece of driftwood—one of the family’s many collec-
years of work with land- tions—might end up in someone’s bedroom, thanks to their
HAIR BY KABUTO FOR THE WALL GROUP;

scape guru Miranda Brooks, vizsla, Daphne; a new ceramic piece might arrive in a box,
are finally coming into shipped home from a recent trip to Spain.
their own. Bulbs planted “It’s all about this idea of layering,” says Johnson, whose
last fall are pushing up elevated bohemian fashion brand follows a similarly eclectic
through the soil. Magnolia trees are blossoming. A flash of feeling. “Over a lifetime the house will continue to evolve.”
pink—the petals of a flowering cherry tree—is visible just Johnson and her husband, a consultant with an art back-
outside the living room window. ground, had been spending weekends in Montauk, the windy,
The couple have relished the process. “A garden takes time low-key hamlet at the easternmost tip of Long Island, for
to grow into itself,” explains Johnson. “Things move around about a decade before they began to look for their own place.
This house, as Miner puts it, “checked a lot of very interest- and streamlined a few spaces, particularly the kitchen, to
ing boxes—it was unusual, modern, and had character.” create a more casual, entertaining-friendly floor plan. Some
As Johnson says, “Its spirit spoke to us.” When they glimpsed elements—like the fossil-stone counters in the bathroom—
the existing green roof up top, they were sold. they left just as they were. And then there was the landscape,
For about five years, they have steadily renovated and in which Brooks introduced trees, a peony path, and a cutting
furnished the place in phases, with the help of architecture garden. “We planted it very informally, so that things feel
firm Studio Zung and interior designer Alexis Brown, quite wild and free,” says Johnson, a flower lover who finds
always careful to keep it livable as they work—especially in endless inspiration for her collections in the garden.
the summers when they carve out time to surf, swim, hike, Brown, who worked with the family on their Brooklyn
and entertain. home and designed several of Johnson’s retail spaces, layered
To further access the vistas beyond (the house, which the couple’s personal collections—textiles, baskets, ceramics,
sits on top of a hill, offers views of both the ocean and the shells—with custom pieces and vintage finds (think worn-in
bay), they added more windows. In the summer, they’re Charlotte Perriand chairs; lots of Willy Guhl and Walter Lamb
mostly left open so that, as Miner says, “you can basically live outside) to conjure a laid-back but elevated beach-house vibe.
outside.” To warm things up, they ripped up manufactured “They really wanted it to feel warm—a place where the kids
bamboo floors and replaced them with solid Dinesen ash could be, a place where their friends could be. A really relaxing
and refinished many walls with hand-applied plaster. They oasis for when they want to get out of the city and chill but
reworked the staircase in ash and powder-coated metal, still feel inspired.”

ARCHDIGEST. COM 67
 A LINDSEY ADELMAN CHANDELIER
CROWNS THE SAWKILLE CO. DINING
TABLE AND CHARLOTTE PERRIAND
CHAIRS. A SHEILA HICKS WORK HANGS
ABOVE A 1970s STONE CONSOLE.
BELOW A ROGER CAPRON COCKTAIL
TABLE ON THE ROOF DECK, WITH
VINTAGE WILLY GUHL PLANTERS AND
CUSTOM CUSHIONS.
 “We’re often feeding at least 13,”
Johnson says with a laugh.

VENEERED WHITE-OAK CABINETS AND

POLISHED MARBLE SET THE TONE IN
THE KITCHEN, WHICH STARS CERAMICS
BY SIMONE BODMER-TURNER, NATALIA
ENGELHARDT, RAQUEL VIDAL, AND
PEDRO PAZ. THE STOOLS ARE BY
SAWKILLE CO., AND THE MULBERRY
PAPER ARTWORK (AT RIGHT) IS BY
ALIDA KUZEMCZAK-SAYER.
 LEFT A TAPESTRY BY ANALIA SABAN SHIMMERS IN THE
PRIMARY BEDROOM, WHERE PILLOWS AND BLANKETS
ARE MADE FROM VINTAGE TEXTILES. BELOW CERAMICS
BY SHIZUE IMAI AND SHINO TAKEDA SIT TUBSIDE WITH
A VINTAGE SHELL MIRROR.

WITH EVERYTHING THEY’VE BROUGHT back from their travels,

there’s inspiration aplenty. Nearly every object has a story.
There’s the mingei Japanese raincoat made of seaweed that
hangs in the stairwell. On the dining table, there’s a 200-year-
old bowl Johnson uses for flower arranging that she found in
the remote Brazilian town of Paraty. In the living room, there’s looking at craft, we’re also looking at fine art,” Miner explains.
a vintage French fishing basket hung from the ceiling like an “We’re really interested in that intersection.”
ethereal sculpture. In spite of the many beloved objects, Johnson insists, “I’m
“I was brought up with this love of objects—especially ones not precious about things in the home.” Wet swimsuits sit on
that have a personal story or have been created by hand,” says the vintage leather sofa. Several cushions need post-pillow-fight
Johnson, whose archaeologist parents gathered treasures across mending. A basketball has, more than once, come startlingly
the globe (her mother, also a painter, collected folk costume). close to a fragile Kazunori Hamana pot. But this is their life. And
Not surprisingly, Johnson has a particular affinity for they love nothing more than a house filled to the brim. “We’re
textiles—batiks and shibori dyes, and anything hand-loomed— often feeding at least 13,” Johnson says with a laugh.
which she has been amassing over the decades. With Brown’s Dinner parties frequently start with drinks on the boatlike
help, she has turned many of them into pillows and blankets, roof deck and finish there, stargazing with a pair of telescopes.
like the custom quilt in the primary bedroom. Outside, some In between, Miner, an avid cook, plays chef. The first weekend
patterns from her runway collections—florals from spring in May marked the season’s opening of their go-to fish market,
2022—have become all-weather upholstery fabrics. so they served the kids’ favorite: linguine con vongole.
The couple’s art collection—spearheaded by Miner—is a Considering their favorite piece in the house, Johnson and
perfect complement to the house’s decor. Textile-based works Miner come to an unexpected conclusion: the bunk beds in
like a thread-wrapped canvas by Sheila Hicks and a copper- the basement, the kids’ sphere where they retreat for ping-pong,
wire-and-linen tapestry by Analia Saban mix in with pieces games, and puzzles. “When those are full, the house is full,”
that nod to the beachy locale—paintings of shells by emerging Miner explains. “It means we’re having fun. Friends are here.
artists Paula Siebra and Veronika Pausova. “While we’re Family is here. And that’s what the house is for.”

