Signature Style
If you’re an interior design devotee like me, chances are you keep a collection of iconic images from favorite designers close at hand for reference and daily inspiration. Personally, I have a running list of four designers on my Pinterest board and on my desktop whose work I revisit often, imagining how I can weave their influence into my own home. At the top of the list is Tom Scheerer, whose legendary redesign of the Lyford Cay Club remains a constant source of inspiration. So, when I had an opportunity to meet with him and discuss his new book, Tom Scheerer: Still Decorating, by Vendome Press, I jumped at the chance. Available this fall, the book gathers a decade’s worth of projects since his last book. “The trilogy,” as he refers to his collection, “is my last book, and I wanted to see all these unpublished projects, which are a nice balance of my work.” Organized not chronologically but thematically—“Up North,” “Out West,” “Down South”—the book features the designer’s sophisticated range, which he says “comes close to wrapping things up nicely.”
The projects in the book “represent reasonable people, their reasonable expectations, and those who understand how life is to be lived,” the designer begins. “These houses are not too big, except for one, but those clients entertain a lot, are really good at it, and needed the space. Most people ask for more bells and whistles than I think are appropriate. The great designers like Fatio, Volk, and Mizner set the tone here, and although some of the houses they built were large, they were not as huge as some of the ones being built today. For them, it was all about the proportions and atmosphere they were creating, and it’s really hard to get the same result as they did because modern life is so different. People think they need his-and-hers bathrooms, offices, and underground theaters,” he laughs. “It’s hard to get that right and achieve all the beauty, elegance, and flow they did. You have to have a lot of internal fortitude to accomplish that.”
Photography by Francesco Lagnese
Scheerer, who has been practicing architecture and decorating since his early 20s, has become known for his monochromatic schemes that actually feel colorful. He smiles when I say his work is distinct and recognizable. “Playfulness in decorating is intuitive,” he explains. “For me, it’s from my upbringing—my parents’ and grandparents’ attitude on decorating and living. Don’t make it all serious,” he says with a smile. “Decorating should be fun.”
Throughout the book, Scheerer’s joyfulness rings loud and clear. Pale blues and corals are usually present, even though he says he stays away from strong colors. “People always say I use a lot of color, but if you really look, it’s just pops of color. I try to respect the architecture of the house, take into account the weather of the place and the milieu, and you’re three-quarters of the way there. I did a house in Wellington, and it doesn’t have all the horsey stuff,” he explains, referring to the project in the book. “Everything refers to it anyway—in the woods, the complex of buildings resembles a stable yard—but the clues are subtle and always there in my decorating. Exoticism fits well in Palm Beach,” he continues, “hence the Venetian and Moorish houses, and for me there is always a familiar element here. A Turkish lantern hanging in a hallway refers to the hot climate of Turkey, for instance, or a stripped chair, bleached from the sun, ties back to an introduction to the beach. There is always one aspect of the design element in the story; from thing to thing, from thread to thread, I link it piece by piece.”
