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DESIGN
Neon DREAMS Top to bottom: Lacquer,
leather, and pattern keep this BEDROOM quiet but interesting; NEON hues connect the otherwise neutral rooms.
Design
MARCNORMANDGELINAS. C O M
“There’s a fine line between the beige-ification of America and neutrals. Neutral doesn’t mean beige, neutral means a quiet backdrop.” The LIBRARY is filled with neon and vintage furniture. Gelinas made an old solid brass Art
S A N TA B A R B A R A
Deco radiator grill into a glass-topped coffee table.
PHOTOGRAPHS: VANESSA WEBER
In a previous life, this Montecito home was filled with tapestries, Impressionist art, and 18th-century antiques. It was the 12th collaboration between interior designer MARC NORMAND GELINAS and longtime client Elaine Gray, who now serves as a trustee at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. When Gray married five years ago, her husband declared her style looked like “an old-lady’s house.” Trading chintz for simple, the couple pared down and started collecting contemporary art, which gave Gelinas—who has designed high-end homes in New York, Rhode Island, and Colorado, among others—a springboard to transform their traditional home (done by architect Mark Rios) into something much more modern. Using a large, geometric commission by Peter Halley—an artist Gray also brought to the SBMA— as a kick-off point in the living room, Gelinas pulled accent colors of hot coral and blue into the adjacent library where a neon light installation by Tavares Strachan electrically declares, “We Belong Here.” In the bedroom, Gelinas designed everything around a painting by Joan Snyder, again using a clean, neutral base to highlight the colorful, bright work. Shades of gray, taupe, and cream meet textures of leather, bouclé, and white lacquer to create tones that aren’t flat. “There’s a fine line between the beige-ification of America and neutrals,” he says. “Neutral doesn’t mean beige, neutral means a quiet backdrop.” J . B . K .