70 AR CHDI GE ST.COM
“It’s a relaxing oasis for when they
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ARCHDIGEST. COM 73
 wild

Interior designer Jamie Bush

and architect William Hefner
reimagine a 1960s Los Angeles
home for a client with a
dazzlingly eccentric point of view
TEXT BY MAYER RUS PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON
STYLED BY MICHAEL REYNOLDS
 A WATERFORD CRYSTAL

card
CHANDELIER CROWNS THE
LIVING ROOM. SOFAS BY
COUP STUDIO; COCKTAIL
TABLE BY ARMAND JONCKERS;
CHARLES DE LISLE LAMPS
ATOP FACTURE STUDIO PINK
RESIN TABLES; FRENCH 1950s
ARMCHAIRS AND GIO PONTI
STOOLS IN DIMORESTUDIO
FABRICS. ARTWORKS BY
CINDY SHERMAN (LEFT) AND
JOHN BALDESSARI.
 ABOVE THE ARCHITECT REPLACED THE ORIGINAL PITCHED ROOF WITH A FLAT ONE AND RECLAD THE STRUCTURE IN RECLAIMED BRICK.

oxy Chandigarh chairs and color-blocked rooms, and pink-tinged indoor-outdoor terrazzo
raw linen. Dinesen oak floors floors, the house represents a fearless pasticcio of Hollywood
and rustic farm tables. Fifty Regency, Art Deco, Palm Springs camp, tropical modern,
shades of beige. “I didn’t want granny chic, and a dash of Morris Lapidus–style Miami Beach
any of that,” Mary Kitchen cha-cha. It’s a heady brew, made all the more intriguing by
avows, rejecting the current Kitchen’s unapologetic refusal to abide by the shibboleths of
vogue among Tinseltown’s modern taste—like the idea that selecting a painting because
elite for soft, hushed minimal- it matches the color of a sofa is somehow inherently vulgar.
ism and all things Perriand. “The house is a glamorous throwback fantasy, but it’s also
“I wasn’t looking for a cool weirdly unfashionable. Mary pushed it in the most courageous
midcentury house in the way. Most people simply wouldn’t have the chutzpah,” Bush
Hollywood Hills, with exqui- says of his audacious client, a television presenter, model, and
sitely tasteful interiors,” she says, adding emphatically, “I philanthropist dedicated to cancer research, children’s arts
didn’t want a house that looks like everyone else’s.” education, and a host of other causes.
Mission accomplished. Ably abetted by her team of, well, Kitchen’s fictional backstory for the project involved a
let’s call them her enablers—interior designer Jamie Bush, widowed L.A. socialite—a grande dame of the old school—
architect William Hefner, and landscape maestro Raymond who built the house in the late 1940s or early ’50s and main-
Jungles—Kitchen has conjured a blockbuster vision of tained it, in all its recherché glory, until Kitchen and her
Los Angeles swank, at once nostalgic and contemporary, sexy husband acquired the property upon her passing. In reality,
and funny, high-brow and low. With its circular skylights, the Hollywood Regency–style abode, nestled in tony

76 AR CHDI GE ST.COM
 THE LANAI IS OUTFITTED WITH GIO
PONTI AND FRANCO ALBINI RATTAN
CHAIRS FOR BONACINA 1889 COVERED IN
DEDAR FABRIC, AN INDIA MAHDAVI
COCKTAIL TABLE FOR RALPH PUCCI,
CUSTOM SOFAS IN PERENNIALS FABRIC,
AND MARC PHILLIPS ABACA RUGS.
VINTAGE CARLO SCARPA FOR VENINI CHANDELIERS
HANG ABOVE A LEIGHTON HALL FURNITURE
REGENCY-STYLE MAHOGANY DINING TABLE WITH
19TH-CENTURY GUSTAVIAN CHAIRS IN ROGERS &
GOFFIGON MOHAIR VELVET. SIDEBOARD BY PAOLO
BUFFA, PAINTING BY ALEX KATZ, AND SCULPTURE
BY ANAT SHIFTAN FROM HOSTLER BURROWS.
 ABOVE MARY KITCHEN, IN AN OSCAR DE LA
RENTA GOWN AND LORRAINE SCHWARTZ
JEWELRY, SITS IN FRONT OF A WALTER DORWIN
TEAGUE PIANO FOR STEINWAY & SONS AND A
FRANK STELLA PAINTING. FASHION STYLING BY
DENA GIANNINI. RIGHT A TERRACE FEATURES A
MORRIS LAPIDUS–INSPIRED STEEL TRELLIS.
HAIR BY RENATO CAMPORA; MAKEUP BY FIONA STILES; MANICURE BY MASAKO LEONE AT MCNAIL ATELIER.

Holmby Hills, was designed by architect Caspar Ehmcke

and built in 1966. The residence is located just blocks from the
© 2022 FRANK STELLA / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK. CINDY SHERMAN.

landmark Brody House, a collaboration between architect

A. Quincy Jones and decorator William Haines, which served
as one of several stylish midcentury touchstones for the
© 2022 ALEX KATZ / VAGA AT ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK.

current renovation. Kitchen and her husband purchased the

home from rock star Adam Levine and his wife, model
Behati Prinsloo Levine, who had taken the interior down to
the studs before abandoning the project in search of greener
pastures elsewhere in the city.

“HONESTLY, THE HOUSE wasn’t that great, but it had generous

rooms with 14-foot ceilings and a few details that were worth
preserving. Mary didn’t want to lose the original character
entirely, so we tried to imagine what the house might have
been if it had really exceptional period architecture,” Hefner
recalls. Working within the original footprint, the architect
completely recast the character of the structure by flattening
its pitched roof, adding spruce modern eaves and corner
windows, and cladding the formerly stucco exterior in white-
painted reclaimed brick, the same material he used for
 LEFT A 1970s ITALIAN GLASS PENDANT HANGS
ABOVE A CUSTOM BANQUETTE IN KELEEN
LEATHER WITH A STUDIO VAN DEN AKKER
TABLE AND CHAIRS IN THE BREAKFAST NOOK.
BELOW THE CELADON-HUED PANTRY.

“I didn’t want a outdoor screens, planters, and brise-soleils, as well as a few

strategic walls of the interior. “It’s not a slavish re-creation
house that looks like of one particular style, but it has the right spirit and it feels
familiar,” the architect says.
everyone else’s,” Inside the house, the purity of the crisp white exterior
gives way to a delirious medley of color. The monumental
homeowner Mary living room, which measures 30 by 36 feet, is bathed in shades

Kitchen asserts.
of pink and peach, the kitchen in celadon and forest green,
the dining room in lavender, the primary bedroom in ice blue,
and the extensively renovated poolhouse in bright yellow. The
bedrooms of Kitchen’s three young daughters, as well as the
bunk room they share for in-house sleepovers, are enveloped
in different colorways of the same sprightly tulip-patterned
fabric and wallpaper.
“Zoning the house by color allowed us to control the
incredible variety of pieces and themes that Mary was drawn
to, all these great things from far-flung periods and places.
Once we established the rules, we were free to play within
those boundaries,” Bush explains. As an example, he cites the
merry mélange of furnishings and artworks collected in the

