Janine Carendi MacMurray’s Peripatetic Past Informs Her Style
The New York City–based talent's firm, AREA Interior Design — a member of the 1stDibs 50 — creates high-style family-friendly homes that don't sacrifice panache for practicality.
December 22, 2024As Janine Carendi MacMurray sees it, there are two supreme compliments that the projects masterminded by her studio, Area Interior Design, can elicit. The first is when a client rehires her, which has happened routinely throughout her two-decade career. “It’s such an honor to be selected again for another project,” she says, “to already have a rapport with somebody and understand their needs and have their trust.”
The second is when people say they can’t tell when her rooms were designed, that they look assembled over years, without the kinds of style tropes that quickly come and go. “I want my work to feel collected, not designed or trendy,” she says.
Having grown up in Mexico, Colombia, Sweden and the U.S., Janine Carendi MacMurray brings a worldly sensibility to the homes her studio, AREA Interior Design, creates for clients. Top: The living room of an apartment on New York’s Fifth Avenue, not far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, features custom seating, including a sofa flanked by tiered William Hinn side tables, plus 1970s Hollywood Regency coffee tables,and curtains made of a Pierre Frey fabric. The Grace Kelly portrait over the sofa is by Mark Boomershine. All photos by Kirsten Francis unless otherwise noted
MacMurray’s thoughtfully tailored interiors deftly mix new and vintage furnishings from multiple eras, with rich textural variations and creative accents of pattern and color adding character and strategic pops of pizzazz. Frequently designing for families with children, she always prioritizes durability and comfort. “I play a game in my head. It’s called the Floor is Lava,” she says. “Can a child jump from chair to sofa to coffee table and everything will be okay?”
In the living room of another apartment on New York’s Upper East Side — this one featured in 2024’s 1stDibs 50 — MacMurray paired a custom sofa with one by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, which sits under a Reinhard Görner photograph of the Long Room, at Trinity College Dublin. Facing these across the R&Y Augousti coffee table are a pair of 1950s walnut armchairs with brass feet. In the back corner, a walnut Austrian Biedermeier table from the 1920s supports a Brutalist lamp. The painting over the mantel is by Harris Strong, and the serigraph to its left is by Adja Yunkers.
Of course, not every space she creates fully passes the test. Consider, for example, the living room of an apartment she renovated for a family on New York’s Upper East Side, which was featured with the heading “Kid-Proof High Style” in this year’s 1stDibs 50.
MacMurray, who has two kids of her own, ages 15 and 10, concedes that the vintage T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings sofa and glass-top German side table from the 1950s don’t precisely fit the child-friendly mold. Nor, arguably, does the R&Y Augousti brass coffee table with shagreen and shell details, although it is hardy enough to stand up to any child’s play.
Artworks by Lizzie Scott flank the doorway to the dining room, where Frits Henningsen dining chairs from Cafiero Select sit at the table beneath a Tronchi Murano glass chandelier from Planta Collections. A work by artist Field Kallop hangs over an R&Y Augousti console table, and the artwork seen reflected on the right side of the antiqued-mirror front of the built-in storage is by Christophe.
But she also outfitted the space with more functionally elegant sofas of her own design, plus sturdy mid-century walnut chairs and custom-crafted armchairs, all in the style of Robsjohn-Gibbings. The upholstery fabrics are durable and stain-resistant, while the walls are finished in sumptuous but easy-to-clean Venetian plaster.
In the apartment’s dining room, meanwhile, she transformed an awkward bay window into a nook with a cozy banquette and table where the children can sit and engage in activities like drawing. A wall of antiqued mirrors conceals art supplies and games as well as serving platters and other dinnerware.
MacMurray acquired the dining room’s Frits HenningsenArt Deco–style chairs — as well as most of the historical pieces in the apartment — through 1stDibs, which she uses as more than a destination to source things. In addition to offering a selection of antique, vintage and her own custom pieces through a 1stDibs storefront called CARENDI, she often uses the site to spark ideas.
“Sometimes, when I’m stuck, I just start browsing,” she says. “I’ll get inspired and come up with a direction for the room.”
In the library, a walnut chair sits at an Astra desk by Amorph, while Arteriors poufs stand before a sofa upholstered in an Osborne & Little velvet. The fabrics on the pillows are Schumacher.
