Category Archives: Classic Chic

Luxury and Simplicity in Manhattan

I have always admired the spare and comfortable elegance of this Manhattan apartment decorated sometime in the early 1990’s by Stephen Sills and James Huniford before it was published in Maison & Jardin in 1995. I assume it must have also been published in an American magazine, such as Elle Decor, but I don’t possess […]

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Seasonally and Simply Elegant

Posted November 17, 2014. Filed in Classic Chic, Classic Contemporary, Veere Greeney

Interior designer Veere Grenney and his partner David Oliver, creative director of Paint & Paper Library, opened the doors of their Regency townhouse in London once again, this time to the folks at Veranda for some holiday cheer. To the carefully edited chic interiors Grenney crafted in his imitable style – which he refers to […]

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Forever Hicks

Posted September 17, 2014. Filed in Classic Chic, Classic Contemporary, Classical Moderne, David Hicks

Forty-nine years ago, in 1965, David Hicks decorated this apartment for an undisclosed client, referred to as “Lady X”, comprising two floors running the length of two 1830’s houses overlooking Hyde Park in London. In 2003 his son, Ashley Hicks, was alerted to its preserved state and was encouraged to view it when he was […]

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Throwback Thursday: Rubén de Saavedra

Posted July 31, 2014. Filed in Classic Chic, Classic Contemporary, Rubén de Saavedra

Rubén de Saavedra, a Spanish interior designer, hit his mark in the 1970’s, often gracing the pages of Architectural Digest. With bravado he transformed traditional rooms into theatrical stages for modern living – a look that today brings to mind the work of Kelly Wearstler and Jean-Louis Deniot. Merging contemporary and classic design with shots […]

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Hail Stephen!

Stephen Sills, that is – the classically-inspired interior designer with an American point of view. Sir Sills is the decorator’s decorator, the one that can’t be copied with any success. Have you ever tried to copy a Rothko or a Pollack? I have, with disastrous results. Yes, it’s true, be yourself. It’s your only fate. […]

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Throwback Thursday: Kevin McNamara

Posted June 5, 2014. Filed in American Chic, Classic Chic, Kevin McNamara

Today’s post is the first in what may become a serialized feature: Throwback Thursday. The concept has gained universal popularity, from Facebook to Pinterest, so I thought “Why not create a special feature for my Thursday posts?” Having themed posts also helps me stay on focus, truth be told! The late Kevin McNamara is the […]

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Past Perfect

When I first laid eyes upon Jeffrey’s Bilhuber’s guest room/study in his then new Manhattan apartment a few years back I immediately sensed familiarity, but I couldn’t place it. Had I seen this room before, in a previous incarnation, or did it remind me of another room, its impression floating somewhere in my memory? Recently […]

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Enduring Saladino Style: Vintage Kips Bay

In practice, Decorator Showhouses are intended to introduce new ideas, trends, and technology by interior designers and decorators to potential clients and end-users of home furnishings products. Showhouses also offer the designer an opportunity to step outside the box and create a room, or rooms, for an imaginary client where the sky’s the limit. This […]

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CLASSICO-MODERNA

Posted March 25, 2014. Filed in Classic Chic, Michele Bönan, Understated Luxury

Luxury hotel collection J. K. Place has introduced a third boutique-style hotel to its existing venues in Florence and Capri with the recently opened J. K. Place Roma. For the design and decoration of their latest property in the Eternal City they once again turned to Michele Bonan to cast his sybaritic take on elegant […]

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LE BON MIX

Posted March 23, 2014. Filed in Chahan Minassian, Classic Chic, Classical Moderne

Featured in the February-March issue of French AD is a breathtakingly atmospheric pied-à-terre designed by architect and interior designer Chahan Minassian. So seldom are his projects featured in trade magazines that I may have actually let out a slight gasp discovering his latest. As glamour goes this is my kind of hedonism, with rooms bathed in an […]

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