80 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
LOZENGE-SHAPED
SKYLIGHTS MIRROR TWIN
KITCHEN ISLANDS TOPPED
IN EMERALD QUARTZITE.
STOOLS BY STUDIO VAN DEN
AKKER, CUSTOM BRASS
HARDWARE BY PASHUPATINA,
AND SINK FITTINGS BY
WATERWORKS. FLOORS
HERE AND THROUGHOUT BY
HERMOSA TERRAZZO.
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE AND ANNE TRUITT. A CHARLES
THE PRIMARY BEDROOM HAS HOLLIS JONES LUCITE CHAIR
A CUSTOM BED IN PIERRE FREY SITS BENEATH A MURANO
FABRIC, VINTAGE WILLIAMS CHANDELIER IN A DRESSING
HAINES LAMPS, AN ALPACA ROOM. A VICTORIA + ALBERT
SHEARLING RUG BY MARC TUB AND A CHRISTOPHE
PHILLIPS, AND ARTWORKS BY DELCOURT SIDE TABLE ANCHOR
JOHN BALDESSARI (ABOVE BED) THE PRIMARY BATH.
KITCHEN’S DAUGHTERS
(FROM LEFT), BAYE, EDEN,
AND MAINE, GATHER IN THE
BUNK ROOM. QUADRILLE
FABRIC, RH CARPET, SILVIO
PIATTELLI PENDANT LIGHT,
AND VINTAGE SKIRTED
CHAIR IN DEDAR VELVET.
 ABOVE KITCHEN’S HOME ABOVE RIGHT AN UGO
OFFICE HAS A CAMPANA RONDINONE SCULPTURE IS
BROTHERS CHAIR FOR EDRA, REFLECTED IN A JULIAN
A LUIGI CACCIA DOMINIONI CHICHESTER MIRROR IN A
TABLE LAMP, DAVID BONK POWDER ROOM. SINK AND extravagant living room: pedigreed Italian designs by Gio Ponti
WALLPAPER FROM THOMAS FITTINGS BY SHERLE WAGNER,
LAVIN, AND AN ANNE CALICO WALLPAPER, AND and Osvaldo Borsani; a restored seven-foot-wide Waterford
COLLIER PHOTOGRAPH. CHARLES HOLLIS JONES crystal chandelier original to the house; William Haines
SIDE TABLE.
barstools upholstered in Pepto-Bismol pink leather; a Walter
Dorwin Teague piano for Steinway & Sons; fuddy-duddy
vintage Louis XV–style bergères from Phyllis Morris; a 1970s

“The house is a
brass banana-leaf sculpture; signature artworks by John
Baldessari, Cindy Sherman, and Yayoi Kusama; and a massive

glamorous
Frank Stella Protractor painting articulated in, you guessed it,
shades of pink and peach.

throwback fantasy.
Bush peppered his various ensembles with bits of old-
fashioned finery—Sherle Wagner marble toilets and gilt-

Mary pushed it in
finished fixtures, accent walls of smoky beveled mirror,
Dorothy Draper cut velvets, bullion-fringed pool umbrellas—

the most courageous

as well as humble midcentury materials such as Formica,
linoleum, cork, and vinyl. “Call it anti-establishment taste.

way,” designer These are things that most people wouldn’t want or would
tear out of an old house,” Kitchen says of the more outré

Jamie Bush says of his decorative effects sure to set the teeth of persnickety aesthetes
on edge. “I just love that it feels fun to me,” she concludes.

audacious client. “At the end of the day, if you don’t have a sense of humor,
what’s the point?”

84 ARCHDI GE ST.COM
ONE OF THE GIRLS’ BEDROOMS
IS WRAPPED IN QUADRILLE
TULIP-PATTERN FABRIC AND
WALLPAPER. VINTAGE STILNOVO
PENDANT FROM REWIRE.
PICTURE
PERFECT

VAUGHN SPANN AND

HIS FAMILY OUTSIDE
THEIR NEW JERSEY HOME.
OPPOSITE DOZENS OF
COLLECTED ARTWORKS
ARE DISPLAYED GALLERY-
STYLE IN THE DEN.
ANTHROPOLOGIE CHAIRS
AND TABLE.
ANA BENAROYA. STANLEY WHITNEY. GABRIEL MILLS. REBECCA NESS. HALEY JOSEPHS. ROBERT NAVA.

For artist Vaughn Spann and

his young family, home is an art-filled
midcentury house in New Jersey
TEXT BY GAY GASSMANN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX BURKHALTER
Just
four years after earning an MFA from Yale, American artist
Vaughn Spann is juggling sold-out solo shows, endless requests
for his work, and a family life that includes three young chil-
dren. (His eldest child was an infant while Spann was in grad
school, so he had a crash course in balancing work and home.)
With a practice dedicated to both abstraction and figuration,
The family wanted to settle in New Jersey, where both Spann
and his wife are from. They were looking for something in the
Maplewood area, near relatives and Spann’s studio. “We were
in our previous place for about three months, and we purchased
this place during the summer of 2020,” he explains. “We were
looking for a modern house, so when we saw the For Sale sign,
© 2022 KENNY SCHARF / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK

employing a distinctive technique that involves building up I was curious. We loved it immediately. Nothing was negotiable,
thick layers of paint and mixed media to create highly textured like the crumbling stairs. It was take as is, so we did.”
surfaces, Spann is one of the breakout art stars of the past few The modernist house is unique among the grand and
years. Recently, he also wrapped up a major house renovation. spacious historically inspired properties in the neighborhood.
 ABOVE IN THE LIVING ROOM, SEATING INCLUDES A VITRA SOFA, A CB2 LEATHER DAYBED, AND CHAIRS FROM
DESIGN WITHIN REACH. RH RUG; PAINTING BY KENNY SCHARF. OPPOSITE JEAN PROUVÉ CHAIRS FOR VITRA SURROUND
A CB2 DINING TABLE ON THE SCREENED-IN PORCH. NANIMARQUINA RUG.

Most sit right on the street, whereas this early 1950s house is building’s integrity and original style. “There was carpeting
set back some distance from the curb and so can almost be everywhere, which we pulled up, but we kept all the walls,
overlooked. “Actually, we thought it was a much smaller house beams, and rooms,” the artist notes. “We just amplified
at first, as one of the trees was blocking the building!” Spann the aesthetic.”
recalls. “Several of our neighbors have said they didn’t even When it comes to the renovation, Spann describes himself
know there was a house here.” as being “OCD,” adding, “We cleared a lot of trees, repaved
As noted, the five-bedroom, three-bath residence was in the driveway, and redid the steps. We bought everything you
need of care. The new homeowners turned to architect see in the house. We modified the landscaping a bit, especially
Gary Rosard to expand the footprint—enlarging the kitchen, in the backyard, which was basically a hill. It’s now a two-
for example—while also taking great care to respect the tiered garden, so we have lots of outdoor space for the kids.”

