February 27, 2022Some like it hot. Some not. Whatever the current trend may be, there’s something unwaveringly personal about our attraction toward warm or cool interiors. Only a pale-blue and cream room will still the mind for some, while comfort eludes others when not surrounded by grounding earth tones and nubby woolens.
The more glamorous may crave the sheen of lacquer and the light-bouncing properties of polished marble. Those seeking simpler pleasures are satisfied by the organic qualities of rough-hewn untreated woods and the purity of raw linen.
It’s not simply personal preference, of course. There’s also the issue of location — you’re not going to want velvet mohair in the hot deserts around Palm Springs or shiny cold-to-the-touch surfaces on the slopes of Gstaad.
Here’s the good news: There is something for everyone. The designers whose work is showcased below prove that skill and beauty triumph no matter what temperature their clients desire.
Entry
WARM
Time can strip away veneers, revealing eccentricities and imperfections that make its subject more approachable. Designer Allison Bloom, of Dehn Bloom, went for accessibility in this Sonoma farmhouse, reveling in quirkiness. A Thonet screen brings architectural detail to a plain interior envelope. A utilitarian workbench and collapsible orchard table keep things real, while a Baumann Fourmi chair adds mid-century French style. “The old gas station numbers harken to a simpler time,” says Bloom. “But my clients also have a tractor there, so they feel relatable and honest.” Photo by John Merkl
COOL
The 1920s Beaux Arts style of this Chicago art collector’s apartment already had a stately formality, something designer Marshall Morgan Erb emphasized through classical symmetry and fine furniture: a macassar ebony French Art Deco sideboard and 1950s Dan Johnson chairs. Erb pulled the sapphire blue of the latter’s dyed hair-on-hide upholstery from Vadim Gushchin’s Reading #3. “We decided to keep the existing minimalist lighting fixtures because they mimicked some of the brutalist table bases we have throughout the home,” he says. Photo by Werner Straube
Living Room
WARM
Leave it to Jean-Louis Deniot to bring French flair to the groovy earthiness of the 1960s and ’70s. There’s nary a right angle (save for the fireplace) in this Corsican villa. All the crunchy granola organics, however, are here: curvaceous biomorphic sofas, sophisticated takes on tree-trunk tables, a cloud chandelier on steroids and a wicker Poul Kjærholm hammock chaise (created in 1995 for Fritz Hansen but clearly rooted in Kjærholm’s Scandi modern vibe). Even Deniot’s choice of metal for the fireplace wall exudes tactility and warmth. Photo by Stephan Julliard
COOL
This 1970s house in Dallas by beloved modernist Bud Oglesby “had very sleek, lovely moves,” designer Emily Summers recalls, while admitting that it nevertheless presented a design challenge: “A lot of little paintings, or even three large ones, wouldn’t have unified the very large room.” So, Summers commissioned John-Paul Philippe to paint a full-wall mural that picked up the blues of a pool outside and provided a spectacularly graphic punch. “We like to keep our furniture light,” she adds, which in this case perfectly suited the environment. Steel brutalist lamps are sculptural manifestations of Philippe’s organic two-dimensional forms. Photo by Charles Davis Smith
Dining Room
WARM
Designer Jenny Brown achieved two things by tucking the dining table of this Chicago townhouse into a bay at one end. “We created an intimate moment in what was a very large space,” she says, “and cleared the passageway to the kitchen.” The Susan Harter mural evokes “a kind of courtyard feeling,” and an emerald-green banquette completes a vignette comprising a vintage Baker dining table, the clients’ chairs and antique French sconces. “Antiques bring a kind of soul to the project,” Brown observes. Photo by Aimee Mazzenga
COOL
“My client is very feminine, loves pink and is willing to take risks,” designer Kristen Nix says of the woman who hired her to renovate this Austin home. “But finding the right shade of pink is tough. I felt this blush color was sophisticated yet also flattering.” In other hands, the soft rosy tint — paired with a Hunt Slonem rabbit work — might have been “girlied” up with floral or other patterns. Nix, however, kept things quiet and cool with spare furnishings: a channel-tufted banquette, a sculptural table and A. Rudin chairs. Photo by Michael Hunter
Kitchen
WARM
Architect Joseph McGuier, of JAM, and designer Nina Garbiras, of FIG, reconceived a gloomy taproom added onto an 1860 Greek Revival farmhouse in Pawling, New York, as an airy yet cozy, kitchen. McGuier turned a chestnut beam from elsewhere in the house into a rustic lintel over the Lacanche stove, for which Garbiras specified unlacquered brass detailing. She used the same material for the cabinet hardware and in the Thomas O’Brien pendants. A single length of mahogany was so gorgeous the builders refused to paint it, says McGuier. So, it became a windowsill above country-style nickel board facing. Richly stained floors and vintage rugs ground the design. Photo by Gieves Anderson
