Rose Tarlow

“My desk is a nine-foot-long table, piled so high I never actually sit at it. I end up doing all my work in a club chair, with my dog curled up on the ottoman.” – Meet Rose Tarlow Home Beautiful

Her design store, the Rose Tarlow Melrose House opened in 1979. The Rose Tarlow-Melrose House line is now sold in showrooms in 12 metropolitan areas.

Having opened her first shop in New York while in her early twenties, it was said that Tarlow wasn’t afraid of altering antiques to make them her own…… She would take a Chippendale chair, edit the arms and enlarge the scale, and re-think an entirely new concept from an antique. While some people shy away from touching an antique, just because it is old….this designer is and always has been hands on.

“Just because something is an antique doesn’t always raise it to a level of good design” she says. “Many antiques are poorly proportioned and aesthetically unimportant.“

“I would rather have an excellent newly designed piece in good scale than have an antique that’s not great,” –Rose Tarlow

“When I began my antique business, I read a book by Tiffany that influenced me. He said he never bought for clients, he only bought for himself. I also heed this advice: Never buy what you think will sell, buy what you yourself like.“ -Rose Tarlow

Shopping With Susan Weber New York Times Magazine

Susan Weber

“The subjects of our exhibitions at the center are always serendipitous. I saw a piece of Castellani jewelry at an antiques fair and thought it looked ancient until I discovered that a 19th-century Roman family made it. The idea for our upcoming show on Swedish toys came when I bought a little antique hand-carved horse. I went on the Internet and realized there was a 150-year history of Swedish wood toys“ Susan Weber, founder of the Bard Graduate Center program in the decorative arts and design history in New York

“Personally, I don’t collect anything. My home is full of beautiful things, but it’s eclectic. I have Ruhlmann furniture, Renaissance pieces, and Axel Salto vases from Denmark. I like to mix high and low—Tramp Art with Lalique. I’m always moving things around”  Susan Weber, founder of the Bard Graduate Center program in the decorative arts and design history in New York

Craig Wright

“I’ve been driven by the possession of beautiful objects since I was a child……that’s why I have an antiques shop—it’s a way of expressing that.” The shop has also increased his own antiques collection considerably- “I have favorites,”he says, “and when one of them hasn’t sold, I have a great temptation to take it home.” Craig Wright Antiques Dealer

Wright On Painting A Backdrop For His Late-18/19th- Century Northern European Furniture– “The walls of the main space—a combination sitting room, dining room and library—were painted shrimp pink, a shade that makes “everyone look like a million dollars,” says the designer. ‘The colors happened over a period of time‘ he adds. “After the first two coats, the walls were sponged over with a white overglaze, which gave them a very ethereal, almost cloud-like quality.” The guest bedroom, in contrast, was painted blue. “It was initially too strong,” he explains, “and we kept over-glazing it until it had an almost chalky quality—as if you were looking at the color through gauze” – Craig Wright Antiques Dealer

Victoria Hagan

“I pull my palette from nature,” says Victoria, “And I don’t like any one thing to stand out.” Designer Victoria Hagan

“My philosophy is always to respect the architecture and work with the architecture,” she says. “Then the interior design comes naturally.” Designer Victoria Hagan

Alan Demachy

“I like things from the beginning of the century: Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, Art Deco and especially the modernity created in the following decades, the classics—Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Eames, the Danes—which we saw re-edited by Knoll.” Designer Alan Demachy

Timothy Corrigan Los Tiempos

Timothy Corrigan

“I have dustbusters everywhere—even in my cars. Black & Decker’s 18V Pivot Vac PH V1810 is the one! It’s got plenty of power and can get into all the small, hard-to-reach places”  Timothy Corrigan in House Beautiful Magazine

“My new secret weapon is an under-the-bed TV lift so that you don’t need to have those huge, ugly cabinets sitting at the end of a bed” Under Bed TV Lift & Swivel  Timothy Corrigan in House Beautiful Magazine

“A home is not a museum. There shouldn’t be any surfaces on which people can’t put their feet up—or set a drink down.”Timothy Corrigan in House Beautiful Magazine

The Most Versatile Paint Color?  Interview By Diane Dorrans Saeks

 “Verte de Terre” by Farrow & Ball: Green is my favorite color because it reminds me of life and renewal. This green is particularly good because it has a touch of gray to it so that it is really easy to live with. I have used this in the entry to my Paris apartment and as the trim color in much of my chateau in France.

