Decorating & Design
See Breezy Homes Around The World In Designer Tom Scheerer’s New Book
Manhattan designer Tom Scheerer is an H&H favorite for his seemingly effortless decorating. His rooms always have a touch of the tropics, but it’s never heavy handed. In his second book, Tom Scheerer: More Decorating (Vendome, 2019), he unveils 20 of his latest projects that bear his signature style including city houses and apartments in New York, Houston and Paris; summer homes in Nantucket, the Hamptons and Maine; and tropical getaways in Harbour Island, Antigua and Abaco. Scroll down to get inspired!
An eclectic mix of vintage and antique furniture, as well as a modern peacock chair, contributes to the kitchen’s informal, relaxed atmosphere. “The architect of this unusual Houston house, I. W. “Ike” Colburn, is one of my early heroes. I was introduced to his work in 1970 (I remember precisely) by a school friend from Lake Forest, Illinois, where he built several extraordinary houses, which are now iconic among his fans,” says Tom. The ceramic light fixtures — also original — were painted white.
In this circa 1977 Houston home, “The austere and entirely windowless exterior walls suggested a chic fortress and hinted at a thoroughly private and seductive interior courtyard,” explains Tom. A vintage Bielecky coffee table takes center stage. The painting at the end of the living room is by Sangram Majumdar, and the Windsor chair was left by the previous owner.
The tall, pickled-teak tester bed was made in India for the tray-ceilinged master bedroom. Without a canopy and hangings, sight lines are uninterrupted. Plus, wicker and rattan envelop chairs, dressers, baskets and accessories — even the ivory ceramic bedside lamps are lashed in split caning.
The walls of this Park Avenue apartment library are painted in velvety Blue Muscari from Benjamin Moore’s Century collection. Nine-foot bookcases were fashioned from black-lacquered dowels, mahogany shelves and brass “lamp parts,” held together by steel tension rods.
Dunmore Town on tiny, remote Harbour Island in the Bahamas is a trove of charming houses dating back to the late 18th century. Vernacular shipwright’s cottages made from native pine, and a few grander homes made of stuccoed coral stone girded by wooden verandas line the harbor front. In this abode, pickled pecky cypress makes an appearance on the living room ceiling over wide, white-painted plank walls. Above the sofa is a large-scale work by English artist Christopher Brooks, a frequent Harbour Island visitor.
In this Harbour Island kitchen, there are no upper cabinets, which allow the patterned kitchen walls to carry the day. The Cuban-style Katie tile is from Villa Lagoon Tile. The kitchen floor is impervious porcelain, chosen to flow seamlessly into the coral stone-like travertine floors throughout.
In this Bahamas beach house, the principal room opens to the veranda and a large courtyard, plus corridors and rooms at all four corners. It’s the busy and accommodating social nexus of the house. Paneled in textural whitewashed pecky cypress, the central room has a beachy “soul.” The sunny color scheme purposefully diverges from that of the big house to set a palpably different tone. The large and vibrant encaustic painting over the sofa was found in a Palm Beach shop.
Another wing contains a feminine suite of rooms for the girls in the family. The twin beds were painted white, and in a divergence from the Indian theme, the mirrors are Mexican tinwork studded with turquoise stones.
In this Dallas home in Highland Park, a banquette in the breakfast corner is covered in Kravet’s chartreuse Crypton fabric. The green-lacquered, rattan-backed chairs are by Josef Frank from the 1930s.
The porch off the kitchen in this South Fork, Long Island beach home is the principal living room during the summer months. It catches the morning and afternoon light, yet remains in deep shade much of the day. The raw teak “paddle-arm” corner sofa has plush cushions covered in a grayish-lavender Perennials fabric.
Francesco Lagnese
Tom Scheerer: More Decorating, Vendome, 2019, $75.
Tom Scheerer