HBLA Spring 2010 : Page 64
...continued teacher could tell it wasn’t actual wood,” says Adler. But forget just meeting the yogi’s standards: Adler’s boys, who often ride their skateboards throughout the aerie, can also submit hands on (or feet on) testimony of the floor’s seamlessness. Other changes were small but meaningful. Adler moved the front door, creating a visual axis—via foyer, two-way fireplace, family room and deck—that unites indoors and out. Tis shift also allowed her to carve a media room out of a passageway whose flow had been awkwardly punctuated by the front door’s original placement. Should one doubt this new efficiency of space, simply ask the opinion of the three wide- eyed pictures by painter Margaret Keane—part of a collection of Keane’s paintings purchased by Adler’s legendary “Auntie Mame” mother and queen of over- the-top décor—which hang together on one wall. She also redid the landscaping and the house’s exterior, retaining the language of modernism— simplicity, geometric shapes, utilitarian materials— but softening its syntax through the addition of warmer, classical elements. Te front door is oversized, importantly framed, under a cantilevered canopy, and flanked by Deco-ish Donghia light fixtures. Te façade 64 | | Spring 2010 and plant boxes in smooth-trowel cement are not harsh white, but rather what Adler calls “three shades of Weimaraner gray-brown.” It’s the same shifting color range found in the leaves of the new olive trees, as well as the general color scheme for the interiors (yes, further connecting the ins with the outs). In all, the changes took one year, during which time the family moved six doors up the street to a 9,000-square-foot house owned by Adler’s dad, the kind where everybody can be at home and not know it. “We so prefer a smaller house with great flow,” says Adler. “One that reflects how we live and that helps us maximize how we live.” Fine. But how does a confirmed maximalist dial it down? “Color! Look at my French baroque chairs, lacquered white and upholstered in a hot pink velvet,” says Adler, who save for one or two pieces such as the Trina Turk sofa on the terrace and the Ann Sacks backsplash, designed everything—furniture, wallpaper, patterned carpets, the works. “Tere’s a lot going on here, but I’m calmed by opulence, by multiple layers,” says Alder, pointing to the sofa’s Lucite legs and tufted glossy leatherette. “I find this very soothing. Maybe I’ve found myminimal.” offBeaT opuLence clockwise fromupperleft: The dining room features circa’s Satellite table and milton chiars. Vintage light from emerson Troop; a pair of margaret keane paintings personalize the den that has circa’s Hollywood sofa and faux snakeskin tables from 655 Home; a ’60s-era bronze sculpture.
Publication List
