
This is a good week for Atlanta-based designer
Mallory Mathison. Apart from being named one of the
domino 10, her traditional-meets-chic Peachtree Road residence is expected to be featured in the
AJC's Sunday home and garden section. I think the coverage will inspire anyone who dwells in a small space.
Mathison's style epitomizes that youthful Southern look I've been talking about this month. In her bedroom she liberally used an oh-so-trad
Scalamandre linen floral, "Bantry House" in Aqua (if you've seen the latest
Vogue Living you know this also very "now") but balanced the feminine print with rich faux lacquered espresso walls inspired by her heroes Billy Baldwin and
Miles Redd.
Baldwin was legendary for using deep dark walls in tiny spaces. And this
Redd-designed room above, published in
Southern Accents, specifically influenced Mathison.
She says, "The bedroom was actually an experiment. I have always loved lacquer, loved the way Billy Baldwin used lacquer on walls, furniture, lamps, lampshades -- anything! I wanted to try it out in my teeny little condo and so I decided to do it in the bedroom, because it was the space with the most natural light and I could off-set the deep espresso-brown with light linens and porcelains."

"I used Farrow and Ball's "Mahogany" paint in full oil gloss to achieve a sort of "faux lacquer" effect -- of course not the same [as the real thing] but it worked and was a fraction of what it would cost to have the walls professionally lacquered."
By the way, her ceiling is a soft aqua. So all of her painted surfaces reflect light.

Mathison does doubt she would ever do such dark walls for her clients. She adds, "More likely in an entry, dining room or library -- very dramatic and rich!"
On blanc de chine (a French term usually reserved for all-white Chinese porcelain) she says she is especially obsessed with white porcelain Asian figures. "I pick them up wherever I can, estate sales, antique shops, etc. I have also started collecting lamps, vases -- anything in white. They are just so pretty and create amazing contrast against dark surfaces -- delightful!"
Be sure to look for editor Katie Leslie's piece this weekend in the AJC!
Related reading:
Blanc De Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain