Designer Snapshot: Sharp Contrast

By Paula M. Bodah

When I first spoke with designer Liz Caan, who was featured in Perspectives in our July/August issue, she talked about her fondness for putting unlikely elements together. A high-end piece of furniture juxtaposed with a refurbished thrift-shop find, say, or an antique desk accessorized with a streamlined contemporary lamp. Add to that her playful use of color, and the result is always a space that suits her clients’ unique personalities and styles, like the examples she shows us here.

“We renovated this bathroom using very reasonable fixtures, including a Kohler sink and toilet and Restoration Hardware lights and medicine cabinet. Then we splurged on Scalamandré wallpaper to add punch and impact. Sometimes you just need one thing!â€

Photo by Eric Roth

“For a guest bedroom in a historic colonial house, we used some great Hinson wallpaper and enveloped the entire room. The room is primarily black and white but the aqua-blue silk curtain behind the bed anchors the space, and the bright red cabinet from Anthropologie adds a pop of energy. While an antique bed and bench with some custom pillows were used, the modern nickel desk lamp was the fun, unexpected piece that makes the space that much more interesting.â€

Photo by Eric Roth

“A teenage boy’s bedroom has an accessible and affordable West Elm bed, but the brass and marble-topped Directoire side tables were a splurge. The lighting is high-end, but the artwork was all found within the teen’s room (some his and some just things he collected). The dresser in the window was an old childhood dresser he had as a baby. We had it wrapped in linen and painted and switched out the hardware for a more masculine look. We refurbished a dresser we found on Craig’s List, adding the Union Jack to tie it all together.â€

Photos courtesy of Liz Caan Interiors