Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1376323
The parlor fireplace is from 1stdibs. Rug is an old African Tuareg mat from Etsy. Pair of leather club chairs from England. Opposite page: In the parlor, the sofa and burl-wood coffee table are vintage Guild Shop finds. Kristopher Benedict painting. Wall color, Farrow & Ball Inchyra Blue. Table lamps from The Guild Shop. Schumacher pillows. and dark oak called for contrast, and Ashley obliged. "It can feel rather fusty — it needed an injection of youth and freshness. That black-and-white vignette as you walk in started with a modern, octagonal white console that I bought at Round Top years ago." The abstract painting was a gift from Steve (she told him what to buy, she notes), and the mid-20th-century geometric lamp was a New York flea-market find. The house is a mix of repurposed vintage, thrift-store finds, and, where needed, custom-designed furnishings. Like many designers, Ashley haunts The Guild Shop, a consignment store that benefits St. John the Divine, where's she snagged remarkable pieces for the parlor, including a sofa "that came alive when I recovered in it green velvet," she says, along with an Art Deco burl-wood coffee table, baskets, and pottery. Back in the day, the parlor would have been an impressive room for entertaining visitors, and Ashley interpreted it for modern times. "I wanted it to feel cozy and dark — a nighttime room for having after-dinner drinks," she says. The space is cocooned in green, from lagoon-green walls and velvet- draped windows to the sofa, flanked by a pair of moss velvet chairs from France. Opposite the parlor, a light-filled living room is where they entertain during the day. "The first time I saw this room, I thought it could be like a Paris apartment — all white, and a little more modern than the parlor, but with drama," she says. She designed the 1940s-French- inspired sofa for the space and found the large Milo Baughman-designed travertine coffee table on 1stdibs. A pair of linen-covered bucket chairs was snagged at The Guild Shop, and they go perfectly with the vintage Saarinen table she found. Near a window, there's a very special antique Steinway & Sons grand piano that had belonged to the previous homeowners, who offered it to the Putmans. No one in their family plays, but it's beautiful to look at. In a way, they see themselves as merely caretakers of the piano — and of the house. "There will be a lot of people over the years who live in this house, and we are here to bring it along and take very good care of it," Ashley says. "We wonder, as we get older: Will it be reasonable to stay in a house of this size, with the stairs? But we can't imagine not living here — it's become an emotional attachment." (continued) 50