ARCHDIGEST. COM 89
CREATURE CHAIRS BY BRETT
DOUGLAS HUNTER PULL UP
TO A CRATE AND BARREL
TABLE. PAINTING BY SPANN.
ABOVE AN ARTWORK BY
SPANN OVERLOOKS THE “I love looking
through books about
LIVING ROOM SITTING AREA.

design and architecture,”

Vaughn Spann says.

What had been a cool brown exterior is now painted a deep

charcoal. And the front door went from orange to pink!
Spann wanted to make sure the family made the new place
their own and added personal touches to make it comfortable
and functional for all of them. Plus, there’s plenty of wall
space for his growing art collection, which shows up in every
room. “I love looking through books about design and archi-
tecture,” Spann says. “My go-to is curves, circular, round, and
guess what, that’s me being a parent. No hard edges. Very
organic and comfortable.”
KENTURAH DAVIS

“I love that our home is as cozy as it is beautiful,” his wife

says. “Our kids come home, throw off their shoes, and run to the
den, and five minutes later you’ll find them jumping off the
knot pillow into their ball pit. It’s literally a beautiful mess.”
 A STANLEY WHITNEY PAINTING IN
THE PRIMARY BEDROOM. RIGHT A
PAINTING BY MARCUS BRUTUS
HANGS NEXT TO A SAARINEN TABLE
FOR KNOLL SURROUNDED BY
CHAIRS BY GEORGE PLIONIS AND
WEIRAN CHEN FOR ROCHE BOBOIS.

THE KITCHEN FEATURES PENDANTS FROM DESIGN WITHIN REACH,

A WOLF COOKTOP AND OVEN, AND A SUB-ZERO REFRIGERATOR.
 HAIR BY CHRIS MCMILLAN FOR SOLO ARTISTS; MAKEUP BY KATE LEE FOR THE WALL GROUP

NANCY MEYERS HEADS

OUT TO THE GARDEN.
LANDSCAPE DESIGN BY MIA
LEHRER OF STUDIO-MLA.
OPPOSITE LUSH, MATURE
PLANTINGS CREATE A
WELCOMING ENTRANCE.
HAPPY
ENDING

Having undergone a refresh at the hands

of designer Mark D. Sikes, the longtime L.A.
home of beloved filmmaker Nancy Meyers
is ready for its close-up
TEXT BY CATHERINE HONG PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMY NEUNSINGER
 LEFT MEYERS IN HER HOME
OFFICE. FLOWERS HERE AND
THROUGHOUT BY JOSEPH FREE.
RIGHT THE LIVING ROOM SOFAS
WEAR A DE LE CUONA LINEN.
THE PAIR OF MORRIS CHAIRS IS

if
BY LUCCA STUDIO, THE COCKTAIL
TABLE IS FROM DÉMIURGE
NEW YORK, AND THE MIRROR
IS FROM BLACKMAN CRUZ.

the story of writer-director-producer between herself and her five-bedroom dream home.
Nancy Meyers and her house were For several years, the house had been a beloved
a Hollywood movie, it would most refuge. But when daughter Annie went off to college,
certainly be what the late philoso- the house—which Meyers had started building when
pher Stanley Cavell famously termed she was married to the girls’ father, director Charles
a “comedy of remarriage.” Just like Shyer—seemed much too big for just her and younger
His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia daughter Hallie. “After many years of enjoying this
Story, and The Awful Truth—three of house, I decided I should move to a smaller one,” she
the best-known examples of the says, her eyes twinkling behind horn-rimmed glasses.
genre from the 1930s and ’40s—this Dressed in a crisp white blouse, she’s seated in
feature would begin at the couple’s breakup, trace the home office, where she’s conducted most of
the rekindling of their sparky romance, and end with her pandemic-era Zoom interviews, a long wall of
their delightful reunion. In this case, however, our white-painted bookcases crammed with books and
heroine’s romantic partner is not Cary Grant. It is her framed family photos behind her. “So I bought the
Provençal–style house in Los Angeles. house next door and hired architect Howard Backen
Sixteen years ago Meyers, the creative power- to build me a new one,” she continues. That one was
house behind Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday, going to be much more modestly sized and modern,
and It’s Complicated, decided that things were over conceived around indoor-outdoor living. But since
it was going to take a couple of years, “I thought to Meyers has masterminded one mouthwatering
myself, I’ll just change things up here in the mean- interior after another. Who has watched Something’s
time,” she recalls. “Basically, if something was dark— Gotta Give and not swooned over the Diane Keaton
like my dining room table—I made it light, and if it character’s Hamptons living room, with its acreage of
was light, I made it dark.” Pause. Cut to our heroine’s inviting white sofas? Or the elegantly rustic kitchen
light-bulb moment, when she realizes that she might in It’s Complicated? People’s obsession with her film
be making a big mistake. “I fell back in love with my interiors, Meyers has said, is so passionate that she
house!” she says with a laugh. She abandoned the fears it sometimes “overshadows” the films them-
plan, sold the place next door, and has stayed happily selves. Still, her attention to every chair, lamp, and
ensconced here—with some recent “freshening up,” book on set remains unwavering: “Characters’ homes
which we’ll get to in a moment—ever since. convey so much about the people who live there,”
Meyers’s talent for conjuring movie homes that she says. (Having just inked a deal with Netflix to
audiences covet for themselves has been evident write, direct, and produce a new ensemble comedy,
since 1991’s Father of the Bride, which she cowrote. the director is surely about to envision new spaces
That film (starring Steve Martin) featured a posh that will set fans’ hearts ablaze.)
white Colonial that seems an early cinematic testa- At any rate, she can’t resist her penchant for beauty,
ment to the low-key good taste that Meyers’s own a trait she traces back to her late mother, Patricia,
movies would come to embody. With each film since, who regularly dragged young Nancy and her sister to

ARCHDIGEST. COM 95
“Nothing was a complete
departure from what was
there before,” Sikes notes.
“What you see here is really
Nancy’s personal style.”
PAUL FERRANTE LANTERNS HANG ABOVE AN ARRAY OF SUTHERLAND FURNITURE
PIECES IN THE POOLHOUSE, WHICH WAS DESIGNED BY ARCHITECT LOREN KROEGER.
THE LANDSCAPING IN THIS AREA WAS DONE BY DEBORAH NEVINS & ASSOC.
POOLSIDE, RH UMBRELLAS SHADE SUTHERLAND FURNITURE CHAISE LONGUES.
 antiques fairs. “We would drive out to the country
outside of where we lived in Philadelphia and she’d
load up the trunk,” she says fondly. “She was always
rearranging furniture or refinishing something in the
garage. She had lovely taste.” Meyers seems to have
passed the decorating genes to Annie and Hallie. (It’s
hardly a coincidence that Hallie, also a director, made
the film Home Again, starring Reese Witherspoon as
an interior designer, which Meyers herself produced.)
“I mean, it’s fun,” she says. “My girls and I are on a
group chat every day, and often it’s ‘Look at this thing
I found on eBay.’ ”

