The Insider: Exuberant Color, Eclectic Furnishings Enliven Young Homeowner's First Apartment
In furnishing her new top-floor two-bedroom in a prewar walkup, its owner might have gone neutral or leaned on IKEA, as she did in a previous rental.
Photo by Michael Granacki
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In furnishing her new top-floor two-bedroom in a prewar walkup in Park Slope, its owner might have gone neutral or leaned on IKEA, as she did in a previous rental. But deciding she wanted more color, polish and glamour in her first owned home, she hired Manhattan-based interior designer Tara McCauley, fresh off an eight-year stint in the office of noted New York tastemaker Nick Olsen.
The main living space had plentiful windows and useful built-ins, including a pair of bookcases on either side of the brick chimney breast, kitchen cabinetry painted dark teal, and a corner banquette in the dining area that morphed into a long row of cubbies running under the living room windows.
“The client showed me a Pinterest board with a maximalist aesthetic she liked but had no idea how to achieve, with images of Dawnridge, Tony Duquette’s house in Beverly Hills,” McCauley said. In the energetic spirit of the legendary Hollywood designer, whom McCauley also admires, they embarked on a painting and decorating tear.
“Most things we bought were vintage,” McCauley said, from sources like Furnish Green, thrift shops, and local auctions. “She didn’t have much she wanted to hold on to, other than a few pieces she got traveling the world with her parents, and a dog-friendly sofa” (the client has a big Lab). “We used the sofa’s emerald green color as a jumping-off point.”
Since the living room, dining room and kitchen are one open area, the designer said, “I wanted it to feel cohesive from one end to the other. We painted the built-in bookcases the same blue as the kitchen cabinets, and used a rug with blue in it to tie the space together.”
The dining area, painted Benjamin Moore’s Light Pistachio, accommodates dinner parties and is durable enough for a dog who likes to sit on every surface. Bench and chair cushions were custom made of indoor-outdoor fabric from Kravet.
The antique light fixture over the dining table was a score from Kamelot Auctions in Philadelphia. Windows have custom valences with tassel trim, a Duquette signature.
An impressive mirror from Furnish Green in Chelsea distinguishes a bar area near the kitchen.
Blue and green wallpaper from Hygge & West, inspired by Portuguese azulejo tiles, “carries you down the hall” from the living room to the guest bedroom/office, McCauley said. The runner was sourced from ABC Carpet.
McCauley incorporated a variety of textures in the primary bedroom to make it feel layered and lush, including an upholstered headboard of pleated silk georgette and silk taffeta curtains. The 1950s mirrored vanity, mirror above it and white dresser all came from Hayloft Auctions in the Bronx.
The wall color is Benjamin Moore’s Just Peachy.
The guest room/study “gets zero sunlight,” the designer said. She embraced that limitation by painting the walls Deep Ocean from Benjamin Moore, and enveloping a work-from-home nook in floor-to-ceiling drapes.
The client brought the rug and wall hanging back from Pakistan. The daybed, from CB2, opens to a full-size bed.
[Photos by Michael Granacki | Styling by Anthony Amiano]
The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.
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