This Retro Dream Apartment Is a Combination of Art Deco, Hollywood Regency, and 80s Design Inspo
Many renovation projects begin with a Pinterest board as a stylistic jumping-off point, that was not the case for this Upper East Side apartment that Sasha Bikoff recently revamped for a particularly glamorous client: "I didn’t see any interior inspiration from her; I just saw bags and shoes," recalls Bikoff. But that, it turns out, was more than enough to point Bikoff in the right direction. "She's a major fashionista with a crazy crystal Judith Leiber collection," says Bikoff of the client, who had been uninspired in a drab, dated space before tapping the designer. Her exuberant sense of style would go on to inform every room.
"She wanted this Hollywood Regency type of very feminine look," Bikoff explains. "Everything cream and white and glam, an 80s look."
While those terms may sound disparate, Bikoff is a master at deftly mixing eras for an effect that's strikingly fresh (remember the new spin on Memphis she put on her viral staircase at the Kips Bay showhouse?). "It’s easy to work between this 1980s Art Deco revival and the 1920s Art Deco period," she says.
Easy, of course, when you have Bikoff's eye for vintage pieces and confidence with bold design choices. Here, she fused Hollywood Regency, 80s glam, and Art Deco for a lush, decadent apartment that's completely one of a kind—and perfectly suited to its stylish resident.
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Entry
The first thing Bikoff did in the apartment, she recalls, was "stain all the floors white to give a more glamorous feel." Glamorous is an understatement in the entry hall, where a gold Gucci wallpaper—complemented by a "very 80s" vintage brass and lucite console and mirror—is a nod to the client's fashion background and a lush backdrop to her colorful modern art.
Living Room
Bikoff's combination of stylistic eras comes to a head in the living room, where Louis XVI chairs share space with vintage Italian crystal chandeliers, a shag rug, 80s coffee table, and a Phyllis Morris console. The inspiration for this room, though, was the client's art.
"She had all this art that meant a lot to her, that she's been collecting over the course of her career," says Bikoff. Two of the most prominent pieces skewed blue and orange. "I didn't want to bring out the orange because I felt like it was too bold and kind of took away from our Hollywood glam, so I drew in from the blue," the designer explains.
"I was thinking of Jackie Kennedy and Paris and Christian Dior," she says of the French blue palette on the sofa and armchairs. Bikoff brought in texture via walls in Venetian plaster and voluminous drapery that "the homeowner said reminded her of her bangs!" she recalls.
The starry ceiling wallpaper from Osborne & Little, meanwhile, is a nod to Mario Buatta. "It just brought a little sparkle," says Bikoff.
Dining Room
Bikoff ran the ceiling wallpaper and plaster walls into the dining area, and hung an Italian sconce (sourced from Milan's Principe di Savoia hotel) in the far corner for continuity, as its match is on the other end of the same wall, in the living room. "She wanted the flow between the living room and the dining room to feel like one unified space, so you can have dinner but you can also lay on the couch and have conversations as well," says the designer.
Bedroom
From the start, the homeowner wanted a pink bedroom. To keep it from feeling childish or veering into Pepto Bismol territory, the designer opted for a less saturated color, a barely blush white, and a sophisticated tonal approach.
"I love doing tone on tone because I think it really modernizes a space," she explains. "It brings a really serene feeling. You walk in and feel like you’re on a cloud." The Rubelli wallpaper is complemented with vintage Fortuny lamps, a headboard upholstered in vintage Fendi fabric Bikoff found in the garment district, and pink bedding with the slightest shine. "We made it interesting by braiding totally different patterns and different textures," she explains. "With a tone-on-tone space, it’s all about layering."
Closet
For this fashion-conscious client, the closet was key. "We designed it so it doesn’t feel like a closet out of nowhere—it’s part of the room," explains Bikoff. She devised custom millwork in a soft pink that connects to the bedroom, then added coordinating rose quartz hardware and trimmed it in brass for a nod to Dorothy Draper's iconic furniture designs (which Bikoff recently riffed on in a collection for Kindel). "It's very Draper in style and she loves that glamorous Hollywood Regency feeling."
Bathroom
In the powder room, Bikoff made a major transformation without ripping out walls: "That was the stone that was original to the building and we both didn’t like it, but it would have been a lot of work to remove," she explains. "So we were trying to figure out how to make the stone better."
The answer? "We thought, Let's wallpaper the ceiling, let's make a new vanity with the pink crystal sink top, and then continue the hall wallpaper in here." The result is a jewel box of tonal mixed textures and just the right amount of shimmer—an apt description, too, of the apartment as a whole.
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