The seeds of MacMurray’s love of furnishings and design were planted in her childhood. She grew up in Mexico, Colombia, Sweden and the U.S., where her family moved just as she was starting high school. Her Swedish father worked for an insurance company based in his native country that relocated him frequently. “It sounds like a CIA cover story,” she says, laughing. “I think one of the reasons I became a residential interior designer is because no matter where we were, we would create homes, and that left an impact on me.”
Her mother, who is Mexican, was especially influential. “She purchased a lot of the furniture,” MacMurray recalls, “and never used an interior designer. It was all her.”
MacMurray designed the nightstand and desk in the primary bedroom and had the bed upholstered in a Holland & Sherry fabric. The artwork over the desk is by JT Thompson and the one over the bed is by Sofie Swann.
After studying politics at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, — where she says she actually spent much of her time exploring art and architecture — MacMurray moved to New York City and worked for a nonprofit. It was rewarding but emotionally taxing, and she found herself with mounting debt.
She briefly took a job with Lehman Brothers — “just long enough to pay back all my credit cards,” she says. “Then, the day I quit, I took a portfolio of my college drawings to Parsons School of Design, which had already closed admissions. But I sat there in the office, and eventually, they granted me an interview, and I ended up studying interior design there for two years.”
The entry to the Fifth Avenue apartment near the Met impresses with a graphic stone floor and Barovier & Toso light fixtures from the 1940s.
At that time, MacMurray’s north star was minimalism, but an internship with Jonathan Adler — a company known for playful riffs on historic styles — helped convince her to broaden her purview, as did a stint in Parsons’s decorative arts program in Paris.
She launched her interiors career doing projects for friends, starting with the socialite and reality-TV star Tinsley Mortimer. “When I was at Parsons, one of my classes was designing a company website, which I sent to friends,” she recalls. “I got a call from Tinsley’s husband, and he was like, ‘Oh, we’re doing an apartment. Come help us.’ And that was how I began my business.”
Back in the Fifth Avenue living room, a green-on-green Lee Jofa ikat covers a cozy banquette behind a trio of nesting coffee tables by R&Y Augousti. In front of the fireplace is one of a pair of contemporary Hollywood Regency stools, while above it is a Manolo Valdés artwork flanked by a pair of Barovier sconces.
MacMurray’s practice grew organically via word of mouth, and by the time the COVID pandemic hit, she had expanded her team to include a handful of designers. “Honestly, it wasn’t necessary to have that many people,” admits MacMurray, who has since scaled back.
While a small staff handles the accounting and other back-office matters, MacMurray is the firm’s sole designer. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “I do every project myself, all the sourcing myself, and I work directly with every client, which I love.”
Another recent project that shows off MacMurray’s personal hand is a Fifth Avenue duplex in a well-known 1930 building by architect Rosario Candela near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Contemporary linen-shaded brass pendants hang over the kitchen island. The breakfast area is furnished with custom chairs, table and banquette.
In the living room, MacMurray enlivened a quiet composition of custom and vintage seating with eye-catching accent pieces, including 1970s glass-top cocktail tables with faceted gold-plated legs, a pair of ’60s Barovier sconces with leafy sprays of Venetian glass and a scallop-back banquette that’s inset into a mirrored niche and upholstered in a spirited forest-green ikat. A ceiling fixture by Robert Kuster featuring a cluster of overlapping shell forms in soda glass adds visual flair overhead.
Large-scale sculptural lighting — a staple of MacMurray’s recent projects — animates multiple rooms. A 1970s Sputnik-style chandelier in brass and white glass radiates over an inviting bespoke banquette in the kitchen’s breakfast area. A vintage Murano fixture with a profusion of clear-glass leaves cascades above the bed in the primary suite, a serene oasis of pale blush and beige tones.
In the primary bedroom, a custom curved sofa stands at the foot of a bed upholstered in a fabric from Kravet. Alabaster table lamps from Vaughan top the bespoke nightstands, with a Murano glass ceiling light mounted above. Over the Baker Furniture dresser, MacMurray placed an artwork from the clients’ collection.
In that suite, contrasting textures abound, from the Phillip Jeffries wall covering to the nubbly carpet woven from wool and leather. Vaughan alabaster-and-brass lamps top lacquer-finished nightstands that are part of the made-to-order line MacMurray sells on her 1stDibs storefront.
