Shawn Henderson Interior Design

Cacophonous. Jovial. Tasty. New Orleans is all these things, and designer Shawn Henderson intended this project in the city’s French Quarter to be the same. “I wanted it to feel exciting and visually stimulating — yet extremely comfortable,” says the New York–based designer. He instilled both qualities in the 19th-century house’s spacious dining room, where he created a pair of corner lounge areas using custom banquettes, barrel-back chairs in the style of Edward Wormley and mirror-top café tables from Soane Britain. At the opposite end of the room, framed by provocative contemporary art (including Elmgreen & Dragset’s 2016 two-piece sculpture For Today I Am a Child), are a Louis XVI–style table and chairs, the height of dining comfort. Henderson knows how to play it both edgy and smooth. Which is very New Orleans. “The natural tendency would be to do something a bit safer and more traditional,” he admits. “I think what I created blurs the line a bit.”