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The library before the clients moved in.Photo courtesy of Corcoran Real Estate.
When Asia Baker Stokes' cousin called on her to revamp her family's newly purchased Upper East Side apartment, she happily rose to the occasion. The room the up-and-coming interior designer's chic eye focused on first: the library, that also functioned as a televison/living room. "She really loved this living room that was painted in a very bright blue," Baker Stokes says of an initial inspirational photo her client/cousin presented her with. "Then, we did that exercise where you pick a couple of colors and test." Their color comparison led them to the darker, but still vibrant, blue you see below. However, concealing the dated wood paneling wasn't as easy as a few coats of high-gloss paint. "This space needed the most work, so we started here," she says. "When you decide you're going to lacquer a room you have to completely strip the walls, because they need to be as straight as possible. It required a ton of sanding, painting, re-sanding, and skim-coating. The clients were planning on moving in quickly, and had a small child whose bedroom is down the hall, so we figured let's get the dust and fumes out of the way as soon as possible."
"I think that lacquer is such a beautiful employment on the walls," she says. "It just creates this ambiance of comfort and coziness. Almost like it's been here forever."
"We found the sofa at Canvas Home; but I sent them our own fabric, this beautiful dark navy from Vanderhurd," she says. "We liked its tufted old-feeling, but it also has a modern sensibility with its straight back and arms. We wanted the tufting on the ottoman to relate to the back of the sofa. It's intentionally comfortable and cushy so that people can kick their feet up or sit on it."
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"Both myself and the client came from very traditional houses and grew up with these rugs on our floors," Baker Stokes says of her choice to install Stark's antelope print carpet. "It has a thread to the past, but it is also fun and friendly." "
"We didn't want to get rid of the couple's ancestral paintings (note the boat paintings above), because that's part of their past," she says. "So, we decided to incorporate them with the contemporary art (note the James Nares painting above the sofa) that is their future."
"Some kids grow up in homes where you're not allowed to go in certain rooms—which is very impractical, especially in New York City where you have such limited space," she says of creating a family-centric zone for children and parents alike. "It was important for this room to be beautiful but also child-friendly."
Photography by Kelly Stuart for Hearst Digital.
