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"View Slideshow\n\nIt sort of makes you blush a little bit,&amp;quot; the client says, teasingly, of the 2,700-square-foot apartment she and her husband share in New York&amp;#39;s Greenwich Village. But, truly, blushing is the least of it. The living and dining area alone, with its 14-foot-high ceilings, arresting palette and mural-size art, is more likely to stop a visitor in his tracks.\n\nWhich is just the effect they hoped for. &amp;quot;What&amp;#39;s really cool about this apartment is that it&amp;#39;s inspiring,&amp;quot; she adds. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#39;t get bored with it. It&amp;#39;s cheery and exciting. The color and everything are invigorating.&amp;quot; Having grown up in a similar environment\u2014the vivid hues, the leopard-print fabrics\u2014she couldn&amp;#39;t imagine living any other way.\n\n&amp;quot;We wanted it to be formal but comfortable, nothing too precious.&amp;quot;\n\nIn fact, she&amp;#39;d known &amp;quot;since I was born,&amp;quot; she jokes, that, like her father before her, she&amp;#39;d one day commission Thomas Britt, the venerable New York interior designer, to create her first home. &amp;quot;It wasn&amp;#39;t even an issue. Tom isn&amp;#39;t my uncle, but he seems like my uncle\u2014he&amp;#39;s just always been in my life. We have such great synergy,&amp;quot; she remarks. Since her parents have lived in Britt-designed houses for the length of their married life together, she knew exactly what to expect. &amp;quot;Tom always decorates in really bright colors,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;We&amp;#39;re not a family that&amp;#39;s afraid of color.&amp;quot;\n\nIn his long career, Britt has designed the interiors of some very grand homes; his client list is extensive and distinguished. He&amp;#39;s certainly seen his share of unlimited budgets. And while this wasn&amp;#39;t the case here, it didn&amp;#39;t diminish his pleasure in the task. &amp;quot;She&amp;#39;s a kid,&amp;quot; the designer says of his client, fondly. &amp;quot;She&amp;#39;s got it! That girl knows what she wants.&amp;quot;\n\nBritt, working with architectural designer Peter Napolitano, of his office, dramatically remade the residence: &amp;quot;We gutted the place,&amp;quot; he remarks. While the floor plan remained essentially unchanged, much of the loft&amp;#39;s detailing, including awkward-looking mantelpieces, plastic crown moldings and &amp;quot;rinky-dink cabinets and cupboards,&amp;quot; in the designer&amp;#39;s words, were replaced. And a 400-square-foot penthouse room was added.\n\nThe designer collaborated with another associate, Valentino Samsonadze, on the interior: &amp;quot;We literally cooked this up together,&amp;quot; he says. Given the budget, the decision to use vivid colors was as much a strategic choice as it was an aesthetic one: &amp;quot;We sort of faked it a little bit with color,&amp;quot; the client says.\n\nFor the living and dining area, she and her husband wanted a space they could truly live in. &amp;quot;We didn&amp;#39;t want it to be a stage. We wanted it to be formal but comfortable, nothing too precious.&amp;quot; They toyed with the thought of coral for the walls before settling on aqua, which was &amp;quot;so much moodier at night,&amp;quot; she says\u2014even more so after Britt paired it with the ceiling, which was papered and lacquered in silver. The leopard-print accents, which she couldn&amp;#39;t imagine living without, take the form of sofa cushions and tub chairs. Even the sisal carpet, with its tiny geometric pattern in natural and brown, would make any visiting cheetah feel at home.\n\nTwo majestic Peter Beard photographs, of African scenes, dominate the room. The upward thrust of the trumpeting elephant in one of the works is echoed in a pair of striking mirrors above the fireplaces; Britt and Samsonadze created them out of chofas, hornlike finials that rise up from Thai temple roofs. Both Britt and the client wanted these to run full length, eliminating mantelpieces altogether, until the husband, a traditionalist in matters of the hearth, demurred. &amp;quot;He grounded us a little bit when it got too crazy,&amp;quot; his wife comments. &amp;quot;He said, Let&amp;#39;s not make this Fantasia!&amp;#39; &amp;quot;\n\nEven so, there&amp;#39;s magic in every room. With its silver, rose and white palette, the master bedroom is an ethereal contrast to the main room&amp;#39;s deeper hues. The silver-and-white, finely patterned wallcovering was a given: &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ve always been obsessed with it,&amp;quot; the client confesses, since she first came across it at Britt&amp;#39;s weekend home on Long Island. The bed, with its flowing, romantic canopy\u2014&amp;quot;in Schiaparelli pink,&amp;quot; according to the designer\u2014was also preordained; her parents have long slept beneath something similar. &amp;quot;The ceiling is the ideal height to do this,&amp;quot; Britt notes. &amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s a long sweep.&amp;quot;\n\nTo create the penthouse room and garden, architect Brian Smith moved one of those water towers that are so ubiquitous in the Manhattan skyline. The wife describes the new space as part study and screening room, as well as &amp;quot;another hang-out space.&amp;quot; At summer parties, guests spill out onto the 1,500-square-foot terrace, with its artful garden designed by landscape designer Matthew Moynihan.\n\nConceived in jewel tones, the room&amp;#39;s interior features lacquered walls the client describes as &amp;quot;an inky aubergine.&amp;quot; A more timid designer might have backpedaled from such a strong color, adding blander elements. Not Britt, of course. Rather, he tossed in a custom sofa of a shade he calls &amp;quot;that biting chartreuse.&amp;quot; The room&amp;#39;s draperies, of a lighter-weight silk, are also dramatically hued: &amp;quot;I got three shades of aubergine\u2014mauve, plum, lilac\u2014then sewed them together, unlined, so you can see the light shimmering through.&amp;quot;\n\nSpeaking of the entire project, the designer adds: &amp;quot;The whole idea is that it&amp;#39;s warm and livable.&amp;quot; His client expands on the thought. &amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s always sexy and warm but cool; we love that.&amp;quot; It&amp;#39;s just as she said: great synergy."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/britt-article-022007>