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It’s a brave move for a first-time client to put herself entirely into the hands of an interior design team. But if the three-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that Ashley Whittaker and Alex Wilson turned into a sophisticated family home for a pair of lawyers and their two children is any indication, that move can also be a wise one. “It helped that we were perfectly aligned when it came to the big picture,” says Whittaker—that is, they wanted a home that could to stand up to the whims of two rambunctious young boys without forgoing elegance or drama.
“We knew early on that we wanted the gallery to serve as a reprieve from the more colorful spaces,” says Wilson of the entry hall, now clad in antique mirrored panels that help reflect light into the otherwise dark space. A door painted in glossy Boca Raton Blue by Benjamin Moore and lavender Liz O’Brien chairs hint at the bold palettes beyond. Desk, Noir Furniture; lamps, Soane Britain; art, Elliott Puckette.
MAX KIM-BEEFearlessness in a client is a gift to any designer, not least because it eliminates the possibility of winding up with a cookie-cutter interior. Lacquered ceilings, walls papered in exuberant
patterns, and upholstery in daring shades of lime and turquoise are not for the timid. “If one is not design-leaning, each of these things can be almost impossible to embrace,” says Wilson, who has since founded his own firm, Alexander D. Wilson, after learning his trade for almost a decade under the tutelage of the now-retired Whittaker.
A card table from Highland House Furniture and custom Jean Royère–style chairs create an additional gathering area in the living room. Wall sculpture, Andrew Zimmerman; rug, Stark Carpet.
MAX KIM-BEE“The more colors we used, the better they worked together. They all relate to each other because they are of the same value.”
- Alex Wilson
The color thread continues into the dining room, which is wrapped in a hand-painted tree of life wallcovering by de Gournay. The custom dining table features an enameled top in Farrow & Ball’s Churlish Green. Chairs, Mr. Brown London; mirror, Eve Kaplan from Gerald Bland; lamps, Christopher Spitzmiller.
Max Kim-BeeFor two years, the designers worked to achieve the colorful, light-filled home that the couple wanted—beautiful but not precious, durable but not dull. “There isn’t a single sofa or chair, never mind room, that is off-limits to the children,” says Wilson. Whittaker points to the table they chose for the “formal” dining room: It sports a durable enamel top, the kind that typically lives outdoors. “The color is so magnificent, and the brass strapping sparkles. But it can handle wear and tear and stay beautiful,” Whittaker says.
Before the designers suggested a single piece of furniture, they established a rich palette of blues, greens and purples—lavender, lilac, peacock, Prussian, moss—and ran with it throughout the 3,000-square-foot space.
Fine Paints of Europe lacquer in a custom shade of icy blue gleams on the kitchen ceiling and provides a base for colorful lighting by Urban Electric.
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A Galerie des Lampes hanging shade in block-printed cotton illuminates the adjoining breakfast nook, anchored by a faux-leather banquette, vintage Niels Møller chairs, and a Saarinen Tulip table.
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Gracie’s Lacquer Midnight Butterflies wallcovering wraps the jewel-box powder room. Sink and fittings, Waterworks; mirror, Made Goods; hand towels, Leontine Linens.
MAX KIM-BEEAt first, there was some convincing involved: While the client initially rejected
the chartreuse that was the designers’ first choice for the doors leading to the dining room, she eventually gave the go-ahead to Benjamin Moore’s equally eye-popping Boca Raton Blue. It wasn’t long before a suggestion of, say, purple lampshades, was greenlit without hesitation. “She completely trusted us,” says Wilson.
For that, the reward is a home filled with “knockout moments,” says Whittaker, explaining, “I love to center a room on one grand gesture.” In the living room, all eyes are on an aubergine abstract painting by Karina Gentinetta, its marks teeming with energy. Eating in the dining room is an indulgent affair, swathed as one is in de Gournay’s Jardinières & Citrus Trees, painted on an ocean-blue Indian tea paper.
Walls covered in Raoul Textiles’ Lotte fabric and an airy linen bed canopy (lined in a block print by Serendipity Delhi) create a cosseting cocoon in the primary bedroom. Custom Matouk bedding picks up on the soft
blue tone. A brass lamp from Design Frères sits atop the Mary McDonald for Chaddock Home dresser. Carpet, Patterson Flynn; bedside lamp by Christopher Spitzmiller, with a shade in Schumacher’s Lange Glazed Linen.
A painting by Kinuko Imai Hoffman hangs over the Louis XVI–style bench, which is upholstered in Raoul’s Kashmir print.
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In the primary bathroom, Whittaker and Wilson embraced the geometry of the existing nickel-framed vanity by installing Schumacher’s trompe-l’oeil La Galerie wallpaper. Sconces, Vaughan Lighting; hand towels, Matouk.
MAX KIM-BEEEven where there seemed to be few options for striking choices, Whittaker and Wilson managed to find them. Take the kitchen, where various soffits and bump-outs caused the designers to forgo wallpaper—“a rare occurrence for us,” admits Wilson. So the duo looked up, lacquering the ceiling to an impossible sky-blue gleam and hanging light fixtures that mix brass with touches of turquoise and leafy green. In the hallway, antiqued inset mirror
panels reflect light from connecting rooms. Even the all-white primary bath makes a statement, thanks to a grid pattern that repeats across nickel-framed vanity drawers and trompe-l’oeil paneled wallpaper from Schumacher.
From the outset, Whittaker and Wilson were thrilled with the interior architecture, beautifully rendered by Sam Mitchell of Mitchell Studio Architecture. When the only heavy lifting is swapping out kitchen countertops and backsplash tiles, it leaves ample room for planning those dazzling moments that Whittaker excels at. But she measures the success of a project by more than just the razzle: “If the arms of the living room sofa aren’t worn out in 10 years,” she says, “I haven’t done my job!”
When it came to the clients’ seven-year-old twin sons’ rooms, the brief was “masculine yet youthful spaces they can grow into over time.” In one, red is the accent of choice, making appearances both bold (see the bed and Urban Electric light fixture) and subtle (Tillett Textiles’ Handkerchief Plaid wallpaper, crimson-trimmed lampshades in Schumacher’s Duma Diamond fabric, throw pillows in Zeppelin by Schumacher). Bedside tables, Made Goods.
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In the other, the blue-and-white color scheme—including Zak + Fox’s Sauvage wallpaper, an O’Lampia ceiling fixture, and curtains trimmed in Schumacher’s Matrix tape—is punctuated by an acid-green bed.
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Spatter-print wallpaper by Scalamandré feels fresh in
a son’s bathroom. Light fixture, Dutton Brown; Kohler sink with Newport Brass fittings; hand-printed linocut by Hugo Guinness from John Derian.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 19 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!
