The art of arranging: A Pasadena house with graphic punch

Herrington flips through one of the black-and-white photography books in his living room. The designer likes the graphic punch of black and white and uses that color scheme to provide continuity from room to room. To achieve the minimalist, global look he desired, Herrington combined a well-chosen mix of Euro-style and classic-line contemporary furnishings with ethnic pieces. A Christian Liaigre dining table and chairs stand in the background; an array of natural baskets and a Kreiss rattan bench-turned-coffee table add texture to the room; while a Ralph Lauren Buffalo check rug set atop a bound sisal carpet and hardwood floors add warmth and graphic drama. Note the spiked objects on the left and the white ceramics on the right, which are detailed in the photos to follow.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Herrington paired a carved wood spider’s nest table from Ghana with a terra-cotta jug from Mali.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A black-and-white checked rug serves as a living room canvas for a woven coffee table and tray holding a pulley from the Ivory Coast. Herrington often groups his travel souvenirs and collected objects in trays, then swaps out those trays during the course of the year, allowing him to enjoy various objets d’art without getting overwhelmed by clutter.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

To create a tableau of ceramics, Herrington uses as his stage a simple metal Smith & Hawken garden table redeployed as an indoor side table. Its shape echoes the objects it holds: two Barbara Barry minimalist vases, a midcentury-flavored geometric Jonathan Adler vase and a Chinese tea cup -- all different sources linked by a common material.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

For this living room chair, the designer folded a white throw into a long strip, laid down the middle of the seat. The graphic treatment echoes the graphic lines of the checked rug. The paper lamp is by Ingo Maurer. Herrington says the shade fits with the clean lines and contemporary look of the home.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The headdress on the right is a wooden piece by the Dogon people of Mali. The basket is from Pottery Barn.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A dining room art composition: On the wall are four Queen Ntombi paintings by Andy Warhol. Instead of flowers, the white vase holds rose hips. The books are “Lost Africa” by Casimir Zagourski and “Small Trades” by Irving Penn.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Another dining table vignette features John Derian glass decoupage plates. To play off the image of a vintage envelope, Herrington added a 1962 silver letter opener by Enzo Mari. The ink well is by Christian Tortu.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The music room’s center table, draped in an off-white canvas and topped with a bleached cowhide, displays objects in a surprising variety of motifs: ceramic vases painted with vertical and horizontal stripes, a polka dot bowl and box, a trompe l’oeil stack of plates (actually, a ceramic box), a harlequin-pattern letter opener. Herrington says the arrangement was driven by a desire to complement the Tony Gleaton photography on the wall. The cowhide-covered chair is vintage, and the lamps are by Thomas O’Brien.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

“Irving Penn: A Career in Photography” carries on the black-and-white theme, while the trompe l’oeil stack of plates (actually a ceramic container that merely looks like a dozen or so dishes) adds to the sense of whimsy. Atop the faux plates: walnuts, also ceramic.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A dramatic 4-by-5-foot photograph by the late Seydou Keita of an African woman reclining takes up most of the adjoining wall and dominates the charcoal-hued room. Photographs here and throughout the house create a home-as-gallery ambiance, while Herrington’s global artifacts -- masks and sculptures, carved tables and ethnic textiles collected on his half-dozen trips to West Africa -- add a rich layer of world culture.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

In the entryway leading to the living room: Walter Chin photography, books stacked on a ‘50s cowhide chair and a table by Christian Liaigre.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

By a bedroom window: A simple arrangement of a basket from Mali and a Christian Liaigre book.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Herrington had lived in his house a long time before tackling the hallway: Rather than play down the long, narrow space, he decided to play it up. Because black and white stripes would have been too much, he used three softer kraft paper hues. Atop the hall’s built-in credenza, Herrington styled objects in more trays and anchoring the compositions with an X-shape Crate & Barrel lamp. An arresting botanical photograph by Tom Baril leans casually against the wall, out of frame.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Though the designer confesses that his desk at work is often “controlled chaos,” he prefers to come home to a relaxed, “organized look.” Here, a mirror hung above the fireplace helps to bring a bit of the outdoors inside. New French doors on either side of his living room fireplace open onto the frontyard, now enclosed for privacy, graced with a koi pond and replanted with Pride of Madeira, agave and rosemary.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Images of the living room and backyard overlap in a photo taken at Walter Herrington’s artfully arranged Pasadena home. “People sometimes get the impression I have an obsessive, neatnik personality,” Herrington says with a laugh. “I’m a Gemini and have two sides. At home, my good side comes through.”

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