31 Living Room Ideas from the Homes of Top Designers
The world’s famed designers create exquisite interiors for their clients, but what about the spaces they fashion for themselves? For these sought-after professionals, their own homes are places to express their personal tastes and experiment with new trends, showcase bold patterns, and display treasured art and antiques. We’ve gathered a selection of the elegant and inspiring living rooms of decorators and architects whose residences have appeared in the pages of AD, each filled with smart and stylish ideas for your own design project. From over-the-top grandeur to sleek modernism, see the stunning spaces where the world’s top talents entertain and relax.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn1/31Architect Lee Ledbetter renovated a landmark 1963 house in New Orleans to share with his partner, Douglas Meffert. Surrounding the custom-made cocktail table in the living room are a pair of Harvey Probber brass armchairs upholstered in a KnollTextiles fabric, two Louis XVI–style fauteuils in a Holly Hunt leather, a vintage T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings chair in a Zoffany stripe, and a vintage Florence Knoll sofa in a KnollTextiles Ultrasuede. A large mixed-media artwork by Robert Helmer hangs on the brick wall, which is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White.
Photo: François Dischinger2/31Designer Sara Story restored a Victorian home in Snedens Landing, New York. An artwork by Sterling Ruby and a zebrahide add pizzazz to the living room.
Photo: Douglas Friedman3/31With the help of architect Eric Ryder, designer Brigette Romanek renovated a historic Laurel Canyon home for her family. The living room is outfitted with a pair of Marco Zanuso lounge chairs from Eccola, a Blackman Cruz console (left), and a Hans Wegner chaise longue.
Photo: Ricardo Labougle4/31A large Roberto Matta canvas overlooks the living room in Linda Pinto’s Paris apartment. In the foreground at left is a bronze side table by Claude Lalanne, next to a sofa accented with 1970s fur pillows; the cocktail tables are by Ado Chale, the sculpture in the far right corner is by Philippe Hiquily, and the rug was custom made by Tai Ping.
5/31Thomas Ruff’s photograph Substrat 24 I dominates the living room of Jamie Drake’s Manhattan apartment. Arranged around a marble-and-granite table by Drake Design Assoc. are a Milo Baughman lounge chair in a Christopher Hyland mohair, a Drake-designed sofa in a Schumacher fabric, and a pair of club chairs and a Bright Group ottoman that are covered in Rubelli velvets from Donghia. The curtains are of a Clarence House fabric, and the walls are painted in Benjamin Moore’s Sidewalk Gray, with a Venetian-plaster finish by the Alpha Workshops. The carpet is by the Alpha Workshops for Edward Fields.
Photo: Richard Powers6/31What appears to be a gilt-framed mirror in Timothy Corrigan’s Paris apartment is actually a window aligned with two mirrors, one in the living room and one in the dining room beyond. Corrigan highlighted the ingenious hall-of-mirrors illusion by installing matching Napoléon III chandeliers in the two rooms. The armchairs and the curtain and sofa fabrics are all from Schumacher’s Timothy Corrigan Collection; the stools are vintage Jansen, and the carpet is a Corrigan design for Patterson Flynn Martin.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna7/31The heart of the Allegra Hicks’s Naples, Italy, apartment is a long, high-ceilinged room divided into living and dining areas, each anchored by carpets designed by Hicks. The designer also created the Roman-shade fabric, the cut velvet on the wood-framed Jindrich Halabala armchairs, and the butterfly-specimen table at right; an 18th-century Venetian mirror surmounts the mantel.
Photo: Roger Davies8/31Architect Jorge Elias filled his 17,000-square-foot home in the Jardim Europa neighborhood of São Paulo with extraordinary antiques and images. An 18th-century Russian chandelier, vintage velvet sofas, Louis XV fauteuils, a gold-leafed Hand chair by Pedro Friedeberg, and artworks by Serge Poliakoff and Fernand Léger are among the eclectic mix in the living room.
Photo: Douglas Friedman9/31The former Manhattan living room of designers Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent features circa-1970 Georges Pelletier ceramic lights above a vintage sofa by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Cassina, a ’70s Jansen brass cocktail table, and a French steel low table; the vide-poche table in the foreground is a ’50s design by Jacques Adnet, and the windows are dressed with curtains and rods by RH and tassels found at a market in Thailand.