“INTENSE!” IS HOW Los Angeles–based interior designer

Mark D. Sikes describes Meyers’s focus on details.
Having collaborated with the director on her home
over the past eight years (in fact, she wrote the
introduction to his first book, Beautiful), he’s come
to know her well. “You hear the stories about how
as a director she’ll do, like, 50 takes to get just the
right one?” he says, chuckling. “Just apply that to her
design process.”
Meyers first met Sikes by chance, when she was
visiting home-design showrooms on La Cienega
Boulevard with Annie. Meyers had agreed to help her
daughter decorate her new house and was feeling, as
she puts it, a bit “panicked.” They saw a young man
setting up a display in a store window who was using
“a lot of the same fabrics we had just picked out,”
recalls Meyers. (It was during L.A.’s annual Legends
of La Cienega event, when interior designers create
artful window displays in local showrooms.) “We
started chatting and showed him the samples we had
in our bags. He was like, ‘That’s good with this’ and
‘No, not that one,’ and pulled something together in,
like, a minute. It was clear we were in sync,” she says.
Meyers first brought Sikes in to work on the
outdoor areas of her property, which finally culmi-
nated in what they refer to as a “refresh” of pretty
much the whole house. “From my perspective, what
I did was more about giving the house an ‘updated
new essence’ than anything else,” he says, pointing
out that many layouts remain virtually unchanged
from what Meyers and James Radin, her house’s first
interior designer, conceived of when she first moved
in. “Nothing was a complete departure from what
was there before; what you see here is really Nancy’s
personal style.”
Full of natural light, warm woods, and pillowy
white linen sofas, it’s as gorgeous, inviting, and
casual-easy-living California as a home a Meyers
heroine might inhabit. These are not rooms built
around single showstopping elements, like million-
dollar paintings or car-size light fixtures; they feel

ARCHDIGEST. COM 97
THE KITCHEN BOASTS A
PAIR OF ISLANDS. BUELL
STOOLS FROM 1STDIBS;
ANN-MORRIS PENDANT
LIGHTS; WATERWORKS
SINK FITTINGS. THE PLATES
AND BOWL ON THE LEFT
COUNTER ARE BY CAROLINA
IRVING & DAUGHTERS.

“I always wanted a big

farmhouse-style kitchen,”
Meyers explains. “In my
old house, I would have
to ask someone to
scooch in so I could open
the refrigerator door.”
 MEYERS TIDIES UP THE
LAWN WITH HER LEAF
BLOWER. BELOW PALECEK
CHAIRS SURROUND A TABLE
FROM LUCCA ANTIQUES IN
THE KITCHEN’S DINING AREA.

unburdened by the effort to impress (while of course

making visitors coo with longing). More than a few
of Meyers’s new additions, such as the antique table
in her entryway, come from Rose Tarlow, whose store
in Los Angeles has been a favorite source for years.
(It’s where one particularly eye-catching side table
featured in Diane Keaton’s bedroom in Something’s
Gotta Give was found.) The one construction project
Meyers did undertake, an airy new poolhouse with
a wall of sliding glass doors, seamlessly echoes the
main house.
“I like creams, I like whites, I like black accents,”
Meyers says, gesturing around her living room. “I’ve
always been in this zone.” Asked about her decision to
use white linen fabrics for both her den and her liv-
ing room, she pauses, an almost quizzical expression
on her face. “I think I hesitate to do color because I
don’t know that I’d ultimately be happy with it.” Then
she adds with some urgency: “It’s not quite as bright
white when you see it in person,” she says. “The living
room tones are a little more flax colored.”
According to Sikes, it’s these subtleties that
make all the difference when decorating à la Nancy.
“We may have looked at 50,000 different ivory linens,”
he jokes. The different palettes in the two spaces are
the result of very careful deliberation, he explains.
“The family room has off-white sofas and flax drapery,
while the living room has nubby flax upholstery,
ivory pillows, and darker flax drapery.” He considered
 AN ARTWORK BY ELLSWORTH
KELLY HANGS ABOVE A
SECTIONAL UPHOLSTERED IN
C&C MILANO FABRIC IN THE
UPSTAIRS FAMILY ROOM. A
STRIPED FABRIC BY FERMOIE
COVERS THE OTTOMAN,
AND THE RATTAN CHAIR IS
BY BONACINA 1889.

it a triumph when he persuaded his color-cautious here with Mark, saying, should we change it? But he
client to add muted notes of greens to the family room. said, no, it looks great.”
And it took “years” of gentle pushing until Meyers The filmmaker’s grandest gesture by far was the
agreed, after much coaxing, to position a pair of slat- construction of an 840-square-foot poolhouse, sited
back chairs at the entrance to the living room. “It’s on a raised limestone terrace. “If I were to write
in Nancy’s DNA to question and analyze everything,” about the build of this thing, I would call it ‘I thought
he says. “The road of getting there is a process.” I needed two umbrellas,’ ” she jokes. Its genesis, she
reveals, lay in the unremarkable fact that after cutting
WHEN IT COMES TO MEYERS’S luxuriously large down an overgrown ficus hedge, she needed some
kitchen featuring not one but two islands, however, shade by her pool. That hypothetical pair of umbrel-
he refuses to take credit. Created when the house las became a full-fledged poolhouse, which in turn
was constructed 24 years ago, the major elements— led to a new pool (now rectangular instead of oval),
from the Cotswolds-style stone floors to the glass- as well as a quest for clay roof tiles to match the ones
fronted white cabinetry—remain unchanged. The on the house. For inside the structure, Sikes designed
room is still one of her favorites. “I always wanted clean-lined built-in furniture (again, white upholstery)
a big farmhouse-style kitchen,” she explains. “In my for a beautiful blend of form and function.
old house I would have to ask someone to scooch It was a huge production to be sure, but then again,
in so I could open the refrigerator door.” Sikes kept nothing that this Hollywood heavy hitter couldn’t
his hand light here, swapping in barrel-back wicker handle. And in a nice closing of the circle, the archi-
chairs and white Ann-Morris pendants. “These tect she hired to design the structure, Loren Kroeger,
counter stools are new too,” Meyers notes, adding a was on the original team of architects from Howard
confession: “I saw them in a photo of Ina Garten’s Backen’s AD100 firm who designed the proposed
house and I copied them!” smaller house next door that Meyers left standing at
ELLSWORTH KELLY

In another example of judicious restraint, Sikes the altar 16 years ago. In effect, our heroine got to
left Meyers’s home office untouched, its handsome keep her big house and get her brand-new little house
dark-wood desk centered in front of huge windows. too. Talk about a happy ending. “It’s great, isn’t it?”
“It has good vibes,” she admits. “I remember standing she says.

