The Wall Street Journal - 14.03.2020 - 15.03.2020

D10| Saturday/Sunday, March 14 - 15, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

DESIGN & DECORATING

A

NYONE FACEDwith
decorating a little
apartment wrestles
with the truisms as-
sociated with small-
space design: Keep it simple; un-
cluttered rooms look bigger; too
much personality quickly becomes
a mess. But Richard Ouellette and
Maxime Vandal—partners in life
and in their Montreal-based design
firm, Les Ensembliers—are well-
versed in beautifully layered inte-
riors, so Mr. Ouellette had no in-
tention of letting the size
restrictions of their 700-square-
foot New York flat dictate an im-
personal aesthetic.
After convincing Mr. Vandal to

go with an “eclectic, collected look

rather than a sparse one,” Mr.

Ouellette said the challenge was

creating something more akin to

an airy but compact antique shop

than a hoarder’s storage unit.

“Our objective was to create ar-

eas so we could move around and

have different experiences in a

day,” he explained. “I wanted there

to be separate moments, a rhythm

and a flow.”

That thoughtful approach and a

“gallery feeling,” achieved through

careful editing and the decision to

keep the large windows bare and

walls and moldings white, make

this New York pad an uncrowded-

but-cozy place to come home to.

BYTIMGAVAN

BRITTANY AMBRIDGE

To make a grand personal statement in a

tight Manhattan apartment, a couple defies

conventional wisdom

Minor Flat,

Major Impact

THE RIGHT ANGLE
In a modest-sized Manhattan apartment, a
white Ligne Roset sofa “is the anchor of the
room,” said Richard Ouellette, who lives here
part time with his partner—in life and at design

firm Les Ensembliers. Solid and neutral enough

to act as a wall dividing the large room into sec-

tions, the couch is also “open on one side, low to

the ground and rounded in shape, which keeps it

from being obstructive.” Positioning it at an an-

gle in the middle of the room, rather than along

a wall or on a more expected grid layout, gives

what could have been a stiff space a more me-

andering and social “flow.” Asian pieces (like the

wooden drum table and ceramic jars), refined

French armchairs and a simple, rough-hewn

bookshelf all blend amiably with modern art

that is purposefully not wall-mounted. “Leaning

art is my favorite, even more so here because it

creates an atelier feel,” said Mr. Ouellette.

DOWN TURN

“I wanted things to be quiet in the bedroom,” Mr. Ouel-

lette said. Unlike the rest of the apartment, which has a

cocktail party’s spirited mix of personalities, this space

feels calm and simple “like a great hotel room, with just a

bed, nice sheets [and] a plaid wool blanket....” The few

furnishings—like the two chinoiserie chairs that have

been whimsically repurposed as bedside tables—and the

discretion of built-in closets offer respite from the lively

living area. A yellow sculptural paper light fixture by

Montreal fashion designer and artist Jean-Claude Poitras

makes the most of sunlight from the undressed window.

HIGH NOTES

“Even if pieces don’t match, they

can still sing harmoniously,” Mr.

Ouellette said of disparate objects

here: a speckled white vase, a print

of St. Mark’s Basilica and a Louis

Philippe armoire, which houses the

television. Everything around the

fireplace strikes a subtle balance.

The branches, the top of the print

and the armoire are all roughly the

same height, and each includes a

spiky element, whether twigs, ar-

chitectural spires or the finials that

project from the top of the ar-

moire. The Louis XVI chairs and an

emerald barrel side table are

shorter and establish their own

rapport.

PIVOT PLACE

The dining nook has a slightly

more modern feel than the

other sections in the apart-

ment. Suitably nimble Scandi-

navian swivel chairs are

grouped around a custom table

with a smoky glass top. The

seats’ pale green upholstery

picks up the hue of ginger jars

and vases on the bookcase (see

top photo). The light cast by

the room’s lone floor lamp also

helps distinguish the area and

give it a unique feel. The book-

case, meanwhile, is low and

horizontally oriented, keeping

the area from feeling claustro-

phobic.

‘...OUR CLEANING LADY
could only use a Dust-
buster, not a proper vac-
uum.” (1984, Manhattan’s
Upper East Side, $700/
month)
—Janie Molster, interior
designer, Richmond, Va.

“...my childhood-bedroom
furniture and accessories
created the perfect living
room. There was no bed-
room.” (1975, Marion, Ind.,
$75/month)
—Barry Lantz, interior
designer, Carmel, Ind.

“...if I stretched my arms I

could touch from one wall

to another. I used my oven

for storage.” (2009, Man-

hattan’s East Village,

$1,400/month)

—Jessica Geller, partner,

Toledo-Geller Interiors,

Englewood, N.J.

“...when you opened the

front door it hit the back of

the sofa.” (2007, Dallas,

$700/month)

—Lauren Svenstrup,

principal, Studio Sven,

Chicago

“...I hung a Sky Chair [a

sort of hammock-seat]

from the ceiling to give

myself a seating area.”

(1999, San Francisco,

$1,000/month)

—Chloe Warner, founder

Redmond Aldrich Design,

Oakland, Calif.

“...my tub was in my

kitchen. I had a small wa-

ter closet with just a toilet.

I also didn’t have heat. In

winter,Ikeptmypetbeta

fish in a bowl on the stove

where the pilot light kept

him from freezing.” (2002,

Manhattan’s Little Italy,

$960/month)

—Wesley Moon, interior

designer, New York, N.Y.

“...I almost always wore

the same clothes over

and over because the mi-

nuscule closet meant

most of my wardrobe had

to stay at my parents’

house.” (1996, Manhat-

tan’s Upper East Side,

$870/month)

—Mary Maydan, architect,

Palo Alto, Calif.

“...my parents wouldn’t

visit me.” (1997, Manhat-

tan’s East Village $800/

month)

—Gideon Mendelson,

interior designer, New

York, N.Y TARA JACOBY

Design pros from all over the country

complete this sentence: My first

apartment was so small that...

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