SHOPPING
Interior designer Susan Weiss (pictured below) collaborated with Murphy Mears Architects and Old Greenwich Builders to create her carriage house–inspired design studio.
DESIGN HOUSE
Inside the shoppable—and endlessly inspiring—Cherry Hills Village studio of interior designer Susan Weiss. by CHRISTINE DEORIO
When Susan Weiss travels across Europe each year in search of the luxurious home goods, timeworn antiques, and architectural elements (think: patinaed doors, beams, even pretty limestone gravel) she sells to her clientele of homeowners and design pros, she rarely braves the crowds in the bustling shopping districts. Instead, the founder of Emerson Bailey Collection in Cherry Hills Village prefers to meet with sellers and makers in their private homes and studios. And when she returns to the States, treasures in tow, she invites her clients to discover them in much the same way. Weiss displays her finds in a 1,230square-foot carriage house studio—designed with Houston-based architect Kirby Mears and situated behind her Cherry Hills Village home—that looks like a Belgian farmhouse with a contemporary twist. Its handmade, glass-and-steel French entry doors open onto a combined living,
dining, and cooking space where limestone floors and white plaster walls provide a striking backdrop for furnishings, accessories, hardware, lighting, and artwork, all displayed just as they would be in a home—except that here, every piece is for sale. In the kitchen, band-sawn white-oak cabinets sport solid-brass Belgian hardware—“someone can feel it and understand
how it’s different, as opposed to just having it on a shelf,” Weiss says. On the nearby dining table—a Swedish antique from the 1700s— clients can design the perfect place setting by mixing and matching delicate handmade ceramics, Spanish glassware, and Belgian linens from Weiss’ shelves. (If Weiss doesn’t have enough on site for a complete set, she can pull more from her warehouse just a few continued
36
| 5280 HOME | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020
photography by EMILY MINTON REDFIELD