I'm counting down the days until Billy Baldwin: The Great American Decorator is published later this month but until then, I'm making due with my old copy of Billy Baldwin Decorates. His own studio apartment on East 61st Street where he lived after his retirement in the early 1970's is one of my all time favorite interiors. Except for a few elements and the old photography, it still looks good today.
Billy Baldwin says in the book, "the best decoration in the world is a room full of books" and this space is described as "the look of a library for one-room living."
Even in the 1970's decorators had to deal with "all the usual juts and protuberances of modern apartment buildings." Billy chose to deal with all the "beams and bumps" by coating them in shiny dark brown paint.
"It occurred to me that this was strictly a city room, full of shine: the floor, the walls, the windows. So I added more shine: a varnishy eighteenth-century painting of dogs, a wonderful Korean lacquer screen, and a few strategically places mirrors. I put all my books on tall brass bookshelves-the warm glint of the brass become terribly important in the dark room." The Porter Etageres are available through Ventry Ltd. as are the slipper chairs and other pieces.
The Louis XV chair was one of Billy's prized possessions and he loved the texture that it and the crackled black Portuguese table, and the Korean screen added to the room.
The room was luckily not a big box and the bump outs allowed for furniture groupings including one for sleeping above. The sofa is really a twin bed in disguise.
Billy added rugs for softness and had three sets of slipcovers made for all the upholstered furniture including ivory cotton, blue denim, and dark paisley. I've only ever seen photos of the pieces in ivory slipcovers so this was interesting to find out.
Like all decorators, it looks like Billy moved things around. In some photos, the desk is placed in front of the windows and in others, a sofa has been placed in that area.
In the beginning of Billy Baldwin Decorates is the following quote, "only your eye can tell you what you will be happy with. Today, thank goodness, we are more concerned with the personal than with perfection." But it's clear to see that Billy apartment was pretty darn perfect!
"A person with a real flair is a gambler at heart." - Billy Baldwin
