This year, The Shade Store was a sponsor of the annual Kips Bay Decorator’s Showcase, which benefited the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. With some of the top names in interior design making over a storied mansion on the Upper East Side, the house was truly a feast for the eyes.
Anne Maxwell Foster and Suysel dePedro Cunningham of Tilton Fenwick
With a little help from The Shade Store, interior designers Anne Maxwell Foster and Suysel dePedro Cunningham of Tilton Fenwick outfitted an old Butler’s Pantry into a sophisticated and chic sitting area. Here’s what it looked like before the makeover:
Notice the beautiful window in the back!
And now for the after:
Tilton Fenwick chose to use a Woven Wood Shade in Tiki from The Shade Store for this space. Why? “The bamboo finish added something exotic to the room and blended right in with our Escapism theme,” said the pair.
Read on for a little Q&A with the design-duo about how the space came to be:
What was your inspiration for the space?
The dining lounge, an intimate space located just off of the formal dining room, was imagined to host a casual group of two or three looking to continue a great conversation while mixing an after dinner cocktail. We imagined this intimate duo or trio as they excuse themselves from the end of a more formal dinner party to escape into the lounge for a bit more privacy. As such, Escapism became our inspirational theme for the design of the space.
Anchoring this theme is the large photograph “Shakti” by Karen Knorr transporting us from the Upper East Side to the incredible interior of the Shakti, Sheesh Mahal (translated from Urdu as the “Crystal Palace”) located in Pakistan. This large scale photograph of the prowling tiger digitally fused by the artist into the Sheesh Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site completed in 1632, immediately transports our inhabitants to a different time and a different world.
Behind the photograph are walls covered in Tilton Fenwick’s own “Zulla” fabric in Sea Green, a print inspired by a traditional paisley motif, set above a fringed tape trim applied to the walls as a textural architectural detail. Mixing the modern console table, ikat print flatweave rug, abstract painting and English Victorian tub chairs, the room design embraces layering of colors and patterns, traditional and today that Tilton Fenwick has become known for in all of their interiors.
Were you pleased with the outcome of the space?
Our space underwent a major transformation and we couldn’t be more pleased with how our space turned out.
What are you loving in design this year?
We have been loving all things country chic this year and were able to embrace that aesthetic recently when Anne and her husband purchased a house in upstate New York. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to use so many of our favorite traditional florals, including the fabrics that we designed with Duralee to have those traditional floral patterns but updated in unexpected colors.
