Hints of Mondrian, Shades of Sage
Los Angeles designer Barbara Barry approaches a client’s house as if she were an artist. She often paints ideas in watercolors then translates the sketches into classically inspired interiors where color and composition come first. For her own home, a 1947 Paul Williams design above Sunset Plaza, rooms are awash with “atonal” shades in a palette of subtle neutrals. “I like colors that can’t be described in one word,” she says. “I love the nuance between colors--mixing cool with warm and watching the two play off each other.” Her background in fine art--she studied drawing and graphic design in college--comes in handy when she’s creating one of the complex custom colors that are her specialty. For her master bedroom she mixed a gray-green with bright lime for a hue she calls “smoky-icy-chartreusey-celadon.”
Indeed, green is a recurring color theme in many Barry interiors--including her own. “It’s my beige, my neutral,” says the designer, who has used varying tones of green in two bedrooms, as well as her library, breakfast area and home office. The color also figures prominently in Barry’s new fabric designs for HBF. “From seafoam, sage and spruce to citrus and pond-scum brown,” says Barry, “I love all those colors that live in nature.” But color is not her sole concern. Barry compares her interiors to the geometry of a Mondrian painting, a design leitmotif that is reflected in her home, as well as those of her star-studded clientele. “A house is all about counterpoint. If I have a white room with a green sofa, then somewhere else in the house I may have a green room for balance,” she explains. “It’s about furniture and objects relating to each other in a graphic way.” In her living room, for example, a hard-edged modern chair keeps company with a down-filled white linen sofa. A dark Italian armoire stands against a pale-mocha wall, while chocolate-hued stained floors peek out from under beige sisal carpets. Says Barry, “Designing a house is about a subtle layering.” Although it’s her personality that sparks a room, she is influenced by French designer Jean Michel Frank’s post-1925 interiors, known for their restrained luxury. Her own furniture line for HBF, which works well in either contemporary or traditional settings, has roots in the same Art Deco period. “I tried to create pieces that reflect the refined and graceful lines of the ‘30s, yet remain timeless,” notes Barry. “It’s a style I return to again and again.” Although she is known for furnishing every detail of a house, right down to the coffeemaker, her serene interiors are much more than a collection of objects. “My look comes out of lifestyle,” explains the designer. “It has to do with the things you surround yourself with--from the finest cotton sheets to the fluffiest white towels. We all work so hard, we deserve to treat ourselves.”
* Hair and makeup: Shawana Clark for Cloutier.