“Use your imagination—you don’t have to color in the lines,” Sasha Bikoff
says of redecorating. The New York–based interior designer known for
her playful upholstery choices has a penchant for revamping midcentury
Italian and French furniture with remnants of luxe fabrics from fashion
houses such as Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, and
Chanel. Bikoff, whose projects recently outgrew her Tribeca basement,
just opened an antiques showroom down the street that offers her own
colorful riffs on Milo Baughman chairs and French Empire stools. Architectural Digest caught up with the revisionist thinker for tips on how, as she puts it, “to wake up oldies but goodies.”
Photo: Patrick Cline Reupholster the tired.
Upholstery is a sure way to transform an old hand into a statement,
says Bikoff. Do not be afraid to opt for fabrics with a lot of
personality. To create harmony, study the shape of the piece and pick a
print that mimics its design, or recover a classic with a strikingly
modern print to make it pop. “If purple is your favorite color, you
should have a purple piece your house,” she adds.
Photo: Patrick Cline Overdye the rug.
Send a large-format rug to a good dyer for brilliant recoloring.
Overdye antique rugs—Bikoff is partial to Chinese Deco carpets—in fresh
colors such as marigold, cerulean, and peridot. Gentle tie-dyeing
techniques can also produce wonderfully vivifying results. Reset the
stage for an otherwise muted room, or match a rug to a vignette of
furniture to create a whole new world.
Photo: Patrick ClineReshuffle the mix.
Sometimes, introducing one or two pieces into unexpected company
changes everything. Move an 18th-century love seat into a room with side
tables from Dorothy Draper’s Hollywood Regency moment, or scoot a
balloon-back chair up to a Memphis Milano desk. “The magic is in the
mingling,” Bikoff says. “It’s like a conversation between some unique
personalities.”
