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58 worked with the Marcuses for a decade on multiple homes in Palm Beach and Aspen. "It was pretty much love at fi rst sight," says Nicola of their working re- lationship. "We all have similar tastes." No one could have been better suited for the job than Kleinberg, who spent 16 years at legendary design fi rm Par- ish-Hadley Associates, where he was mentored by Albert Hadley and Sister Parish, before launching his own fi rm in 1997. Since then, he's been a regular on Architectural Digest's AD100 list and was inducted into Interior Design maga- zine's Hall of Fame, among other honors. The fi rm also has Texas ties. Scott, a Houston native, studied at Southern Methodist University and earned his de- gree in architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. The Marcuses have worked with the Kleinberg design team on renovating homes almost nonstop for the past eight years, and each project is a head-turner, including their previous Palm Beach home, which won the city's prestigious preservation award. Their most recent beachfront residence was so unattractive when they fi rst purchased it that Nicola cried for two days. Kleinberg and Scott worked their magic, and it's now a showplace that landed on the May 2017 cover of Veranda. And the Mar- cuses recently fi nished redecorating their house in Aspen, where Nicola lived for many years after moving from her native Germany. "The four of us are not only all on the same wavelength, but we've all become such good friends," she says. The Marcuses' larger homes are de- signed for entertaining and family gath- erings. For the New York apartment, however, the idea was to create an in- timate and comfortable space, a respite from the bustle below. The apartment was reconfi gured from two bedrooms to one, and storage solutions became para- mount. Special closets were designed to store suitcases and to hide a washer and dryer, while an extra bedroom became a dressing room. A New York-size kitchen — "hardly even a utility room in Texas terms," says Kleinberg — is behind cus- tom pocket doors. A cozy dining niche was created from the original pantry space. "The apartment functions far above its weight in terms of livability," says Jeff. "Everything we need is here." Occasionally, Kleinberg and Scott pushed the Marcuses beyond their com- fort level. The old oak paneling in the living room was in such bad shape that Nicola initially wanted to paint over it. Kleinberg insisted on restoring it, then refi nishing it with silver leaf. "We knew it would be a costly and time-consuming project. And we were concerned the sil- ver leaf would be too glittery," Jeff says. "But David was adamant, and in hind- sight, he was right." Kleinberg enlisted French conservator Christophe Pourny to bring the 100-year-old paneling back to life. A favorite of Martha Stewart and Bunny Williams, Pourny has worked on virtually every Carpenter and Candela building in the area and restored Gracie Mansion and City Hall in New York. He spent weeks bleaching, staining, cerusing, and fi nally silver-leafi ng each panel. At the same time, artisans lying on scaffolding carefully chipped away decades of paint from the carved-plaster ceiling. "It was a big deal, but it was also Custom doors in nickel and glass reveal a chic functional kitchen with white-lacquered cabinets and ceiling. Designers Lance Scott and David Kleinberg. Jacques Adnet sideboard from Karl Kemp Antiques.