PaperCity Magazine

October 2016 - Houston

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harmonic color, was ideally suited for the task of corralling their passion for boldness into something that would endure. "They put a lot of trust in me, which I took very seriously," Green says. "They plan on this being the last place they decorate, so I had to pull out all the stops." The entire 3,360-square-foot apartment was gutted and reconfigured, under the auspices of Carlo Di Nunzio of Di Nunzio Lifestyle Architecture and general contractor Goodman Even Inc., which specializes in luxury high-rise renovations. Gone now is the maze of view-blocking hallways from the unit's original 1999 footprint, replaced by spacious rooms that flow naturally into each other. Moritz, who worked in Manhattan earlier in his career, wanted the bones of the rooms to have the feel of that city's glorious pre-war apartments, with high ceilings and beautiful plaster moldings and details. "The idea was to make it look like an apartment from the era that had been layered and updated through the years," Green says. "It has deco features, and they gave it an international feel with their art and furniture." Dramatic art deco elements include a custom zigzag marquetry floor of ebony, sycamore, and maple in the dining room, and a crisp black-and-white oval foyer inspired by the lobby at Claridge's in London. As in the legendary hotel, Green framed doorways and ceilings with classical pilasters and moldings, from 133-year-old Decorators Supply Corporation in Chicago, which uses historic molds to cast its plaster. The treatment not only provides symmetry, says Green, but bolsters the rooms with the kind of interior architecture most newer buildings lack. (Continued on page 70) G reat taste and style have their advantages. When Stinnett and Moritz sold their previous home, the new owners purchased much of their art and furniture. A blank slate is an ideal situation for any designer, but for Green, it was also a chance for the three friends to travel and shop together to buy art and furniture. "We spent a lot of time in New York looking for light fixtures," says Green, who snagged a pair of exquisite Ruhlmann-style sconces for the dressing room on one trip. During a sojourn to Paris, which was as much for pleasure as to buy, they fell in love with hand-painted de Gournay Willow wallpaper panels, which they had custom-colored and made into a folding screen for the living room. The couple kept only a handful of favorites from their previous home, such as a pair of Empire-era chandeliers, a Fortuny lighting pendant, and a large Italian dining table. Green filled in with furniture he designed, much of it based on deco-era furnishings, hand-built by David Longwood of Designer's Furniture Mfg. The couple's hobbies and collections inspired entire rooms. The china room, which doubles as a breakfast area, houses Moritz's collection of plates and tabletop pieces. Stinnett, a voracious reader of history books and novels, got a high-gloss lacquer library based on one Albert Hadley designed for Brooke Astor, which leads into the master suite. And Green designed a handsome dressing room for Moritz's extensive collection of John Lobb bespoke shoes, which also has a hidden door for quick access to their luggage, should the travel bug bite. 68

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