“If one is born a
Baltimorean, one remains such for life, no matter where it takes you…”
~
Over fifty years ago David
Mlinaric, then a 21-year-old visiting New York from London, stopped for drinks
at the interior designer Billy Baldwin’s apartment on the Upper East Side. Mr. Baldwin was a commanding figure in American
decorating, but he had a surprisingly modest apartment, with glossy brown walls
set off by white moldings.
David Mlinaric furnished his
London apartment with the mix expected of a true eclectic. “I’ve thought a lot
about that apartment since then,” he said “I remember thinking that
it was so small, and yet it had everything he could possibly need.”
Mr. Mlinaric would go on to be
England’s foremost decorator of period interiors, with grand-scale commissions. His career was propelled by a resurgent
British economy and a renewed appreciation for aristocratic country homes and
other historic buildings that had gathered dust in the postwar years.
“Often the simplest things are
easiest to like, in clothes, food, gardens and landscape, as well as in
buildings,” Mr. Mlinaric wrote in the afterward of “Mlinaric on Decorating,” a
monograph written with Mirabel Cecil and published by Frances Lincoln. It may
sound like a surprising declaration from one so strongly associated with
Italian castles, marble columns and gilded detailing. But the truth is, despite
that grand portfolio, he favors simplicity in his own homes.
His apartment on the second floor of a six-story Flemish-inspired building in Chelsea faces the Thames. In the afternoons the pale blue walls are awash in a
silvery river light that is amplified by mirrors. “They probably double or
triple the sense of light” he said. He also capitalized on the light in a small
space by opening the entrance hallway so that it connects with the living area.
He was an originator of the
eclectic decorating style that has become prevalent in recent years. Mr.
Mlinaric had a faithful eye for historical recreation, but was not afraid to
judiciously insert modern pieces into the mix. For example, in the dining room
of Waddesdon Manor, Lord Rothschild’s estate in Buckinghamshire, he hung a
pendant lamp that Ingo Maurer made three years ago from shards of shattered
porcelain next to 17th-century lamp stands and 18th-century paneling.
In his own flat he uses
distinctive pieces sparingly, with a mixer’s touch. His goal was to make the
apartment basic and low-maintenance so he could turn the key and leave without
fuss. “I enjoy its simplicity enormously,” he said. “I couldn’t have said this
earlier in my life. When you’re young you want a place where your friends can
drop in, and you have to look after them and keep a lot of furniture around.” He rarely entertains at the apartment, preferring to eat out with
friends or spend time with the grandchildren.
Mr. Mlinaric’s preference for
simplicity at home has increased now that much of his career is behind him — as
Mr. Baldwin’s was when Mr. Mlinaric visited him. “I go around to shops now and
think, I don’t want any of these things,” Mr. Mlinaric said. “The
acquisitiveness falls away as you get older.”
Can you? I can.
