Peacocks, storks, and monkeys—in Manhattan? The moment designer Courtney McLeod saw her clients’ downtown New York apartment, which is actually two units combined to make a floor-through layout, she knew what to do with the superlong wall connecting the dining and and living rooms. Not paint. “We wanted something a little bit irreverant,” says the founder of Right Meets Left Interior Design. A lively botanical wallcovering, Menagerie Chinoiserie by Voutsa, was shown to the clients, and a palette for the whole apartment came into focus. “They were like, ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ ” McLeod recalls.
Inspired by this foundation, McLeod planted jewel tones like flowers in every room: a hot-pink round rug and a yellow tête-à-tête in the sitting area, rich green walls in the main bedroom, even metallic wallpaper lighting up the hallway between the kids’ rooms. More floral prints—including a riotous Christian Lacroix number on the main bedroom’s headboard—spring up amid all these velvety colors. To protect it all from the reality of two kids, McLeod relied on performance fabrics and had a custom acrylic top outfitted for the dining table. As for the Voutsa mural? “If a little marker gets on there,” says McLeod, “you won’t really notice it.”
The floor plan, conceived by architect Jory Schwartz of SH Projects, was nearly complete by the time McLeod was brought on, so she added flexibility through furniture. “If you’re entertaining, you can move the smaller chairs to different locations,” she says of the living room. “It’s not for show by any stretch—it’s kids, it’s homework, it’s toys. It’s that wonderful family chaos on an everyday basis. It’s fun!”
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Living Room
Armchairs: Anthropologie. Side table: vintage Drexel, 1stDibs. Rugs: custom, Makrosha. Sofa: custom, O. Henry House, in Threads Meridian velvet, Lee Jofa. Roman shades: custom, Milo, in Élitis Effigie fabric.
Main Bedroom
Designer Courtney McLeod freehanded the shape of this dramatic headboard to suit a pair of fearless New York City clients. Headboard: O. Henry House, in Jardin Des Reves Prisme by Christian Lacroix fabric, Osborne & Little. Paint: Colonial Verdigris, Benjamin Moore. Bolster fabric: Raspberry Parade, Makrosha. Blanket: Hunt Slonem. Lamp: Wildwood with a Broome Lampshades shade.
Dining Room
Invisible protections guard the Miles Redd for Ballard Designs dining set: a custom acrylic topper for the table, and Élitis performance velvet that “shimmers and adds glam” to the chairs, says McLeod. Wallcovering: Menagerie Chinoiserie in a custom colorway, Voutsa. Pendant: Hudson Valley Lighting. Plates: Hunt Slonem for Bergdorf Goodman.
Kids' Hallway
A metallic scratch-and-sniff wallcovering, B-A-N-A-N-A-S! in Cyan Chrome by Flavor
Paper, enlivens a dark hallway between the kids’ rooms. Paint: Confident Yellow, Sherwin-Williams (trim); Apple Green, Benjamin Moore (foreground).
Kids Room
Paint: Apple Green, Benjamin Moore. Pendant: vintage Italian, via Chairish. Lamp, bunk bed, desk, rug, bean bag: client's own.
Kitchen
To connect this room—designed by architect Jory Schwartz of SH Projects—to her more exuberant scheme for the rest of the home, McLeod had the island painted Benjamin Moore Blue Danube and hung gleaming Flos pendants.
Main Bathroom
Flamingos join the menagerie via a Mind the Gap wallcovering, Beverly Hills in Mint. Paint: Frosted Petal, Benjamin Moore.
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