“Cream” by Farrow & Ball is warm and rich. It’s a strong, gutsy cream color that reflects really well on people’s skin.

“Parma Gray” by Farrow & Ball is the perfect blue for bedroom walls, especially when paired with white trim. It is fresh but very sophisticated.

“Riviera Terrace” by Polo Ralph Lauren: This is my favorite color for ceilings. A lovely warm white wit has just enough yellow and pink added to it that it works with almost every color wall; I usually use it in an eggshell finish to help make rooms look a little brighter and the ceilings a bit higher

Diane Burn

Diane Burn on her first house in Los Angeles- She saw thick walls, lime-stone columns, and terra-cotta floors that seemed to her as if “they’d spent half their life in Spain……it called for some real strength,” she says of the 1926 Mediterranean/Spanish Colonial Revival structure. To lighten the varnished ceilings and mitigate the heaviness of the architecture, Burn called upon artist Karin Linder, who created fanciful wall and ceiling murals throughout. Burn chose large-scale antiques to complement the scale of the rooms. Many of the pieces—from the Louis XV side chairs in the living room to the French canopy bed in the master bedroom—date from the eighteenth century. “I’ve moved all over the world to see where I belong’ the designer reflects. “The truth is, I think I belong in the eighteenth century. It’s not easy for me to live in America—it’s a new country, and I’m an old soul.” Architectural Digest Interviews

“Imagination is huge for me’ explains the designer. “All of my interiors make you feel transported to another era. “Heavily influenced by European design (“Even as a child I had a passion for Versailles“), her tranquil, romantic rooms evoke those of 18th-century chateaus. Louis XVI pieces and whimsical print and check fabrics, not to mention her signature wall treatments, all figure prominently. “I really don’t do modern,”says Burn, who counts among her inspirations designers Renzo Mongiardino and Madeleine Castaing and collector Lillian Williams. “I long for the return of classicism or traditional design. “”I think decorating is always creating an illusion, to make things look loftier, more elegant, as though you’re stepping into another era, away from harsh everyday realities,” the designer observes. “A lot of people ask me if I can do anything else,” Burn remarks. “I can, but I’m very comfortable doing what I do. It holds up. I try for the classic, the traditional and the timeless.“- Architectural Digest Interviews

Paul Wiseman

“When a room tells our life story and reflects who we are, it gives us license to open up to our true self,” Interior Designer Paul Wiseman

The Mistake Most People Make When Hiring A Designer-… “Thinking that because they can get it wholesale, it’s good. It’s more a matter of, Is it right? It doesn’t have to be expensive, but is it the right piece? A lot of people think that hiring a professional means that somebody is going to do it for them. I’m always saying, “That’s not what you’re hiring me for; I’m going to do it with you.”” Interior designer Paul Wiseman Architectural Digest

Collections For Investments- “Photography. As in all art, a lot of the dealers have pushed some names into the stratosphere, but you don’t have to go there. There are some very talented people out there. I love old photography—I collect 19th- and 20th-century photography myself, and I love it” Interior designer Paul Wiseman Architectural Digest

“If someone walked into one of the residences I’ve designed and said, ‘Oh, Paul Wiseman did this,’ I’d feel like a failure,” “I want a space to look as though a decorator hadn’t been there. I spend a lot of time finding out what my clients really do like—and if they like purple with white polka dots, it’s my job to make it look chic.” Interior designer Paul Wiseman Architectural Digest