Photo: Björn Wallander10/31In Pedro Espírito Santo’s frescoed Lisbon, Portugal, salon, an 1860s Orientalist painting is flanked by foil bouquets. The gilt-wood fauteuil is antique, the cocktail table is Asian, and the needlepoint carpet was custom made.
Photo: Oberto Gili11/31Surrounding a living room doorway in the Hamptons home of David Kleinberg are two Richard Serra prints, one displayed over a mahogany cabinet by Paul László; the photograph in the hall is by Alejandra Laviada. Twin French Art Deco zebrawood side tables are joined by Art Deco armchairs covered in a Rogers & Goffigon fabric; the upholstery throughout the house was done by Anthony Lawrence-Belfair, the throw is from Homenature, and the raffia rug is by La Manufacture Cogolin.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn12/31An artwork by Terry Winters overlooks the Nashville, Tennessee, living room of interior designer Ray Booth and television executive John Shea. Roust, one of their two Siamese cats, strikes a noble pose next to a Minotti chaise longue. A Christophe Delcourt floor lamp and a Robert Lighton side table flank the sofa, also by Minotti; the carpet is by Stephanie Odegard Collection.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn13/31At the Montauk, New York, home of designers Vicente Wolf and Matthew Yee, framed photographs from Wolf’s collection—including images by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Edward Steichen, and André Kertész—line the shelves above the living room’s sectional sofa, which is upholstered in a Janus et Cie fabric.
Photo: Scott Frances14/31In Alexa Hampton’s New York living room, a detail of the Parthenon’s frieze, painted by Hampton, hangs above the custom-made sofa, which is covered in a Kravet fabric; the klismos chair is by Alexa Hampton for Hickory Chair, Louis XVI chairs flank the mantel (designed by Hampton for Chesney’s), and the Irish matting is by Crosby Street Studios.
Photo: Ricardo Labougle15/31Lorenzo Castillo accented the drawing room of his Spanish retreat with a wallpaper from his collection for Gastón y Daniela; the vintage cabinet-on-chest is by Pierre Lottier. The Castillo-designed armchair at left is clad in a Designers Guild velvet, 1970s patchworks hang above the suede sofa, and the vintage cocktail tables were found at Paris’s Marché Paul Bert.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn16/31In Holly Hunt’s Chicago apartment, a massive Helen Frankenthaler canvas faces a Louise Nevelson sculptural work across the living room. At center, a Holly Hunt Studio cocktail table topped with a John Chamberlain sculpture joins a Holly Hunt leather sofa cushioned in a Great Plains velvet and a pair of Paul Mathieu chairs upholstered in an Edelman leather; the floor lamps are by Christian Liaigre, the Tristan Auer ottomans are in a Kyle Bunting leather, and the rug is by Christian Astuguevieille. A custom-made Vladimir Kagan sectional sofa in a Great Plains wool nestles in the bay window.
Photo: Vincent Thibert17/31AD100 designer Jacques Grange’s Paris apartment—once home to the novelist Colette—overlooks the gardens of the Palais Royal. The living room is furnished with a 19th-century chaise longue, club chairs from 1925, an 18th-century desk, and a Jean-Michel Frank armchair from 1930.
Photo: Ngoc Minh Ngo18/31A sculptural staircase framed in polished chrome catches the eye in late AD100 interior designer Alberto Pinto’s lively Rio de Janeiro apartment, which was renovated by architect Thiago Bernardes. Pinto designed the sofa, the painting is by Nancy Graves, and the armless chairs are by William Haines.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn19/31In AD100 interior designer Muriel Brandolini’s eclectic Manhattan townhouse, Antipodal Shopperby George Condo is displayed above a midcentury Italian sofa; the cocktail table is by Mattia Bonetti, the vintage light fixture is by Gerrit Rietveld, and the oval portrait is of Muriel’s husband, Count Nuno Brandolini, as a child.
