Guest Writer: Interior Designer Chloe Redmond Warner

By The Inside Source
March 18, 2010

Described by Domino magazine as a "breakout designer" with a "sophisticated frou frou" aesthetic, Harvard-educated interior designer Chloe Redmond Warner's approach is to throw curveballs at classic interiors, adding unabashed layers of color, texture and print to what is fundamentally serious design. A frequent eBay shopper, one of Redmond's favorite tricks is to re-purpose the items she finds on the online marketplace, turning vases and odd statuettes into lamp stands, recovering upholstered furniture with new fabrics and adding an unexpected shot of paint to an otherwise-understated wooden piece. We welcome Warner, who has contributed to Lucky magazine, as a guest writer on The Inside Source.—The Editors

Repurposing vintage pieces is one of the most fun aspects of being a decorator. One-of-a-kind items keep rooms from looking like they were ripped from the pages of a store catalogue, while lending the perfect amount of unusual charm and edge. Giving new life to old objects is a very eco-friendly practice. Plus, there are tons of deals to be had if you are willing to add a coat of paint, tackle some light wiring or bring out the staple gun.

My favorite sources of design inspiration are the buttoned-up, preppy environs of the 1960s. In the houses where designers like Sister Parish and David Hadley worked their matchy-matchy magic, monogramming wasn't optional, ashtrays were as fashionable as they were functional and chintz and brocade found a place next to patchwork quilts and rag rugs. The objects I'm inspired to buy on eBay share a Kennedy-era vibe (in fact, Parish decorated the Yellow Oval Room at the White House), and I know I'm on the right track when I sense I'm bidding against a chic Palm Beach octogenarian who recognizes something from her young hostess days.

Past Projects

On their own, these ceramic birds are weird and destined for the tchotchke cabinet. In banana yellow as a lamp stand, they're still weird, but in a glamorous way. Bright and happy, topped with pagoda shades, they make a perfect accent piece for a bedroom.

By the time we picked this table for a client's bedroom, the budget was almost completely spent and we had to be creative. This piece was not only inexpensive due to some slight battering, but it was also graphic and statement-making—especially with a wash of glossy raspberry paint. As the lady of the house's bedside table, it was a perfect foil to the more masculine version on the husband's side. I almost always advocate for non-matching bedside tables, as I think the look creates an interesting asymetry.

I had seen a beautiful Holmegaard lamp in a fancy San Francisco antique store and while I adored its saturated almost-ugly yellow color, the embellished lampshade and its monumental scale, I couldn't justify the four-digit price tag. Bay has an entire section devoted to Scandanavian glass, and at any given moment there are usually a handful of opaque Holmgaard vases available for a few hundred dollars. I purchased a vase, By took it to my local lighting store for wiring and was able to make a flawless copy of the original for less than a quarter of the price.

Current Shopping List

The saturated butterfly print overwhelms this English Regency-style sofa, but it has nice clean lines and an interesting shape. A chocolate confetti linen would smarten it up, and a few pillows in this Indian silk geometric print with a snappy greek key trim would add pop. The wood of the sofa is in wonderful condition, but the color is too reddish for my taste. I would have it stained a darker shade to match the brown in the linen.

Lee Joffa Confetti Dot Linen and Shyam Ahuja Indian Silk Geometric, Regency Style Sofa (sold for $699.99)

I adore these matching teak stools, and would consider keeping their groovy stitched pattern intact. However, to glam them up and make them more bedroom-appropriate, I would redo them in baby blue faux-ostrich.

Pindler & Pindler Baby Blue Faux Ostrich, Pair of Danish Modern Teak Stools (current bid, $86)

These Edward Wormley chairs have a pedigree along with a wonderful, sinuous shape and cane backing. The black lacquer finish pulls them into fancy-Chinese-restaurant territory, which I would combat by applying a coat of balsam green paint and adding cushions in this cotton geometric pattern. So super-chic garden room!

Quadrille Imperial Print, Benjamin Moore Balsam, Pair of Edward Wormley Chairs (buy it now price, $1,450)

With it's teak legs and conservative upholstery this Finn Juhl settee has great mid-century preppy bones. To make it a showstopper in an entranceway, I would paint the teak in a glossy lemon shade and redo the fabric in this over-scaled gold-on-linen stencil.

Raoul Textiles Gold Chain Link Linen, Benjamin Moore Lemon Drops, Finn Juhl Sette (buy it now price, $1,700)

This Steuben Glass Tiger would make an amazing desk lamp. I would have a lamp store ebonize the base, add a stand, and make a pumpkin-colored linen shade in this bell shape, and voila, the perfect manly desk accessory. Roar.