Elsewhere in the apartment, a dressing area (formerly a
second bedroom) is now anchored by a whimsical mural by
Hilary Knight, the artist who illustrated the Eloise books.
Sui commissioned the piece after meeting him at a Lin-
coln Center exhibition. “In the first rendering, there were
two panthers and a naked man,” she recalls. “And I was like,
‘Ooh, I think that’s a little aggressive for me, Hilary.’ And he
was like, ‘Maybe we should do a bird.’ I love the colors and
the Art Nouveau feeling of it.”
The bedroom also has an avian theme, courtesy of a de
Gournay wallpaper featuring peacocks—a fanciful back-
drop to an eclectic array of furnishings that includes an
Anglo-Indian bed and Victorian papier-mâché chairs. In the
room adjacent, a walk-in closet (which used to be Lerner’s
kitchen) has mirrored cabinetry inspired by the dressing
room in the 1953 film The Earrings of Madame De.. ..
The dining room’s
chinoiserie chairs are
vintage, the wall-
paper is by Gracie, and
the 1860s mantel is
by Hiram Tucker.The walk-in closet is embellished
with hand-painted wall stencils by
Lisa DiClerico and hung with
Venetian mirrors. The antique jewelry
cabinet is from a local flea market.