Interiors - April/May 2011

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Who does elegance with a wink better than Philippe Starck?” muses interior designer Lynne Scalo who selected his Cicatrice de Luxe chandelier featuring hand-cut leaded crystal vases and intrepidly hung it over the kitchen island in a renovated Victorian. A similar notion of classic-meets-whimsical defines Scalo’s style. A designer who can introduce

1960s inspired swivel chairs (a la George Jetson) topped with faux fur to antique silver candelabras in the living room, and nonchalantly give a Queen Anne chair a gutsy makeover with chrome legs while fostering a lively repartee with a 70s inspired lacquered shagreen cabinet of her own design—Scalo is a sophisticated trend setter who can deftly and dramatically mix.

“I like to take elements of all periods of furniture to create
a sense of today,” says Scalo, who has been designing from
her Westport, Connecticut studio for over a decade. “I think
it’s possible to have a sense of humor and still have a sense of
elegance.”
To make her point and to please her client—a 30-something
energetic mother whose platinum hair has a hot pink streak—
the designer broke ranks with her signature shades-of-white
A hint of the past returns in the second floor master suite, where
style and peppered the interiors with bold strokes of color and a lapis silk velvet headboard and elegant drapes are meant to
unexpected accents. “On the outside you have this Norman embrace its occupants in luxury. “Because of the layout we had
Rock well slice of Americana,” says Scalo about the storybook no choice but to put the bed in front of the street side window so I
Ridgefield, Connecticut neighborhood. “But inside it needed to swathed the walls with a platinum leaf wall covering and layered
reflect who the owners are and the way people live now.”
the room with several different textures to create a protected
Contrasting the exterior, which is painted with hues based on sensual retreat for the owners,” says Scalo.

the original architecture, the entry is a refreshing study in white
And inspired by that hot pink streak in her client’s hair, the
and silver that serves as a place to cleanse the palette before designer created fairy tale little girl bedrooms with rosy glows.

sampling the goodies within. White magic continues in the living One features heart shaped mirrors and upholstered Victorian
room and kitchen, both calm counterpoints to the dining room’s chairs and the other boasts a custom upholstered princess bed
deep royal blue wallpaper and turquoise drapes. “I like to do and pink floral wallpaper.

color blocking,” she says about the selective hue saturation.

According to Scalo, it’s color that expresses the joy and
“It’s a more modern expression of color like a Rothko painting.”
exuberance of the home’s owners but items like the Saarinen
In the sunroom, the prime family gathering place, the blue dining room table, the 60s mod leather sofa and even that disco
and white throw pillows and folk art style rug are nods to New ball chandelier that will allow the house to stand the test of time.

England, while the tufted white patent leather bench—“Easy to “There’s something about them that resonates with us,” she says.
apr + may
wipe off little fingerprints,” says Scalo—an acrylic coffee table, “These are things that never go out of style and we never grow
and a chandelier that spins like a disco ball are not so subtle tired of living with them” n Lynne Scalo, Lynne Scalo Design 23