Bright interior: an example to follow

I can not believe it! I hired a decorator! But only yesterday she considered the representatives of this profession almost charlatans. What are they actually doing? Those who want to buy furniture, paint, chandeliers and curtains are brought together with those who want to sell furniture, paint, chandeliers and curtains. Well settled! To me, intermediaries have always seemed like an extra link. Especially after working for New York magazine, where I ran the Sales and Discounts column. All day long I scoured the city like a bloodhound in search of great deals. I was interested in absolutely everything: from a batch of shoes to places in an underground garage, from handbags embroidered with beads to office pianos. The main thing is to exclude unnecessary links and go directly to the manufacturer. So, in terms of the ability to find unique things for ridiculous money, I can give a hundred points in advance to any decorator … And now, having discarded all my principles, I am happy to use the services of such an intermediary. What happened?

I must tell you that I have absolutely no experience in setting up a home. It just so happened that, having lived to thirty years, I managed to do without my own nest. First there was a room in a college dorm, then I moved in with a friend (in his townhouse the attic was just vacated), and then … then I stayed there legally – the friend became my husband. When a new apartment loomed on the horizon, I suddenly realized that to create the right atmosphere in the house, the ability to buy something cheap is not enough, because cheap is not always angry.

On the advice of friends, I turned to Miles Redd. A cheerful, impeccably dressed Georgia native welcomed me into an office that looked like it had come from the pages of Alice in Wonderland: checkerboard floor, bright blue walls, sophisticated lighting that creates the illusion of sunlight spilling over the room.

Alas, my new apartment did not evoke such fabulous associations. But then the building of Granmercy Park … My God! I fell in love with him the very minute my foot stepped on the ancient mosaic floors. The antediluvian mechanical elevator, the walls paneled with dark wood, everything here reminded me of the old-fashioned student dormitory where I spent my youth.

The apartment was a long line of rooms, earlier it was called “a suite of old maidens” (apparently, in memory of those days when the old maids needed six rooms and a small room for servants). Unfortunately, over the past hundred years, the long-suffering dwelling has gone through several unsuccessful renovations: the interior partitions were broken, the floors were whitewashed, and half of the dining room was occupied by a giant wine cabinet. Although our real estate agent called the apartment a tidbit, it was a disaster in terms of style.

I was dying to know what Miles had to say about our acquisition. “It looks like a shopping center after the explosion,” he purred cheerfully, not even having time to really look around the apartment. “But I’ll make candy out of it.” I definitely found my man! Besides the killer southern charm, two things attracted me to Miles. Firstly, his ability to work with small spaces, and secondly, his bold manner of handling color. My own aspirations did not go beyond the ubiquitous shades of unbleached canvas, but Miles pushed me towards much brighter solutions. I myself would never go for a rich turquoise, intense orange, let alone black! Thanks to the fact that we used not matte, but shiny paints for the walls, the rooms do not look gloomy: on the contrary, they just shine! Ebony painted floors and silvered door handles complete the picture.

Naturally, I tried to bring a lot of “bargain purchases” into the apartment. Some came to the court – for example, curtains, which I ordered during my trip to India (Miles had provided me with samples in advance). But the gilded wallpaper that I dug up on the Internet, Miles decisively rejected: “You are not a bird to live in a golden cage!”

I knew one thing: I wanted a lot of wallpapers – they, unlike painted walls, allow you to feel constancy and your own individuality. We went through different options for a long time, gluing the samples to the wall with tape, and in the end we settled on three. For the nursery – fleecy wallpaper the color of golden wine. For the dining room – deep orange, developed in the “Vienna Workshops”. (“This was the first modernist movement in design,” my Germanophile husband noticed for the first time showing any interest in the renovation.) Finally, for the bedroom we chose hand-painted Chinoiserie-style wallpaper from De Gournay.

They caused the most battles and, as a result, “ate” the lion’s share of the budget. At first, we planned to paste over only one wall with them to save money. But Miles convinced us not to be greedy. His main argument was the mantra of a regular sale: “When you buy the best, you cry only once. Buying cheap – for the rest of your life. ” Of course he was right. We love to fall asleep in this “winter garden”.

Two years after the renovation began, the apartment finally became a home for our small family. I can’t imagine what could be improved here! For example, a living room. All these soft, stain-resistant surfaces are completely safe for our just-to-be-walk son, and at the same time the setting is perfect for social events and cocktails. Of course, something will have to be reconsidered over time – when we have a second child, we will transform the office into a nursery. But this is even good. Leaving a few touches for later is a sign of a strong relationship with your decorator. And without him – nowhere!