we want the gray to be as light as it can be,

A PASSION FOR
INTERIORS
and don’t want to adjust till we see the proof

Clarkson Potter / Publishers

New York
CAROLYNE ROEHM 3
Wrtten with Marc Kristal
1-13 CR FOB16.indd 2-3 6/7/10 12:36:09 PM
 INTRODUCTION page 9

NEW YORK
APARTMENT page 14

WEATHERSTONE page 74

WESTBURY

1-13 CR FOB16.indd 6-7 6/7/10 12:36:16 PM

 INTRODUCTION page 9

NEW YORK
APARTMENT page 14

WEATHERSTONE page 74

WESTBURY

1-13 CR FOB16.indd 6-7 6/7/10 12:36:16 PM

 factor that’s no less important. I am as down-home a woman as
you’re likely to meet—I’ve cleaned up after more dogs, I’ll bet, than
any human being in history—but I do love glamour. Attaching a
story to an environment is important to me, and if, at Weatherstone,
I could be Elizabeth Bennet or Scarlett O’Hara, in urbane New
York, with the city lights and skyline as a dazzling backdrop, the
mood should be more 1930s Myrna Loy. Sweeping down a thirty-
foot-high staircase, champagne in hand, as the jazz plays and heads
turn—now that’s glamour.
In the mid-2000s, I thought it might be time for a change, and
decided to look for a place farther uptown, near Central Park—
maybe I’d get more exercise. After I’d been searching for a bit,
an acquaintance in real estate said to me, “There’s an apartment
you’ve got to see—it’s the city version of your country house.” And
it was—to an extent that was really kind of freaky. In the two-story
living room, the owner had installed the same pilasters, capitals,
and classical details that made Weatherstone so indelible. The décor
was different, of course. But the flavor was virtually identical.
Who needs exercise when you can release your inner Myrna
Loy? I took the apartment—and moved a block and a half from
Sutton Place.
My furniture, by and large, traveled with me. Decoratively, the
great room is a mix of mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
pieces from different parts of Europe, chosen primarily for their
20 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S
14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 20-21
forms, and enveloped by walls of dark brown velveteen. I never
do only one genre or country—those kinds of rooms, in which
everything is “correct,” are too stiff and perfect for me. And though
the paintings, which are all of women, came with me from Sutton
Place, I think a man could live in the space as easily as a woman—
the design is feminine but tailored, not gooey. Most of all, while
I love symmetry and order, sometimes to a fault—I have a lot of
pairs of things—when you walk in, you feel like you can sit yourself
down and get comfortable. Maybe the best way to describe the style
is to compare it to Swedish furniture from the Gustavian period,
which I truly love. It’s like good eighteenth-century Louis XVI, but
simpler—less formal, less grand.
Which is important. While I do have a reverence for classical
décor, I don’t want to be a fossil in a museum—one must live in one’s
time and find a way, as the saying goes, to make it new. The best way
to do it, I believe, is never to have a room that you don’t actually use,
like the parlors in which our grandparents received guests, but that
otherwise sat empty. Modernity, whatever one’s style, arrives with
the energy and life we bring to a space when we occupy it.
And then there’s something superficial and cosmetic but also
wonderful and essential, and that is the elements: scented candles, a
crackling fire, flowers. I am not as happy in my glamorous great room
when there’s not a bouquet of flowers, because I feel that someone’s
not in residence—and since it’s my home, that someone is me.
A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 21
6/9/10 10:08:09 AM
 factor that’s no less important. I am as down-home a woman as
you’re likely to meet—I’ve cleaned up after more dogs, I’ll bet, than
any human being in history—but I do love glamour. Attaching a
story to an environment is important to me, and if, at Weatherstone,
I could be Elizabeth Bennet or Scarlett O’Hara, in urbane New
York, with the city lights and skyline as a dazzling backdrop, the
mood should be more 1930s Myrna Loy. Sweeping down a thirty-
foot-high staircase, champagne in hand, as the jazz plays and heads
turn—now that’s glamour.
In the mid-2000s, I thought it might be time for a change, and
decided to look for a place farther uptown, near Central Park—
maybe I’d get more exercise. After I’d been searching for a bit,
an acquaintance in real estate said to me, “There’s an apartment
you’ve got to see—it’s the city version of your country house.” And
it was—to an extent that was really kind of freaky. In the two-story
living room, the owner had installed the same pilasters, capitals,
and classical details that made Weatherstone so indelible. The décor
was different, of course. But the flavor was virtually identical.
Who needs exercise when you can release your inner Myrna
Loy? I took the apartment—and moved a block and a half from
Sutton Place.
My furniture, by and large, traveled with me. Decoratively, the
great room is a mix of mostly eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
pieces from different parts of Europe, chosen primarily for their
20 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S
14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 20-21
forms, and enveloped by walls of dark brown velveteen. I never
do only one genre or country—those kinds of rooms, in which
everything is “correct,” are too stiff and perfect for me. And though
the paintings, which are all of women, came with me from Sutton
Place, I think a man could live in the space as easily as a woman—
the design is feminine but tailored, not gooey. Most of all, while
I love symmetry and order, sometimes to a fault—I have a lot of
pairs of things—when you walk in, you feel like you can sit yourself
down and get comfortable. Maybe the best way to describe the style
is to compare it to Swedish furniture from the Gustavian period,
which I truly love. It’s like good eighteenth-century Louis XVI, but
simpler—less formal, less grand.
Which is important. While I do have a reverence for classical
décor, I don’t want to be a fossil in a museum—one must live in one’s
time and find a way, as the saying goes, to make it new. The best way
to do it, I believe, is never to have a room that you don’t actually use,
like the parlors in which our grandparents received guests, but that
otherwise sat empty. Modernity, whatever one’s style, arrives with
the energy and life we bring to a space when we occupy it.
And then there’s something superficial and cosmetic but also
wonderful and essential, and that is the elements: scented candles, a
crackling fire, flowers. I am not as happy in my glamorous great room
when there’s not a bouquet of flowers, because I feel that someone’s
not in residence—and since it’s my home, that someone is me.
A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 21
6/9/10 10:08:09 AM
W Within the classical setting formed by
the architecture, there are decorative
elements derived from antiquity.

