Great rooms
A visual diary by design editor Wendy Goodman.
Photo: MJ Kroeger
I’ve always gone for exuberance in my fashion sense, and it was time for my home to think about who I am, ”says Tara McCauley of this walk in Gowanus, Brooklyn – her first flat without a roommate. And she wasn’t going to hold back just because it was a rental. “In all of my previous apartments, I was always afraid to paint and I never enjoyed going into my house,” she says. “This time I decided to paint everything.”
McCauley, herself an interior designer, began with a free-form paintwork that interpreted terrazzo stone on her kitchen walls (see above). “It took me a crazy long time to paint the kitchen,” she says. “I’m almost too embarrassed to admit how long I’ve lived on an art project.” Her inspiration came from a vacation in Rome, where terrazzo, a centuries-old inlaid stone technique, is everywhere, but McCauley “didn’t want it to look like every terrazzo you saw on a Pinterest board. I wanted the colors to be my own. “The result is a confetti-like pattern. It was a fruitful endeavor that fueled the palette for the rest of the apartment, decorated with a pastiche of found and recycled furniture.
McCauley says her starting point was the salmon-colored Ferrell Mittman sofa made of linen velvet. It was the find of the century on AptDeco.com. “Nick Olsen, the designer she works with, gave her the grass coffee table. On the walls, she made a cheesecloth icing of two different shades of blue to create a sense of depth. She found the French Art Deco chair on Chairish and reupholstered it with peacock blue cord. She made the painting above the sofa which was drawn from a poster. “When I was studying in Paris, I fell in love with Op Art after seeing a Julio Le Parc retrospective at the Palais de Tokyo.”
Photo: MJ Kroeger
A former roommate from New York University noticed that a restaurant in the East Village was closing and releasing the decor. “She carried the dining table home eight blocks, and it went perfectly with our tiny kitchen.” McCauley grabbed the metal base of the table as she moved and found the round marble top on Craigslist and glued it on. The leather armchair dining room chairs are from Finch in Hudson. “The layout of my kitchen is completely useless,” says McCauley. “I always run from the stove across the room to the sink and drip water all over the place, and it’s okay because the leather has a natural patina!” Her inner circle of design-minded friends adds to the ever-changing tableau of test ideas, as McCauley has worked with designer Nick Olsen for seven years.
It’s also a fusion of inspiration from iconic films and photographs, including a Richard Rutledge photo of Irving Penn’s wife and muse Lisa Fonssagrives, which inspired the palette on the hand-painted bathroom walls. Regarding the living room: “My color scheme was inspired by a screen print by Bert Stern Marilyn Monroe that I won at an auction, as well as by Nina Yashar’s house in Milan.”
McCauley praises her grandparents’ taste: “In the 1980s, they had the most fabulous contemporary house, all black and white.” She can’t wait to see them again when they’re all vaccinated. “The last time I was able to visit her before the pandemic, I found this precious, fussy little silk lampshade with my grandma in a thrift store and turned it into a pendant in the living room. I think it adds a touch of Madeleine Castaing glamor to the room. I think of my grandma every time I turn on the light! ”
Photo: MJ Kroeger
Housing Works is one of McCauley’s contact points. “This organization and its network of stores is one of my favorite things to do in NYC. The massive painting by Fernanda Meirelles in the kitchen was won at her Chelsea window auction. I was working on three Housing Works Designs designed by Nick on a Dime vignette and I can’t tell you how many things were found in my apartment at Design on a Dime.
Photo: MJ Kroeger
When she went into the bedroom, she chose the dull blue color for the walls because “I wanted the room to feel cozy; It feels like being deep under the sea. “McCauley is a night owl who loved attending her friend DJ Yestergay’s monthly disco parties at Julius, a bar in the West Village. She can’t wait for the time to be out there again when it’s safe again, but in the meantime her last addition to her home was a disco ball, and she looks back on the past year and says, “The time, The i ‘Placing in this apartment paid off because for the past few years at least I’ve had a joyful space to pass my time. That being said, I can’t wait to go out and dance until 4am! And when I get home, the deep blue sea is waiting to wrap me up while I sleep in front of the martinis. “
The bathroom is its own little festival with a roller blind that McCauley made from scraps of fabric “with a hot glue gun while I was watching Funny Girl.” Of course, she freehand painted the pink and white abstract pattern on the walls.
Photo: MJ Kroeger
McCauley wanted her Restoration Hardware cabinet to look more Gustavian, so she painted it chalk white and applied Italian marbled paper. She keeps her fabric samples in a basket above. She used fabric by textile designer Claire de Quenetain on the seat of her Gustavian chair.
Photo: MJ Kroeger
“I’ve been hemming for a long time and thinking about what to do with the headboard,” says McCauley of her bed. “I knew I wanted something that would go with the chartreuse taffeta skirt.” Her friend Brock Forsblom suggested creating a dramatic DIY silk bed to hang: “I was so close!” She says. “But when I passed on that headboard, it felt right.” She reupholstered it with the Chartreuse leather she found in the clothing district.
Photo: MJ Kroeger
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