100 ARCHDIGE S T.CO M

 THE TERRACE IS FURNISHED WITH SEATING BY THE WICKER WORKS WITH CUSHIONS OF PERENNIALS FABRIC.
STONE-TOPPED COCKTAIL TABLE BY SUTHERLAND FURNITURE; RH UMBRELLA; FORMATIONS HURRICANE LANTERNS.
 DESIGNER FRANK DE BIASI
SOURCED THE LOGGIA’S

A NEW
RESIN WICKER SECTIONAL
IN TANGIER. VINTAGE
SALTERINI PAINTED-METAL
ARMCHAIRS, COCKTAIL
TABLE, AND CONSOLE.
ANN-MORRIS LANTERN
AND SCONCES.

Designer Frank de Biasi updates

a grand Palm Beach manse for
Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler and her family
TEXT BY MITCHELL OWENS PHOTOGRAPHY BY KRIS TAMBURELLO STYLED BY LAZARO ARIAS
W LEAF
 © 2022 THE ESTATE OF SIGMAR POLKE / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/VG BILD-KUNST, BONN, GERMANY
LEFT EMILIA FANJUL PFEIFLER
ON THE LOGGIA WITH A
MOROCCAN TABLE AND CHAIRS.

ertain cities are known for City’s Upper East Side. “His work has such a distinctive look,
iconic architects, talents especially the way he handled windows, which are a real
whose houses and apart- giveaway if you’re familiar with him, and the staircases are
ments set knowledgeable always so pretty.” So when she and her financier husband,
hearts aflutter. In the Brian Pfeifler, decided to make Palm Beach their permanent
historic Florida resort address after years of shuttling between Florida and New
community of Palm Beach, York, the couple went in search of that architectural ideal.
one of those visionary Designed in 1940 by Volk himself, the prize was a stucco-
builders was John L. Volk, clad, tile-roofed British Colonial sited on the highest point
an Austrian émigré who in Palm Beach. Stylistic pedigree wasn’t the only aspect that
arrived on the gilded island garnered their admiration; the fact that the expansive house
in the 1920s and left a legacy of villas ranging in style from had been enjoyed by large families right from the start was
Mediterranean Revival to neo-Georgian. “My grandparents’ an emotional draw. (L.A. Rams owner Daniel F. Reeves, who
house was a Volk,” says Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler, a cofounder commissioned the house, was the father of six.) “I grew
of the Drawing Room, an elegant pop-up space on New York up in a world where family is super important, and when we
LEFT A LE MANACH FABRIC
ENVELOPS THE DINING ROOM,
AND A FORTUNY PRINT DRESSES
UP THE CHAIRBACKS. THE
JACQUES ADNET CHANDELIER
WAS A PARIS FLEA-MARKET
FIND. RUG BY STARK CARPET.

BELOW A PAINTING BY SIGMAR

POLKE HANGS ABOVE THE SOFA IN
THE LIBRARY. THE SAME GUY
GOODFELLOW COLLECTION PRINT
COVERS THE SOFA AND THROW
PILLOWS, ARMCHAIR, TUFTED
OTTOMAN, AND ROMAN SHADES.
 “We have three kids that have friends over
constantly, four dogs that run around everywhere,
and a hamster. It’s a perfectly sized house
for that kind of life,” says Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler.

GEORG BASELITZ
 CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE BOUGAINVILLEA FRAMES THE LOGGIA; VINTAGE SALTERINI CHAISE LONGUES WITH CUSHIONS OF FIG LEAF FABRIC
BY PETER DUNHAM TEXTILES; LANDSCAPE DESIGN BY SMI LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. A COCKTAIL TABLE TOPPED WITH A MASSIVE
MARBLE SLAB AND AN ANTIQUE MANTELPIECE, BOTH FROM ITALY, ANCHOR THE LIVING ROOM; PATTERSON FLYNN RUGS. A BLUESTAR HOOD
ADDS A POP OF COLOR TO THE KITCHEN; GORDIOLA GLASS CEILING LIGHTS FROM SPAIN; COUNTER STOOLS BY DÉMIURGE NEW YORK.

bought the house, it had belonged for decades to a really nice an idiosyncratic yet welcoming whole. The effect has as much
family with five children,” says Fanjul Pfeifler, granddaughter to do with the Pfeiflers’ informed input as with de Biasi’s knack
of a Cuban sugar king who immigrated to Florida when Fidel for juggling periods, styles, and materials.
Castro came to power in the late 1950s. “We have three kids “Brian and I really care about every last doorknob,” Fanjul
that have friends over constantly, four dogs that run around Pfeifler unapologetically admits, “and Frank allows us to get
everywhere, and a hamster. It’s a perfectly sized house for that really involved.” The threesome headed to Italy, France, and
kind of life.” Accommodating that domestic vitality is where England to get “lots of antiques, stone mantels, tiles, and more
AD100 interior designer Frank de Biasi, who masterminded to make the house more special,” the designer says. Part of
two earlier residences for the clients, comes in. This time that booty is the living room’s hunky cocktail table. “We went
around, though, at their suggestion, he relocated to the island to this incredible place in the Italian countryside where there
from his home in Morocco (AD, April 2020) for six months were piles and piles of stone and tiles,” Fanjul Pfeifler recalls,
to oversee every detail of the renovation. “I really got into the “and bought this crazy piece of unfinished marble and just
architecture, the design, and the local artisans I could work had a base made for it.”
with to make the house special,” de Biasi explains. “It’s the Wide planks sourced at a salvage operation in upstate
coolest thing I could ever have done.” New York pave much of the main level, relieved by well-worn
squares of vintage marble in the entrance hall and equally
INCORPORATING MOST OF THE FURNITURE and contemporary distressed parquet de Versailles—partly covered with the custom-
abstract art from the couple’s former New York City apart- made Portuguese needlework carpets to which the couple
ment—even the children’s rooms are outfitted with smartly have become addicted, thanks to de Biasi—in the beamed living
recycled familiarities—the designer has produced a house room. “We don’t love a lot of carpeting, and since this is an
that blends formal, rugged, bodacious, and cutting-edge into all-season house we left the wood raw,” Fanjul Pfeifler points

ARCHDIGEST. COM 107

 IN FANJUL PFEIFLER’S BATH,
A 19TH-CENTURY ITALIAN
INLAID MIRROR AND PRESSED
FLORAL SPECIMENS BY
STUART THORNTON HANG
ABOVE A MARBLE TUB FROM
URBAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
LEFROY BROOKS FITTINGS;
WATERWORKS MARBLE
MOSAIC FLOOR.

