Is She Still There, Two Years Later?

                                THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION

Country Home magazine, in September of 2002, featured designer Liz Pierce's 700 square foot French inspired New York city apartment. Seven years later in the 2007 February issue she invited the magazine back to show how her style has evolved without starting over from scratch. I wonder if she is still there in 2009? The photographers in 2007 were, Carter Berg and Reed Davis.

Instead of starting over, Liz moves things around and puts them away. She stores furniture and accessories so when they return they look fresh. She rethinks her scheme by changing out fabrics. Then she had white slipcovers in the living room area.      BEFORE.

The living room area now has some pattern and print on some of the furniture. She replaced a small round wooden coffee table with a small silver drum table. She upholstered a screen in a print to mimic a portrait gallery making it a focal point and a room divider. The visual trick makes a narrow space seem bigger. Liz indicated a totally open space made the loft feel smaller. She has kept the same gray palette as homage to her love of the architecture and gray skies of Paris. It provides a timeless backdrop for regrouping.
 
                                                        AFTER

                                                                                                                                             

 

In the studio, she broke her rule of vintage decorating only by putting a Philippe Starck "Louis Ghost" chair to pair with her antique desk. The see through chairs are helpful in making a room less crowded. And she likes mixing the see through chairs with an old farm table. She uses wall space to create interest in her huge book collection.

  
                                BEFORE was the fussier look of florals, stripes, leopard and toiles.

AFTER:  prints rule. Mixing patterns can be fun as long as they are in the same color family. For a guest nook, blue connects the paisley with the fleur-de-lis.

BEFORE: the master bedroom had toile, red checks and leopard print in it.

AFTER: in the master bedroom, red connects the dots. Liz chose red for it's masculine and feminine appeal.

Liz believes in tossing in a few playful objects such as the life sized mannequin in the bedroom. If you look at the base of it you will see piles of French literature.

Taping up favorite flea market art work achieves instant display gratification. There are no rules. Liz moved her favorite garden urn with Mexican spirit balls from the living room floor and paired them with stone doves and sophisticated silver antiques for warmth and texture. Liz indicated if she could, she would have a million statues.

 

                                             We wish her well wherever she is now living.