Photography by Sargent Architectural Photography
Photography by Sargent Architectural Photography
Nautical decorating is a style all its own, and on the market are lighthouse designs, as well as many patterns that feature nautical ropes, compasses and anchors. Visit a boat show and you’ll come across a plethora of seagoing motifs on everything from dinner plates and glass or plastic ware to bedspreads, pillows and floor mats. Yes, the song may be “Anchors Away,” but those anchors in decorating are surely here to stay. The locations of homes on ponds, lakes, oceans, and rivers have a great deal to do with the choice of furnishings and colors. The Caribbean and Pacific islands call for the use of rattan, bamboo, and lots of tropical prints, while the islands and coastline homes of Nantucket and Nova Scotia call for textures of wicker—oftentimes brown wicker—and floorboards of natural pine decorated with woven rag rugs of a more colonial nature. Yes, the seagoing folks of New England have a different design palette than the populations of Bora Bora and Bali. A completely different scheme is required for those folks who live in the countryside on Saranac Lake or Lake Placid in New York, or for those who live on the lakes of the Dakotas or California. Natural flora will inspire colors that create harmony in your home. However, I can guarantee that sky blue and green for all waterside properties will be appropriate, as will the color of a golden sun!
If you expose a child to a sense of beauty, he or she will always pursue it. I can tell which of my clients has or hasn’t particularly followed that sense of beauty when they want us to develop an environment for them. For many reasons, I have never been one of those decorators who pontificate over the leg of a Queen Anne chair. With my clients, after the background is set, I always look at their inventory — what they already own. Today, there is a lot of gray, beige, and steel in contemporary decorating. When I open a magazine, I often ask myself, “Where is the pursuit of beauty?” To quote Dorothy: “Decorating is just sheer fun: a delight in color, an awareness of balance, a feeling for light, a sense of style, a zest for life…” Editor’s note: ‘Decorating On The Waterfront’ is available at major book retailers, carletonvarney.com as well as at www. amazon.com. Carleton’s charming stories and exquisite waterfront home designs are intended to inspire your own decorating pursuits. Congratulations on another beautiful chronicle of your timeless designs Carleton!
U.S.S. Sequoia As the curator for the Presidential Yacht Trust back in the early ’80s, after the vessel had been sold to the Trust by President Jimmy Carter, Carleton Varney redecorated the Sequoia in a style appropriate to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman and the Kennedy family. Photography by Sargent Architectural Photography
Photography by Feliciano 108
Opulence Spring 2017
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peter Vitale /Architectural Digest © Condé Nast