out, though, she shruggingly admits, getting splinters in their hosts a heterogeneous mix of furnishings that shouldn’t work
feet is not uncommon. Walls have been heartily textured, too, together but happily do. “We didn’t want to make it too off
from stucco carefully combed like pinwale corduroy in the the mark,” de Biasi says of the eclectic assemblage. “It just feels
living room to pine boards that have been lightly wiped with comfortable, like old Florida.”
gesso, then waxed by hand, in a guest bedroom. The latter
mimics the room’s original Volk paneling, a detail that managed NINETEENTH-CENTURY ITALIAN PHOTOGRAPHS of landscapes,
to get damaged during the renovation but which de Biasi Roman statuary, and palazzi swirl up the walls of the stair
deftly reconstituted. hall, where a 17th-century Italian inlaid commode found on a
Coupled with doors, windows, and moldings whose natural shopping trip in Rome is positioned beneath two Ed Ruscha
finish hearkens back to houses constructed during Palm paintings, one bearing the words SCREAMING IN SPANISH.
Beach’s midcentury glory days—the 1937 wood-walled octago- (“I’m Cuban,” Fanjul Pfeifler says, laughing. “We do a lot of
nal pavilion ordered up by society portraitist Bernard Boutet screaming in Spanish.”) In the kitchen, Danish-modern chairs
de Monvel is a de Biasi favorite—the unpretentious background are positioned in front of a blue-and-white Dutch-tile mural

108 ARCHDIGE S T.COM

 A BONE-AND-BRASS FOUR-
POSTER FROM JOHN ROSSELLI
& ASSOC. STANDS IN THE
PRIMARY BEDROOM. PAINTED
BEDSIDE TABLES FOUND ON
1STDIBS; WICKER BENCH FROM
MOROCCO; CEILING LIGHT BY
STEPHEN ANTONSON.

“I really got into the of an Old Master landscape, while the dining room walls
are upholstered in a king-size blue-and-white gingham check.
architecture, the design, Between French doors that open to the loggia—arguably
the family’s favorite location for meals, conversation, and just
and the local artisans hanging out—a feverish Harold Ancart mixed-media work
is positioned above a gilded Italian neoclassical console. In
I could work with to Brian Pfeifler’s dressing room and office stands a vintage
Jacques Quinet desk wrapped in macho black leather, while
make the house special,” the couple’s bedroom is sluiced with flowing curtains run

Frank de Biasi explains.

up in a Brobdingnagian blue-and-white plaid cotton that
de Biasi designed and had woven in Tangier, where he lives.
“Nobody else has it, which I like,” he says of the fabric.
“Reinventing the wheel is what I like to do with every project.”
 design notes THE DETAILS THAT MAKE THE LOOK

A WOVEN COTTON
COVERLET FROM
MOROCCO ADDS COLOR
TO A GUEST ROOM.

MOROCCAN ARCH
PLANT STAND; $580.
HABIBIBURTON.COM

NIGHT OWL BUD

VASE; $95.
HABIBIBURTON.COM

FLORIN WALL
LIGHT; PRICE
UPON REQUEST.
JAMB.CO.UK

BOBBIN CONSOLE BY TURNER

POCOCK FOR CHELSEA TEXTILES;
$2,279. CHELSEATEXTILES.COM

INTERIORS: KRIS TAMBURELLO. ALL OTHERS COURTESY OF THE COMPANIES.

AMALFI CARREAUX COTTON BY LE MANACH;

TO THE TRADE. PIERREFREY.COM

GUSTO CANASTA WINGBACK CHAIR, BONE INLAY TABLE;

UPHOLSTERED IN REGATTA LINEN $2,075. JOHN
STRIPE SHEER BY SCHUMACHER; ROBSHAW.COM
$4,500. GETTHEGUSTO.COM

I’m old-school. I want to see VINTAGE KILIM;

PRICE UPON
it, touch it, talk with the dealer. REQUEST. WOVEN.IS

I’m tired of buying things online.”

—Frank de Biasi
110 ARCHDI GE ST.COM PRODUCE D BY MAD ELINE O’MA LL EY
 Brian and I really A VINTAGE BLUE-AND-WHITE
TILE MURAL DRESSES UP A
care about every WALL IN THE KITCHEN.

last doorknob, and

Frank allows us to get
really involved.”
—Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler
KINTBURY STRIPE FABRIC BY
GUY GOODFELLOW COLLECTION;
TO THE TRADE. JOHNROSSELLI.COM

LEADED LANTERN; $3,437.

ROSEUNIACKE.COM

THE CIRCULAR
YACHT TABLE;
$28,375. SOANE.COM

BOTANICAL STUDIES WALLPAPER

DESIGNED BY DE GOURNAY, CREATED
WITH MICHAEL S. SMITH; PRICE UPON
REQUEST. DEGOURNAY.COM

THE BAR IS COMPOSED OF GLASS

MOLDING, PANELS, AND DOORS
BY STERLING STUDIOS OF LONDON.
SOANE BRITAIN BARSTOOLS.

JEFFERSON STREET
ARMCHAIR; $4,900.
MOOREANDGILES.COM
Designer Nick Olsen’s Dutchess County farmhouse
possesses all the optimism of the young republic—
plus some revolutionary detours
TEXT BY MITCHELL OWENS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX BURKHALTER STYLED BY MIEKE TEN HAVE

AMERICAN
SPIRIT VINTAGE PIECES FROM
VARIOUS SOURCES MINGLE
IN THE LIVING ROOM. THE
YELLOW CHAIR WEARS A
KRAVET LINEN, AND THE SOFA
IS SLIPCOVERED IN A LEE
INDUSTRIES STRIPE. JUTE RUG
BY PATTERSON FLYNN.
 THE KITCHEN FEATURES AN
ANTIQUE-TILE BACKSPLASH,
A WOLF RANGE, A CIRCA
1800 SCANDINAVIAN TABLE,
AND 19TH-CENTURY DINING
CHAIRS SLIPCOVERED IN A
SISTER PARISH FABRIC.

J ust over six years ago, Manhattan interior

decorator Nick Olsen recalls, “I was very
busy with work and feeling a bit bedraggled—
why couldn’t I do something just for me?”
The answer to that stressed-out lament
swiftly presented itself: a dilapidated daffodil-
yellow 18th-century farmhouse in New York’s
Dutchess County, shingled and humble
and straightforward, and as spare and square as a sugar cube.
Driving to and from a photo shoot at a client’s house in the
area, Olsen had cast covetous glances over the property, which
was prettily perched atop a hill overlooking a main road.
One inquiry later, it turned out that it had been for sale forever.
Emboldened, he made a lowball offer that, to his surprise,
the main floor’s off-kilter layout—knocking together a couple
of small spaces to create a commodious living-dining room
and reworking the cramped staircase into an elegant Chinese
Chippendale–style ascent. So he did. Yet as many renovating
homeowners can appreciate, some plans remain incomplete.
For one, he still hasn’t replaced the cinder-block garage with
something more pleasing. The swimming-pool daydream has
been back-burnered for the time being, too, though, he brightly
notes, he gets to splash down in one owned by nearby friends.
“Everybody called the place the Yellow House, so of course
I had to go and paint it white,” Olsen says, adding that for a
hot second he pondered painting it black. (“Very on trend but
harsh in bright sunlight.”) Though the façade is no longer yel-
low, Olsen has carried the memory of that sunny tone indoors,
was instantly accepted. from the crisp linen that dresses a wingback chair in the living
His new two-bedroom getaway possessed all the requisite area to a giant pencil, a store prop, that leans against a wall
swoon-worthy selling points—beautiful mantels, wide-plank near the jet-black Saarinen dining table. Yellow also accents
floors, picturesque beams—as well as some wince-making the entrance hall floor, which go-to decorative painter Chris
elements that Olsen was determined to eradicate, such as a Pearson crisscrossed with wide yellow and brown bands, and
1960s kitchen and several sketchy lean-tos. And who knew embellished with dark vermicelli squiggles that Olsen once
that renters had been cultivating marijuana in the attic? spotted on some “kooky Italian tiles.” The effect is a madcap
“It was an exercise in stripping away,” the designer says of mash-up of ye olde mochaware and graphic patchwork
the renovation that followed, a process that advanced slowly quilts accompanied by, of all things, a sinewy Thonet chair
CAROL ANTHONY