“People want soothing, calming and a bit monochromatic in the primary bedroom. Same thing in the formal living areas,” says the designer. “But then, I don’t want it to be boring.”
MacMurray outfitted the foyer of a 1902 Tudor in Pittsburgh with a wool-and-silk hand-knotted rug and a 19th-century English Sheraton mahogany breakfast table topped by a large Chinese porcelain vessel from the mid-1800s. Photo by Simon Upton
Infusing spaces with personality was at the top of the designer’s brief for a home in Pittsburgh she renovated a few years ago for repeat clients, a couple with two kids.
Working in collaboration with Cruze Architects, MacMurray retained many of the original details of the 1902 Tudor-style residence, while updating the rooms with a modern vibe that suited the clients.
Distinguished 20th-century artworks, selected from the family’s extensive collection, play a primary role. In the living room, a portrait of a prominent ancestor over the fireplace is joined by paintings by Jean Dubuffet and Richard Estes, the latter of which hung in the husband’s childhood bedroom. A large 1960s work by Robert Indiana adds Pop art punch above the family room’s stone mantelpiece, providing an unexpected counterpoint to the lodge-like architecture and leavening the eclectic array of furnishings and objects.
Dedar-fabric-covered pillows top custom sofas upholstered in a Schumacher fabric in the house’s family room. MacMurray repurposed a 19th-century Chinese rattan bed for the coffee table and selected an antique Heriz carpet from the 1800s for the floor. The Baroque Dutch octagonal mirror dates from around 1680, and the Robert Indiana artwork over the mantel is from the 1960s. Photo by Simon Upton
“There’s a lot of dark wood, so we selected bright and colorful and more abstract, more modern art, as well as light carpets, light paint colors,” MacMurray says.
Throughout the home, vintage furnishings mingle with custom pieces and family heirlooms. In the inviting game room, a chic mid-century Cesare Lacca bar cart complements the mirrored bar niche, while Swedish Art Deco armchairs offer a seductive spot for cocktails. Nearby, Klismos-style chairs pair stylishly with a Deco inlaid chess table. One of Ben Shahn’s famous “Sacco and Vanzetti” paintings hangs on the pale-gray paneling above the fireplace, adding a touch of color to the room’s muted scheme.
The upstairs children’s play area packs a punch, thanks to the brightly colored graphic custom wall painting. Photo by Simon Upton
“I think quiet sometimes speaks loudest,” says MacMurray. “It’s the idea that there are strong lines in the furniture and also that I’m not too dependent on pattern or color to give a space character.”
Not that MacMurray is bashful about going bold in the right context. Case in point: the upstairs children’s playroom, where she covered the walls and peaked ceiling in an oversize abstract pattern of angular shapes in a variety of colors. “You go up a very traditional staircase to the top floor, open this door, and you’re just met with a tremendous amount of color and light,” she says. “We wanted the kids to feel they had a space that was speaking to them as children.”
The adult play space — a games room and bar — features Klismos-style chairs at an Art Deco inlaid chess table and Swedish Deco armchairs from Eileen Lane Antiques at a mid-century Cesare Lacca bar cart. Photo by Simon Upton
A similarly chromatic rug and a simple table and chairs are joined by vintage spindle-back benches, one stamped “Democrats,” the other “Republicans,” that came from a Maine church where they had been used for elections. “We found the benches among their family’s possessions, and I just loved them,” says MacMurray, who added cushions in a vivid zigzagging pattern.
The goal with each space she designs, MacMurray says, “is to make sure it feels like thought has gone into every proportion, that the mixing of eras and creators feels genuine.” After all, she adds, “if somebody’s going to hire you, you want to give them something that they couldn’t just go and pick up in a showroom.”
Carl Malmsten Jonas Love armchairs, mid-20th century
“These armchairs are a great example of Carl Malmsten’s ability to merge classical elegance with modern practicality. Malmsten, a leading figure in Swedish design, was one of the central proponents of Swedish Grace. It’s a unique blend of refined, classical forms with a pared-down, functional approach that would later influence much of Scandinavian design. These Jonas Love armchairs, originally created for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, show off Malmsten’s signature sweeping lines and his love for curves. I love that his work doesn’t just look beautiful — it’s designed with human scale in mind, ensuring that the form doesn’t just please the eye but feels right when you sit in it. The soft, sculptural lines of these chairs still feel fresh today.”
