Newell Turner

If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? Mérida, Mexico—I’m a step ahead of your question. I recently bought a courtyard house there, and we’re about to start a full renovation.

Tell us about your childhood bedroom? When I was about 14, my parents let me work with an interior designer who had helped them over the years. I can still remember looking at wallpaper books with him….in particular that wallpaper smell! I’m sure Jim had edited and pointed me in a direction, but I remember the exciting feeling of the choice being mine. The design was based around a multi-color, multi-width stripe. Larger stripes of rust and navy, interspersed with smaller stripes of green, orange, light blue and cream. It was the early 70s. The walls and ceiling were papered with this stripe—the ceiling papered to mimic tenting. A matching fabric was used for the curtains and valances, headboard and bedspread. The moulding, doors, and louvered shutters under the curtains were painted navy. And then it was all jazzed up with wall-to-wall rust colored shag. For the most part it’s still intact and still looks great!

What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? The first significant piece of furniture that I remember buying myself was a small armoire that I bought in high school. One of my best friend’s father had an estate auction business, and in a tiny place like my hometown, it was fun digging through the containers of fascinating furnishings that arrived weekly for Monday night auctions. The small single door armoire I bought had a single mirrored door with mahogany side panels inlaid with a delicate Neoclasiscal swag design. It survived my fraternity house bedroom, and then it made the move with me to New York. I used it in several apartments, because the small size was perfect for the tiny apartments. In the late 80s, I sold it someone I don't remember. The funny thing, though, is a few years later I spotted it in a dealer’s advertisement in Architectural Digest. It was definitely the same armoire.

In the history of design, if you could hire any designer, who would it be? John Dickinson

No room is complete without comfortable seating.

People think of me as calm, but I am really always churning with thoughts and ideas. TM has been a good and healthy practice for me in the last few years.

Things you omit from:

1) a flower arrangement: edible fruit

2) an hors d’oeuvre platter: anything fishy

3) A bar cabinet: flavored waters

A song for:

1) Dinner at home: Do You Want to Dance? By Bette Midler

2) Working at your desk: Here’s That Rainy Day by Bill Evans

3) Going for a walk: None

If you were on an Ambient high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Things for the kitchen, table, or garden

Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? No. I don’t like having to make a lot of choices or decisions when getting dressed. I buy multiples of things I like with blues definitely a primary palette. Having a uniform is very calming and comforting. On the other hand, I like rooms that are layered, intriguing, and personal.

If there was a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein

A Few Favorites:

• Movie: most recently, Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy

• Book: I read too much to have one favorite

• Scent: Noir Epices by Michel Roudnitska for Fredric Malle

• Meal: any incarnation of roasted chicken

• Drink: Gin on the rocks with a splash of water and a slice of lemon

• Hotel: no answer

• Travel Destination: Any Mediterranean country

• Artist: Walton Ford

• Thing to collect obsessively: antique, vintage, and new levels

• Era in the history of design: I don’t have a favorite historic period, but I wish I could have experienced the interior design scene in California during the 60s and 70s—the heyday of Michael Taylor, John Dickinson and Tony Duquette. They individually contributed so much to the shaping of a distinctly American design sensibility.

• Museum: The Metropolitan Museum of Art never disappoints.

• Paint color that always looks great: Benjamin Moore’s White Dove. If you can’t commit to color on the wall. White Dove is pretty much a fail-safe choice.

• Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? Dogs. Rooms without a dog feel lonely to me.