22 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 23

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 22-23 6/9/10 10:08:10 AM

W Within the classical setting formed by
the architecture, there are decorative
elements derived from antiquity.

22 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 23

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 22-23 6/9/10 10:08:10 AM

 I
’VE LIVED IN EVERY COLOR OF ROOM ONE COULD POSSIBLY

imagine. But what makes this one succeed is a neutral

background—walls of brown velveteen, set off by
architectural details finished in a very bright matte
white—that works with every color.
While the room’s three primary fabrics—damask
on the pair of facing settees, a stripe enveloping the
sofa on the mirrored wall, and a second stripe on the eighteenth-
century Swedish side chairs—seem at first to be quite different,
the group is unified by a shared pair of tones: golden yellow, and a
taupe that has the flavor of burnished silver. For me, it’s a bit like
designing a grouping of clothes—a wardrobe for the room. Although
the various elements wear different garments, they’re all related.
The classical quality of the architecture is restated, at a more
intimate scale, in the decorative elements, especially the many
busts and sculptures. I have great affection for the white marble
figure of Diana, reputedly modeled on Madame de Pompadour,
watching over the piano, and the miniatures of historic elements,
like the handsome pair of bronze Roman columns flanking the
equestrian figure—none other than Marcus Aurelius—atop his
marble plinth.
The artworks, by Winterhalter, Vigée-Lebrun, Van Dyck, and
others, may not be specifically classical. But the women in them seem
comfortable—which is how I like everyone to feel when they’re here.

24 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 25

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 24-25 6/9/10 10:08:10 AM

 I
’VE LIVED IN EVERY COLOR OF ROOM ONE COULD POSSIBLY

imagine. But what makes this one succeed is a neutral

background—walls of brown velveteen, set off by
architectural details finished in a very bright matte
white—that works with every color.
While the room’s three primary fabrics—damask
on the pair of facing settees, a stripe enveloping the
sofa on the mirrored wall, and a second stripe on the eighteenth-
century Swedish side chairs—seem at first to be quite different,
the group is unified by a shared pair of tones: golden yellow, and a
taupe that has the flavor of burnished silver. For me, it’s a bit like
designing a grouping of clothes—a wardrobe for the room. Although
the various elements wear different garments, they’re all related.
The classical quality of the architecture is restated, at a more
intimate scale, in the decorative elements, especially the many
busts and sculptures. I have great affection for the white marble
figure of Diana, reputedly modeled on Madame de Pompadour,
watching over the piano, and the miniatures of historic elements,
like the handsome pair of bronze Roman columns flanking the
equestrian figure—none other than Marcus Aurelius—atop his
marble plinth.
The artworks, by Winterhalter, Vigée-Lebrun, Van Dyck, and
others, may not be specifically classical. But the women in them seem
comfortable—which is how I like everyone to feel when they’re here.

