Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1546312
moment she stepped out of her house — a restored 1920s caretaker's cottage in Highland Park, shingled and gabled, its rooms a sophisticated, charming distillation of everything she's known for. I took notes as she recounted details that would form the book's 10 chapters — passage rooms, living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, sleeping rooms, and more — and the extraordinary relationships she's built with the artisans and makers who bring her rooms to life. What became clear on those talks wasn't just admiration for her taste; it was how many of these artisans have thrived under her steady patronage, project after project. The venerable London wallpaper house de Gournay is the clearest example. Cathy's relationship with founder Claud Cecil Gurney goes back more than 30 years, to a months-long project she had in London, where she was a regular at de Gournay's Chelsea showroom, and singing their praises to clients and colleagues back home. She became the first American designer to use de Gournay's wallpapers in a show house — and she's used their papers in virtually every project since, a loyalty that's helped build the company's reputation in the U.S. Take P.E. Guerin, the hardware atelier whose foundry on Jane Street in Greenwich Village has been hand-casting knobs, hinges, and latches since 1857 — the kind of bespoke, one-of-a-kind hardware Cathy works into nearly every project. Inevitably, she heads to the foundry in person, working the pattern room the way P.E. Guerin's Martin Grubman describes it in the book — like stepping into the Wand Shop in Harry Potter. Or picture her at Penn & Fletcher's Long Island City embroidery workroom, seated at founder Ernie Smith's big worktable, sketching out the vine-and-butterfly trapunto pattern that would eventually trim the sofa in a longtime Dallas client's Upper East Side dining room. Memorable Rooms features personal essays by those artisans and others, including Leontine Linens founder Jane Scott Hodges, stylist Howard Christian, Farrow & Ball's Patrick O'Donnell, and Dallas textile designer Lisa Fine. Their work is on full display across the book's featured houses, from a Sun Valley retreat to an East Hampton beach house to a Boston townhouse. As Cathy puts it in the book's introduction: "Craft — the bespoke dressmaker details and handwork of artisans — is what elevates a space from polished to unforgettable." Previous page: A Sun Valley, Idaho, guest suite with antique textiles and Penny Morrison fabrics. Above: A billiards room with Les Indiennes fabric. Clockwise from top: A Fifth Avenue bedroom with Penn & Fletcher embroidery. An entry with fanlight transoms by Alex Eskenasy, Eskenasy Ferguson Architecture. A 2022 Atlanta Flower Magazine show house bedroom with de Gournay wallpaper. READ MCKENDREE TRIA GIOVAN TRIA GIOVAN DEBORAH WHITLAW LLEWELLYN 111