In interior design, the NY-based ELLE Decor A-Listfirm Redd Kaihoi is the most popular choice for a slick, color-on-color design executed to the highest standard. The two principals, Miles Redd, and David Kaihoi, have reportedly never encountered a fire engine or kelly green that they didn’t like. On a recent evening, Miles Redd led me around the interiors of their latest design, the four-bedroom duplex penthouse in Manhattan. Perhaps the most significant surprise was that the rooms were all decorated in neutrals, with no bright colors.
“Our clients, who moved here from California, didn’t want a typical Upper East Side apartment,” Redd declares. He and Kaihoi previously collaborated with the couple on residences aligned with their distinctive style. “Usually, we do like a fair amount of color,” the client admits. “But in New York, it felt right that the palette should be more subdued.”
A ceiling with lacquer floats above the plaster walls that have been fluted inside the dining space. Elisabeth James Antiques make its Georgian table, and the antique furniture is Brazilian. Astele assembles the chandelier, as are the drapes thMuriel Brandolini fabric drapes sluggish approach also fits the setting of the contemporary Art Deco-inspired building designed by artist Peter Pennoyer. Inspired by work from American architects Ely Jacques Kahn and Ralph Thomas Walker Pennoyer created the 19-story structure, which has beautiful facades made of hand-cut Indiana limestone that has cast-iron railings, mullioned windows, and lanterns, harking back to an era when the things were carefully considered and handcrafted. The aim, he stated, was to design something that would “both belong to its place by completing the streetscape, and to stand on the sky plane.”
TOUR THIS QUIETLY GLAMOROUS DUPLEX PENTHOUSE
To make sure that the design of their residence was in line with the creation of the building, They also engaged the architect Elizabeth Graziolo. An ex-partner in the Pennoyer’s business, she played a significant role in the concept of the construction. After that, when she founded her highly-acclaimed firm, Yellow House Architects, Graziolo was brought in to collaborate with the designers. She added a touch of elegance with the features that combine couture and dignity, such as in the dining space’s fluted walls the linen-fold panels on the walls of the family room that is lined with books, and the brass mesh design in the dressing room that is the primary one.
Then, Redd and Kaihoi set up to meet the client’s desire for a more upscale interior in the Upper East Side, where manners of conduct often dampen enthusiasm. In this instance, the mission was achieved. In rooms with nearly 12 feet of ceiling, the sun is now poured like honey. When you enter through an enfilade of light, it streams into the room from all directions, stimulating the entire area. Mirrors effectively amplify and expand sunlight. “I never met a mirror that I didn’t like,” Redd states. “It is like having another window in a room.”
