Grandma — excuse me, “Suki,” her “grandma name,” which means fondness and love in Japanese — has just come in the back door of daughter Cary Smith’s house, two grandsons trailing behind. She plops her bag — a bright-orange Goyard — onto the all-white island in the all-white kitchen. In just seconds, something else orange flies into the room. It’s four-year-old Paxton Smith, who has already changed into the astronaut suit that Suki just bought him. Paxton circles the island, circles Suki, then blasts back out of the kitchen, whooping all the while. Big brother Weller, almost seven, has found his way to the den just around the corner, and is dumping the pieces of an intricate puzzle all over the floor.
Above: The first-floor den — which Nussbaumer calls the “Palm Desert room” because of its casual chic — complete with reupholstered vintage furniture and a heady mix of found and inherited art. Nussbaumer covered the pair of vintage swivel chairs in a flame-stitch fabric of her own design; the cocktail table is 1940s “American Chinese modern,” says Nussbaumer, from Ceylon et Cie. Smith found the pair of lamps at Pottery Barn; the pair of yellow garden stools is from Ceylon et Cie.
Welcome to the Smith house, where whooping and puzzle-dumping go on round the clock. Cary Smith has her hands full, hence Suki visiting from Amarillo, where she lives and where Cary was born and raised. When not chasing after astronauts and puzzle-solvers, Smith represents Etcetera, a line of modern fashion sold only via trunk shows. Cary’s husband, Kent, has his hands full, too: He’s incredibly busy at work, just days into a new job in finance. The Smith manse may be quietly unassuming on the outside, but there’s nothing quiet about what’s going on inside.
Above: The large, luxurious living room, where contemporary and classic coexist. The chairs at foreground left are vintage, from Ceylon et Cie, reupholstered in fabric by Kelly Wearstler for Schumacher. The Lucite table is from Allan Knight; the B&B Italia chaise longue came from Mody & Mody. Nussbaumer had the smoked-mirror panel installed above the fireplace.
Part of that has zero to do with Weller and Paxton. Enter Michelle Nussbaumer, a woman who decorates like she lives: big, bold, colorful. This globe-trotter — and owner of the jam-packed furniture and accessories showroom Ceylon et Cie — has a penchant for ikat fabrics, India, Bentleys and botanicals. Oh, and Morocco and Marrakech and Cecil Beaton and Tony Duquette. She once quipped to Elle Decor magazine, “More is more. Less is never more. Less is obviously less. Who wants less?” That is Nussbaumer in a nutshell — so you might get the impression that cost had better not be an object if you call her. Au contraire, as Cary Smith learned, after recognizing Nussbaumer at a doctor’s office. “I’m just clueless,” Smith confessed to the decorator, “and I have a hodgepodge of things.” Nussbaumer didn’t bat an eye: “I’ll come over!” That touched off a two-and-a-half year odyssey of shopping, styling, refreshing and remixing, often using furnishings that the Smiths already had but augmenting them with investment pieces, too. “It is very important to have high-quality things mixed with ‘things of style,’” Nussbaumer says, smiling at her own term for the more affordable and changeable pieces in a room. As a backdrop for her myriad sleights of hand — breaking a four-panel screen into a pair of two-panel screens; lacquering a pair of mid-century end tables black; framing fragments of patterned wallpaper to extend its graphic punch — Nussbaumer injected color. One hue is the unforgettable citron in the entry hall, now a core of energy that defines the mood for the whole house. To the hall’s right is the formal dining room, zinged with yellow chair cushions, yellow curtains and a painted ceiling — a “fun trick” Nussbaumer loves, in this case, lemon yellow. To the hall’s left is the large living room, elegantly cool with its celadon walls and spearmint-hued curtains. A cozy den beyond sports darker gray-green walls and jolts of yellow via garden stools and jumbo pillows. “A defined color palette,” says Nussbaumer, “is key,” referencing the continuity now coursing through the disparate rooms — rooms that, at any given minute, could have a whole lot of whooping and zooming going on. “It’s just a very happy, eclectic, comfortable and useful place now,” says Smith of the invigorated house where her boys are free to run and where she and her husband can recharge after a day of numbers and percentages. No sweat for Nussbaumer, who reminds me that she used to create stage sets in her L.A. days. “Honey, I’m a set designer,” she says, with a wink. “I can do anything.”
For more photographs of this beautiful home, click 'launch slideshow' above.
What did editor Rob Brinkey see? Go behind the scenes by clicking here.
Image at top of story: The living room, with its vintage chairs from Ceylon et Cie, re-covered in Schumacher fabric by Kelly Wearstler. Nussbaumer designed the pair of console tables, background, and the stools beneath them, those covered in zebra hide that was once a rug belonging to Smith’s father. The pair of rosewood mirrors above the consoles is from Ceylon et Cie; the pair of large vases on the tables is Chang dynasty, also from Ceylon et Cie. Smith found the gold horse, foreground right, at the legendary antiques fair in Round Top, Texas. “Cary will text me photos of things she finds,” says Nussbaumer, laughing, “and say, ‘Can I have this?’”
Image below: Decorator Michelle Nussbaumer, left, and homeowner Cary Smith, in a top by Etcetera, the fashion line for which Smith is the Dallas representative. The sconce behind Nussbaumer is 1940s French, one of a pair from her showroom, Ceylon et Cie.
The globe-trotting Nussbaumer has a penchant for ikat fabrics, India, Bentleys and botanicals. Oh, and Morocco and Marrakech and Cecil Beaton and Tony Duquette.