{"id":346935,"date":"2020-10-16T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/?p=346935"},"modified":"2021-12-15T05:50:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T10:50:32","slug":"decorating-with-animal-prints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.1stdibs.com\/blogs\/the-study\/decorating-with-animal-prints\/","title":{"rendered":"How Today\u2019s Interior Designers Are Decorating with Animal Prints"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"San
Photo by James Carriere<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Martha Angus and Katie McCaffrey<\/a>\u2019s goal for this San Francisco dining room was “to combine some of the clients’ existing antiques, such as the table, with the playful dressiness of the new pieces.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playfulness is very much in evidence in the tiger-print fabric covering the French Empire\u2013style<\/a> chairs set around the clients\u2019 table, not to mention the Larry Poons<\/a>\u2013inspired screen, which Angus painted herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"New
Photo by Nick Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tasked with reimagining a Park Avenue apartment for longtime clients, Lee Cavanaugh, design partner at Cullman<\/a> & Kravis Inc.<\/a>, looked to French interiors of the 1940s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cavanaugh grounded the glamorous living room with a Maison Jansen<\/a>\u2013inspired chair upholstered in a leopard print and a Regency<\/a> mahogany sofa table repurposed as a desk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Jeff
Photo by Aubrie Pick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The project is truly one of a kind!\u201d exclaims Jeff Schlarb, describing an apartment his firm designed in San Francisco\u2019s Russian Hill neighborhood. “We were inspired by Barbie dolls, unicorns and rainbows. We should all live this freely.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The living\/dining space is the epitome of whimsy, care of a Jonathan Adler<\/a> mirrored chest, a vintage rainbow-hued chandelier and a pink Sabrina Landini<\/a> floor lamp. A final flight of fancy is provided by the flock of birds, digital prints from Trove, flying around the room\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Studio
Photo courtesy of Marie Flanigan Interiors<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marie Flanigan<\/a> spiced up a traditional living room she designed in a Studio City, California, house with deliciously edgy details, including tiger-print Williams Sonoma pillows and a Lionel Deluy black-and-white photograph of a half-naked model smoking a cigarette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My client is a renowned chef who treasures his cookbook collection,\u201d explains Flanigan. “I played off all the hues found in his books by incorporating warm, textural pieces that enhanced the space instead of competing with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Los
Photo by Grey Crawford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“In this Los Angeles dining room, it\u2019s all about the bronze monochromatic palette with layers of pattern and texture,” says designer Jeff Andrews<\/a>. \u201cThat mix combined with the traditional architectural elements of the room made the space both dramatic and chic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDramatic and chic\u201d certainly describes the elegant Holly Hunt<\/a>\u2013covered chairs and bristling Jean de Merry Sputnik chandelier. More texture is added by James Verbicky\u2019s Citta Santana<\/em> diptych on the wall \u2014 “a mixed-media collage,” Andrews explains, “of old magazine pages, mostly fashion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Portola
Photo by Matthew Millman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The clients’ son loves sharks, so we created a bit of an underwater room for him,” says Jay Jeffers<\/a>, describing this space in a Portola Valley, California, home. “Not pictured is a large shark painted on the wall, but we put a smile on his face, so he wasn\u2019t a scary shark!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a further fun aquatic element, look no farther than the Fornasetti<\/a> fish wallpaper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"New
Photo by Francesco Lagnese for Introspective<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In decorating his own New York City loft<\/a>, Drew McGukin<\/a> gave himself a challenge: to bring together into a cohesive design the “contents of four storage units, travel curiosities, three or four previous homes’ wares and all my collections amassed over the past 10 years,\u201d he explains. “It was really about seeing everything in kaleidoscope.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the living room, the varied pieces form a stylish m\u00e9lange of patterns and textures, with the paintings \u2014 Aboriginal works<\/a>, which McGukin collects, on the back wall, and a portrait by Drew Tal<\/a> to the left \u2014 providing splashes of color. Lighting the scene are nearly identical lamps, both by Gordon and Jane Martz<\/a> but picked up at different times and places: one at a thrift store and the other, coincidentally enough, on 1stDibs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The custom-upholstered furniture includes McGukin\u2019s McSwivel armchairs and a Swaim sofa. About the latter the designer enthuses: “That sofa is 99 inches of pure leopard pleasure!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"
Photo by Philip Starr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a client relocating to Geneva, Switzerland, Shannon Connor<\/a> sought to imbue her new home with “strength and power of the female kind.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the main bedroom, The Rug Company<\/a>\u2019s funky zebra print pairs perfectly with a custom blue-green bed from Shine by S.H.O.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"New
Photo by Kevin Lau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“I wanted to enhance the whitewashed brick walls and create a fun and youthful space for these clients,\u201d says Christina Nielsen<\/a>, explaining her design for the living room of a loft in downtown Manhattan. “Color, pattern and texture were a big part of allowing this seating area to come alive.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bright, ultra-soothing Lorenzo Minoli close-up of a wave sets the tone for the rest of the decor, which includes a velvet Jonathan Adler sofa, a Knoll<\/a> tulip end table and leopard-print Ralph Lauren<\/a> pillows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"New
Photo by Joshua McHugh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A neutral palette and rich textures help give the family room of this New York pied-\u00e0-terre designed by Alberto Villalobos<\/a> a sophisticated polish while infusing it with a warm, inviting feel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The furniture is a mix of old and new. Chairs from Maison Gerard<\/a> flank the fireplace, in front of which sits an 18th-century Baroque<\/a> gilded stool, and across the room is an antique English end table. Villalobos designed the bold zebra ottoman, which can be moved around depending on where the family wants to congregate.<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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