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You’ve Got Malle

by habituallychic

04 . 27 . 11
I fell in love with French perfumer Frederic Malle‘s New York apartment the moment I saw it featured in Men’s Vogue back in February 2008.  The dining room above is one of my all time favorite rooms.  It epitomizes the perfect mix of sleek and modern in the form of the Platner table and Sean Yoo bookcases juxtaposed with the patina of old with the antique French chairs and Veronese painting.  In 2009, the Malle family moved from this triplex to a new apartment on Fifth Avenue which is now featured in the May 2011 issue of Architectural Digest.  I absolutely love seeing how the pieces in their old apartment have been incorporated into their new space as well as the new paint colors they have chosen.  Some rooms that were brightly painted in their old apartment are now white and vice versa like the new dining room below.

The old dining room’s 19th-century English chairs now sit around Le Corbusier table from Cassina.   

The Venetian Renaissance painting now resides in the living room with the same Arne Jacobsen Egg chair and a sofa and coffee table from Cassina.  Again, this mix along with the 18th-century desk and photograph by John Coplans is so much more interesting to me than a room filled with pieces from the same period.

Another look at the new living room with a painting by Kenneth Noland and a light box work by Jeff Wall that was in the dining room in the previous apartment.  Although, it appears that perhaps the old dining area and living room were connected but I’m not exactly sure.

The old salon was a bight blue and was hung with the John Coplans hand photograph that now hangs in the new living room.

The Danish modern armchairs from the old apartment have been reupholstered and now sit in the library.

In the new kitchen, the floor is brightly colored instead of the walls but the Saarinen table remains the same.

The old breakfast room with bright red walls.

Another wall in the old breakfast nook.

I love this painting by Sophie von Hellermann in the new entrance hall.

The walls in the old master bedroom were white but now they are upholstered in bright red patterned fabric from Lee Jofa.

This Louis XVI chair came from Chateau de Groussay which was owned by Marie Malle’s uncle Charles de Beistegui who I wrote about in this post.  Seems great taste runs in the family.

The same chair looked blue in the old magazine feature which is interesting but not as interesing as their amzing art collection that has found a new home on Fifth Avenue.  This home is a wonderful example of buy what you love and you’ll always find a place for it.

New photos for Architectural Digest by Thomas Loof.  Old Photos for Men’s Vogue by Francois Halard.

8 Comments
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  1. John About Town April 27, 2011 | 3:47 pm

    That red bedroom has such shades of Vreeland’s ‘Garden in Hell’ – I find it to be pretty, but way too much for a bedroom!

  2. Karena April 27, 2011 | 4:30 pm

    Heather, their art collection is astonishing! I love the mix they have, true collectors with a very fine eye!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

  3. columnist April 28, 2011 | 6:00 am

    I adore the Veronese painting. Is there any information on the artist and the subject?

  4. Sonia M April 28, 2011 | 8:45 am

    I agree. Always buy what you love to be true to yourself. Too often we drown out the voice in our hearts with too many excuses. These are pretty amazing rooms with some pretty amazing furniture!

  5. Jane Kilpatrick Schott April 28, 2011 | 9:56 am

    Amazing art collection and wonderful post. It is true, if you have good pieces they will always be with you. I wish I had a record like this of where all my pieces have been in my lifetime. Did I mention how fab the art collection is? Yes?

  6. laughingsalmon April 28, 2011 | 12:31 pm

    Yup…”buy what you love and you’ll always find a place for it”…my design mantra….great article…

  7. jones April 30, 2011 | 5:33 am

    Hi Heather, Definitely “buy what you like”, but also make it the “best” that you can afford…Mary

  8. Lexie April 30, 2011 | 4:15 pm

    Okay… let’s try this one. 😉 I love your blog and I love your taste– I really really do and I know that my opinion doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world we live in and that I’m a nobody middle-aged suburban {{{shudder}}} designer– (a girl has to make a living, right?) 😉 I just think that the emperor is nekked this time. Although I DO love many of the individual elements such as the white slipcovered furniture, but I think its the juxtaposition of colors that are creating such a strong reaction in my viscera.

    Best ~ L