“This Swedish Grace cabinet is a fantastic illustration of one of the movement’s defining traits — the balance of functional simplicity with elegant artistry. I’m particularly drawn to how the contrasting wood grains are used subtly, letting the natural beauty of the materials shine through without overwhelming the overall design. The piece pulls from Sweden’s long-standing appreciation for craftsmanship, but it also speaks to the broader European trends of the time, including Art Deco’s embrace of geometry and abstraction. It feels very much of its time but still timeless in its approach.”
“The Viking scene depicted on this piece is just one example of how Swedish Grace often drew on historical inspiration, blending the past with the modern. Mattsson, much like Malmsten, was part of this aesthetic movement, joining the elegance of classical design with the simplicity and practicality that Scandinavian design is known for. But where Swedish Grace often employed subtlety, Mattsson took it one step further, using marquetry not just as decoration but as storytelling. I love how this piece feels like a conversation between history and modernity — celebrating Swedish culture and craftsmanship in a way that’s decorative, quirky and functional.”
Janine Carendi MacMurray Game Table with Parcheesi Board, new
“My backgammon and game tables reflect my passion for subtle marquetry, particularly with walnut, mahogany and maple. What began as a custom gift for my husband has evolved into a versatile design for various games, like chess and backgammon. It was created with practicality in mind, offering multiple game options in one piece.”
“William Hinn’s nightstands are the ideal of mid-century modern design, but with a twist. Hinn had this way of making geometric forms and clean lines feel bold and sculptural, which is why I find his work so compelling, in particular his exoskeleton-like pieces. These nightstands make a statement without shouting. What I love most is how these pieces are clearly influenced by the sleek, minimalist aesthetics of mid-century modernism but with that unmistakable Scandinavian attention to detail and craftsmanship. There’s a quiet elegance to them.”
“These Art Deco armchairs by Jules Leleu are a wonderful and well-priced find. Leleu, like Malmsten, was influenced by classical design but wasn’t afraid to mix it with modernism, which was a hallmark of the French Moderne style that emerged in the Art Deco period. These chairs have such graceful proportions — the curved backs, tapered legs and sculptural arms are all about refined elegance without being overdone. Leleu had a knack for creating pieces that were modern yet always carried that underlying classical sensibility. The simplicity of the design, combined with the luxurious materials, makes them sophisticated and comfortable.”
“J.T. Kalmar was a master of playing with light and shadow, as can be seen in the cascading pattern of hand-cut Austrian crystal in this fixture. What I admire about Kalmar’s work is how he took traditional materials like crystal and brass and reimagined them entirely of-the-moment. The effect is just stunning — when you turn it on, the light dances around the room. It’s a perfect amalgam of craftsmanship and innovation.”
Diego Mardegan for Glustin Luminaires chandelier, 2019
“Diego Mardegan’s oval brass and parchment chandelier feels like a breath of fresh air in lighting design. His work is a wonderful example of contemporary Italian craftsmanship, where each piece tells a story through the careful selection of materials and design. The use of parchment here is what really draws me in — its translucency gives the light a soft, inviting glow that’s just hard to achieve with other materials. It’s both bold and subtle at the same time, and the brass framing just adds that touch of sophistication. What I really appreciate about Mardegan’s work is how clean and elegant it feels, yet it still manages to make a statement without being overpowering.”
“I love Robsjohn-Gibbings, and he has been a great influence on me. His designs, like those of Carl Malmsten, blend classical elegance with contemporary sensibilities. His inspiration from classical Greek antiquity is evident in much of his work, including these chairs. These are not his most famous design, but they celebrate the klismos shape in a subtle, more practical way. His more famous, almost iconic Klismos chairs are beautiful as sculptural pieces, but I find them a bit impractical due to their exaggerated saber legs. (They are the dining chairs in my own home, and my kids trip over the legs constantly!)
Janine Carendi MacMurray Klismos Dining Chairs, new
“The klismos chair that I designed is also ergonomically comfortable and visually striking. In my version, I aimed to blend timeless design principles with modern sensibilities — creating a sturdy, hard-wearing chair that doesn’t sacrifice style. The curved wood and high-gloss finish make it robust and visually light.”