COOL
Helping homeowners downsize from a large traditional house to a 2,000-square-foot open-plan condo in Baltimore requires a cohesive approach, points out designer Laura Hodges. “The clients wanted it to be a blank canvas for art,” she says of the duplex space. This meant that previously dark countertops and multicolored spaces that felt choppy had to be unified by clean white walls and simple modern cabinetry. White-oak trim checks the potential sterility of an all-white environment. Building a wall around a concrete column in the kitchen provided a backdrop for local artist BB LaMartina’s abstract painting. Down the hall is a trio of pictures by New York artist Scotto Mycklebust. Photo by Jennifer Hughes
Study
WARM
Built between 1929 and 1941 on the south bank of the Thames River, Battersea Power Station is now a huge residential complex. In designing one of the apartments within it, Natalia MIyAr had contemporary living in mind, but she also referenced the dominant Streamline Moderne aesthetics of the structure’s era. The anchor in this study is a massive desk recalling the curved silhouettes of Art Deco. The wall treatment, though thoroughly of the moment, bears a kinship to the dynamic geometric abstractions — as well as the evocative gold-and-blue palette — often associated with the style. Photo by Simon Brown
COOL
“It’s a very art-forward house,” Benjamin Johnston notes of this 15,000-square-foot Houston contemporary. This focus extends outdoors, where a magnificent sculpture garden lies outside the window of his client’s home office. Taking a cue from the alfresco art, Johnston tilted the room toward the coolly sculptural with Giorgio Soressi’s Lilla marble Ottre table, which, he notes, “gives it the right scale” (a desk would have disappeared in the large space). The Diego Giacometti–like lamps and even the brightly colored paintings also have a statuesque presence. Photo by Benjamin Johnston
Bedroom
WARM
In this Palm Springs bedroom, “having a wood ceiling and beams makes you feel warmth instantly,” says Suzie Lucas, of Lucas. Texture also helps: a luscious Moroccan-style rug, a grasscloth wallcovering (applied in a parquet pattern for added visual tactility), a Nickey Kehoe quilt on the bed and rustic antique tansu chests from Dos Gallos. Noting that harsh overhead light would destroy this effect, Lucas says, “We encourage clients to use lamp light to create a warm glow.” Hence, choices like the Allied Maker floor lamp. Photo by Douglas Friedman
COOL
Marmol Radziner took a sleek, spare approach in the guest bedroom of a Palm Springs residence that actor Laurence Harvey had Buff and Hensman design in 1969. Cool poured terrazzo replaced taupe tile on the floors, and the ceiling and beams, originally white, were stained concrete gray and given a deep brown trim. The furnishings are neatly tailored and largely rectilinear, qualities echoed by the repeating grids of the wallcovering. The room is punctuated with such mid-century modern classics as a Charles and Ray Eames lounge chair and walnut stool and a George Nelson bench. The artwork is by Christopher Wool. Photo by Roger Davies
Bath
WARM
For an apartment in Monticello, a new luxury residential development in Rome within sight of the Vatican, Fiona Barratt-Campbell says she took an approach that “blends modern Italian form with our take on elegant brutalism.” Brutalism, of course, isn’t usually associated with warmth. However, swathing the bathroom walls in black marble that is honed (rather than polished to a mausoleum sheen) hews to the style’s emphasis on unfinished materials while also creating a cocoon-like environment that telegraphs depth and tactility. “Accent lighting and the addition of real artwork,” she notes, balance the clean geometries by bathing the space in a warm glow and, with the old-master-style portrait, grounding a modern space with historical reference. Photo by Mel Yates
COOL
The art collectors who own this Gold Coast penthouse in Chicago wanted it to have a gallery-like feel. In the master bath, Kara Mann achieved this by going for “minimal but impactful.” How? “The floors, wall, vanity and bathtub are all made from the same marble,” she says. “This could have felt incredibly monotonous, yet the lilac throughout the marble really creates a visual feast. The bathtub is also really cool. It was custom carved in Italy.” Together with a crystal chandelier and a Lucite stool, these provide a glamorous foil for an Andy Warhol Mick Jagger portrait. Photo by Richard Powers