Photo: Björn Wallander20/31AD100 decorator Michael S. Smith was inspired by 18th-century France when he decorated the elegant Manhattan duplex he shares with HBO executive James Costos. The walls display an Ellsworth Kelly lithograph and an antique overmantel mirror, while Louis XV–style canapés, a Jansen sofa, and Louis XVI–style gilt-wood fauteuils mingle with a Chinese low table and Japanese lacquer robe chests. The decorative woodwork is by Féau & Cie.
Photo: Tim Beddow21/31Design team Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen revamped a flat near London’s Victoria station, keeping only the original 19th-century cornices and the oak parquet floor. A pair of brass bookshelves inspired by a Billy Baldwin design for Cole Porter flank a work on paper by Jean Cocteau. The vintage console is by Jansen, and the sofa is by Moschino’s firm, Nicholas Haslam.
Photo: Roger Davies22/31AD100 designer David Easton and artist James Steinmeyer gave the living room of their modern Tulsa, Oklahoma, getaway a warm makeover with Venetian-plaster walls painted in a Pratt & Lambert gray and Louis XVI–style slipper chairs upholstered in a crimson silk velvet. The mantel is by Easton, and the armchairs and ottoman are from his line for Lee Jofa, as are the fabrics covering them.
Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna23/31The living room walls in antiques dealer and designer Richard Shapiro’s Malibu, California, retreat are sheathed in frescoed plaster, and a 17th-century Italian mirror hangs above an antique Cypriot mantel; Shapiro designed the chairs, the Patricia Roach floor lamp is from his furnishings company, Studiolo, and the wood stools are 19th-century Ghanaian.
Photo: Thomas Loof24/31Inside a glass tower overlooking the Manhattan skyline, Todd Alexander Romano created a high-impact design for his 600-square-foot studio. Inspired by the bold color choices of legendary decorator Billy Baldwin, the designer lacquered the walls and upholstered the custom-made sofa in midnight-blue. Prints by Robert Goodnough and Josef Albers add a vibrant contrast.
Photo: William Waldron25/31Alex Papachristidis decorated the Bridgehampton, New York, home he shares with his extended family using luxe fabrics and eclectic finds that provide the newly built home with a sense of history. Gilded 19th-century stools and custom-made sofas upholstered in a Clarence House fabric are mixed with animal print–covered armchairs and pillows.
Photo: Roger Davies26/31At his modern Los Angeles getaway, AD100 architect and designer Daniel Romualdez introduced a fur rug, a reclaimed-wood cocktail table by André Joyau, and a pair of John Dickinson lamps to help soften the sleek white space. A painting by Sarah Morris hangs on the far wall, the print above the fireplace is by Christopher Bucklow, and the acrylic armchairs are by Paul Rudolph.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn27/31In Atlanta, AD100 decorator Suzanne Kasler renovated her Regency-style house with the help of architectural designers William T. Baker & Assoc. She employed a soothing palette of cream, beige, and white for the living room. “I like colors with a gray undertone,” she said. The velvet sofa is from Kasler’s line for Hickory Chair, the acrylic tables and curtain fabric are by Nancy Corzine, and the rug is by Beauvais Carpets.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn28/31A stainless-steel wall sculpture by Octavio Abúndez hangs in the living room of Nate Berkus’s former duplex in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, and the Gilbert Poillerat chairs are upholstered in a Clarence House linen. Berkus furnished the apartment in the 19th-century building with pieces he had collected over the years, including many furnishings from his previous home in Chicago.
Photo: Eric Piasecki29/31When AD100 interior designer David Kleinberg moved to an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, he chose to retain the home’s original 1920s architectural details as well as the ornate millwork installed by previous owners; he updated the latter with cream and white paint. The vintage light fixture is by Swiss architect Max Ernst Haefeli, and the painting is by Garth Weiser.
Photo: Roger Davies30/31Brazilian architect and designer Sig Bergamin crafted a vibrant living room in the São Paulo home he shares with architect Murilo Lomas. Murano-glass vessels are displayed on either side of a Vik Muniz painting, and the sofas are covered in a Rubelli velvet.
Photo: Tim Beddow31/31Russian architect Dmitry Velikovsky created a refined yet exotic look for his Moscow penthouse, whose living room features an antique gilt-wood sofa, a Senegalese armchair, and an 18th-century samurai chair; a painting by Viktor Pivovarov hangs above the fireplace, and a Picasso etching leans against the bookshelf.
