February 12, 2011
Oval Office Interior Designer, Michael S. Smith, Creates "Versailles in the Sky"
Robert Doyle READ TIME: 2 MIN.
NEW YORK (NY) - Designer Michael S. Smith, whose recent projects include a makeover of the Oval Office, discusses a New York apartment with Central Park views, which he terms "Versailles in the sky" in this month's Architectural Digest.
In Architectural Digest's March issue, designer Michael S. Smith brings his signature penchant for mining personal style to his latest project - a Manhattan apartment that gleams with lacquer and shimmers with gold.
The California-based talent - whose recent projects include a makeover of the Oval Office - is, he says "obsessed with figuring out what's personal and organic" to his clients.
The homeowners wanted an ethereal atmosphere to match their magical Central Park views, and that's just what Smith delivered. "We connected the apartment to the sky rather than to the greenery of the park," says the designer.
The ceilings are pearlized, and underfoot is a parquet de Versailles floor made of German silver hand-hammered over wood. The walls and fabrics are misty tones of pearl-gray, cream, white, and pale lavender.
"I have the opportunity to embrace my love of history and look at beauty all the time," Smith says, and nowhere can that be seen more clearly than this space.
Purchased as a shell four years ago, it now boasts a neoclassical look, and brims with 18th-century French furnishings and Louis XVI treasures. "It is," Smith says, "nothing short of Versailles in the sky."
March is the inaugural issue of the elegant new incarnation of Editor-in-Chief Margaret Russell's Architectural Digest: fresh, sunny, and full of life.
While the look of the magazine has changed, AD continues to celebrate striking architecture, sumptuous interiors, compelling art, captivating destinations, intriguing personalities, must-have collectibles, and fascinating discoveries.
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The March issue of Architectural Digest is available on newsstands February 8.
Please visit archdigest.com for expanded coverage of the issue.
Long-term New Yorkers, Mark and Robert have also lived in San Francisco, Boston, Provincetown, D.C., Miami Beach and the south of France. The recipient of fellowships at MacDowell, Yaddo, and Blue Mountain Center, Mark is a PhD in American history and literature, as well as the author of the novels Wolfchild and My Hawaiian Penthouse. Robert is the producer of the documentary We Are All Children of God. Their work has appeared in numerous publications, as well as at : www.mrny.com.