as funding waxed and waned. “I wanted to rip off everything (“Everybody butch loves that chair”), a dressy Louis XV–style
that wasn’t original,” except for the one-story late-18th-century taboret, a tramp-art stegosaurus, and a wood sculpture (“It’s
wing that contains the kitchen; that was retained and improved supposed to be a bookcase, but it doesn’t work as a bookcase
with a Greek Revival porch. Olsen also wanted to regularize at all”) that resembles an unsteady stack of boxes.

114 ARCHDIGE S T.CO M

ABOVE DESIGNER NICK OLSEN IN THE GARDEN. A SET OF VINTAGE POWDER-COATED IRON PLAYING-CARD CHAIRS SURROUND
AN RH TABLE. BELOW IN THE LIVING ROOM, GREEN CORDUROY CHAIRS FROM MEG BRAFF DESIGNS PULL UP TO AN EERO SAARINEN
TABLE. THE EBONIZED COLUMN PEDESTAL AND FAUX-MARBLE TORSO WERE PURCHASED AT AUCTION.
 “DECORATING IS ALWAYS VERY PERSONAL TO ME, and I wanted
to do tongue-in-cheek Americana,” Olsen explains of the
painted floor and the animated spirit of the rooms that open
off of it. Recollections of his childhood home in Pensacola,
Florida, suffuse the decor’s DNA. “My late mother was country
living to the max,” he observes. “Red, white, and blue, pine-
apples, plaids, checks, stencils—she loved it all.”
Olsen does, too, but he’s taken that vocabulary of the past
and then fascinatingly fractured it, breaking it down here
and building it up there in ways that are cheeky rather than
reverential. The result is a big, sexy melting-pot mix that
perfectly complements what Olsen describes as “a proud little
house.” A plush Napoléon III club chair is parked beside a

When it comes to
decorating, “I like to take
things to the edge of
crazytown,” Olsen says.
skeletal cocktail table by populist designer T.H. Robsjohn-
Gibbings. A West African stool crouches next to an old slipper
chair clad in chintz, not far from a CB2 table and an IKEA floor
lamp. The art is largely abstract (“I need to put the geometric
next to the organic next to the floral”), works by Carol Anthony,
Simon Nicholson, and Robert Vickers sharing wall space with
a mirror wrapped in the kind of frame one associates with Old
Master paintings and a pair of big tole birds that Olsen placed
on either side of the stove hood.
“My pseudo-narrative is that the house was renovated in
the 1940s,” Olsen explains of a fiction that gave him permis-
sion to combine granny fabrics with café-society special
effects—such as the white trompe l’oeil drapery (created by
decorative artist Agustin Hurtado) that seems to ruffle the
guest room’s walls—an Art Moderne chest of drawers, and
vinyl roller shades that have been finished to match. “I like to
take things to the edge of crazytown,” Olsen says, “but still
keep it comfortable and warm.” Pearson painted the motif of
the guest beds’ coverlets onto the floor, so it appears as if
the red-white-and-blue printed linen-cotton has flooded the
room, entirely obscuring the original floorboards. In Olsen’s
own bedroom, Pearson dappled the white walls and ceiling
with colorful painted checks, kinetic accents that were
inspired by the bedspread and bring to mind Piet Mondrian’s
1940s masterwork Broadway Boogie Woogie.
“Anyone who’s afraid of paint, I just say do it,” Olsen says.
After all, he points out, there’s not a lot one can do to make
a pine floor interesting without resorting to two or three coats
of latex and a bit of imagination. “Unless it’s beautiful or has
some inherent value, I’ll paint it.”

116 ARCHDIGE S T.COM

THE GUEST ROOM’S FAUX-DRAPED WALLS AND CEILING WERE PAINTED BY AGUSTIN HURTADO.
CHRIS PEARSON PAINTED THE FLOOR TO MIMIC THE BED COVERLETS OF PIERRE FREY’S SIRENES.
 “My pseudo-
narrative is that
the house
was renovated in
the 1940s.”

ABOVE CHRIS PEARSON PAINTED THE

PRIMARY BEDROOM’S WALLS AND CEILING
TO COMPLEMENT THE BEDCOVER OF A
JENNIFER SHORTO FABRIC. BLU DOT BEDSIDE
TABLES; CHRISTOPHER SPITZMILLER LAMPS
(ON DRESSER). RIGHT THE HOUSE’S WINDOW
AWNINGS WERE MADE BY DAVID HAAG.
THE ENTRY FEATURES DECORATIVE PAINTING
BY BOTH HURTADO (WALL) AND PEARSON
(FLOOR). THE BLUE-GLASS MIRROR IS BY
SKYFRAME IN NEW YORK CITY. SISAL STAIR
RUNNER BY PATTERSON FLYNN.
 one to watch

Sarita Jaccard and swimming pool for actress and comedian Jessica
Williams. Meanwhile, on the grounds of a Paul R. Williams
“When I arrived it was all grass,” says landscape designer house in Hollywood, Jaccard is sensitively restoring
Sarita Jaccard, describing her client’s 1925 home in the outdoor spaces, planting a large olive tree and
Los Angeles. Today the plot (pictured) teems with native loads of California varieties. Thanks to a degree from
plants, among them milkweed, salvia, and California NYU in environmental studies, she is attuned to the
wild rose. “We wanted to bring it to life with colors and ecological impact of each job, favoring native, climate-
attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies.” Jaccard, appropriate plants that require less water, choosing
a creative pollinator herself, is still rather green to the locally sourced materials, and urging her clients to
garden world. The Argentinean American got her start in consider gray-water irrigation systems. “I look at every
2017, working for the L.A. landscape guru Art Luna after project as a story that existed before me,” explains
cold-emailing him. About two years later, she launched Jaccard, who is also mindful to acknowledge the role
her own office, now made up entirely of Spanish speakers. of Native people as the original stewards of American
Projects have been bountiful ever since, ranging from the land. “What do I want to add to this story?”
West Adams home of artist Henry Taylor to the garden saritajaccarddesign.com —HANNAH MARTIN

120 ARCHDIGE S T.COM PHOTOGRAPHY BY PIA RIVEROLA

LE ARN MORE AT
STEINWAY.COM/COLORS
 ™

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