The Woman in the Pink Truck

Per Hutton Wilkinson, who penned the foreword in Michelle Nussbaumer’s premier tome, Wanderlust: Interiors that Bring the World Home (Rizzoli), the eccentric, well-traveled interior designer is “a dream catcher, a three-dimensional storyteller, a seductive sorceress whose enchanted vision must be obeyed.”

Few could argue with such a depiction, as Nussbaumer — a self-proclaimed citizen of the world — seems to magically transport herself into the chicest scenarios all over the globe. At one moment she may be ensconced in her family’s Gstaad chalet, then poof, hosting a dinner party at her San Miguel estate.

At home in Dallas, she could be zipping around town in her custom pink ikat truck or cozying up in her Wilson McClure-designed home, surrounded by a zany menagerie of pets. During this particular pause in town, Nussbaumer planted her traveling shoes at Forty Five Ten for a book-signing soirée — and one of the store’s final fêtes before it moved to new digs downtown.

Guests pored over the tales of Nussbaumer’s travels abroad and photographs of her awe-inspiring, international design projects. Whether she is unearthing treasures at markets in Fez or scouring the Marché aux Puces flea market in Paris, one thing is certain: To step into Nussbaumer’s stylish, eccentric world is to enter a scene straight out of Auntie Mame — leopard-print chaises, wildly fashionable ensembles, and martinis included.

Nussbaumer’s wanderlusters: Forty Five Ten’s Brian Bolke; Will Kolb, Teresa Person, Amy Malin, Tere Stool, Alexis Stoll, Jean-Patrick Bonny, Shannon Miner, Judy Aldridge, Mackenzie Brittingham, James Campbell, John Phifer Marrs, Andrew Gonzales, and Ashley Cole.

“A HOUSE SHOULD NEVER BE FINISHED. IT IS ALIVE, AND BECAUSE IT IS ALIVE IT NEEDS TO BE BREATHING, EVOLVING, AND CHANGING.” — Michelle Nussbaumer