24 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 25

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 24-25 6/9/10 10:08:10 AM

 26 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 27

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 26-27 6/9/10 10:08:11 AM

 26 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 27

14-73 CR NYC apt23.indd 26-27 6/9/10 10:08:11 AM

 I I have always loved
painted furniture,
which looks
especially delightful
in a bright room
such as this. The
English embroidery
pattern on the sofa
and chairs suits what
is a distinctly
Anglophilic space.

A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 1 51

146-169 CR WEA_Morning14.indd 150-151 6/9/10 9:48:29 AM

 I I have always loved
painted furniture,
which looks
especially delightful
in a bright room
such as this. The
English embroidery
pattern on the sofa
and chairs suits what
is a distinctly
Anglophilic space.

A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 1 51

146-169 CR WEA_Morning14.indd 150-151 6/9/10 9:48:29 AM

W hat brought my friend
to Aspen was the skiing — but
what kept him coming back
was its incomparable beauty. And
when he decided to build a house,
I suggested that he surround
himself with it: mountains, rivers,
snow — and aspen trees.
210 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 211

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 W
ESTBURY ALSO ENJOYS TWO SMALLER

public rooms. They’re quite different

in character, and somewhat divergent
in use. What they share is an embrace
of the landscape—fold back the shut-
ters, swing open the windows, and it’s
almost like being in a tree house.
The room at right I jokingly refer to as Westbury’s “business center.”
It’s got that cheerful desk and a computer that Simon’s guests use to
check e-mail. In actual fact, it’s a small study and occasional guest room,
and the style, I admit, remains a hodgepodge. Two things about the
little space, however, are certain. It’s always gloriously light-filled. And
it’s really, really red. For the latter reason, even the beige-and-off-white-
loving crowd is enamored of it—it’s a happy place to be.
The other public room, conversely, which serves as both the library
and Simon’s private study, feels like the kind of masculine chamber in
which a head of state would sign a declaration of war—a mood reinforced
by the bust of a determined-looking John Paul Jones. Yet the library
serves as the house’s cozy room, to which everyone escapes to envelop
themselves in the autumnal colors—olive green, ochre, brown.
Still, the library’s windows are just as big—and as complete
in their embrace of nature—as those of the study. It’s nice to feel
sheltered from the unpredictable world. But at Westbury, the allure
of the Rockies is irresistible.

248 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 249

210-288 CR Aspen 20.indd 248-249 6/9/10 9:54:54 AM

 W
ESTBURY ALSO ENJOYS TWO SMALLER

public rooms. They’re quite different

in character, and somewhat divergent
in use. What they share is an embrace
of the landscape—fold back the shut-
ters, swing open the windows, and it’s
almost like being in a tree house.
The room at right I jokingly refer to as Westbury’s “business center.”
It’s got that cheerful desk and a computer that Simon’s guests use to
check e-mail. In actual fact, it’s a small study and occasional guest room,
and the style, I admit, remains a hodgepodge. Two things about the
little space, however, are certain. It’s always gloriously light-filled. And
it’s really, really red. For the latter reason, even the beige-and-off-white-
loving crowd is enamored of it—it’s a happy place to be.
The other public room, conversely, which serves as both the library
and Simon’s private study, feels like the kind of masculine chamber in
which a head of state would sign a declaration of war—a mood reinforced
by the bust of a determined-looking John Paul Jones. Yet the library
serves as the house’s cozy room, to which everyone escapes to envelop
themselves in the autumnal colors—olive green, ochre, brown.
Still, the library’s windows are just as big—and as complete
in their embrace of nature—as those of the study. It’s nice to feel
sheltered from the unpredictable world. But at Westbury, the allure
of the Rockies is irresistible.

248 A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S A PA S S I O N F O R I N T E R I O R S 249

210-288 CR Aspen 20.indd 248-249 6/9/10 9:54:54 AM

 To purchase a copy of
A Passion for Interiors
visit one of these online retailers:

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