No Flamingos, Please

Conventional wisdom holds that the “easy” way to transform a plain white box of an apartment into a stylish, comfortable retreat is to renovate. But renovation is costly, messy and time-consuming –  not so easy after all. There is one other option, however, and that’s to engage an interior decorator of vision. The new owner of a formerly unprepossessing two-bedroom, ocean-front apartment in Palm Beach, chose to take the second tack. Luckily, she found the ideal collaborator in Cindy Rinfret whose redesign exudes all the charm and casual glamour of a southern coastal town with an international feel.  

“We love that aesthetic so for us the project was a natural fit,” says Rinfret, whose firm’s high profile projects include Dee and Tommy Hilfiger’s Palm Beach estate – Tommy Hilfiger is a long-time client – as well as homes on the South Fork of Long Island and Greenwich, Connecticut. 

In due course the team set about creating a look that Rinfret describes as “timeless and layered.” According to Rinfret, the Seventies-modern building was pretty-standard issue. Its strong points were great space, a balcony that ran the length of the unit and fantastic natural light. What with those assets, there was a consensus that the team wouldn’t touch the physical plant. Rinfret was confident she could make the most of the apartment’s existing features.
No need to knock down walls or relocate plumbing and gas lines – no renovation at all. Exacting design and the wizardry of a practiced hand and eye would be the extent of her intervention.

The result is a lesson in how to introduce character, interest and – why not? – a dash of whimsy to largely featureless rooms through the careful choice and placement of furniture, fittings, upholstery and just a smidge of architectural detail work.  In the kitchen, for example, the team added bamboo molding where previously there was none. With that small addition the room suddenly felt a lot less austere. Walls in both the kitchen and the dining room were covered in grasscloth, a means of introducing texture and creating a decorative link between the two distinct spaces. Other simple changes that made a big impact included changing the cabinet pulls, among other hardware upgrades, and installing chic new lights. In the dining area, a vintage bamboo table paired with colorful wicker bistro chairs underscores the bamboo and rattan theme.

That theme carries over into the rest of the apartment, where the team deployed vintage rattan in organic shapes throughout. “The client is a writer so a beautiful, inspiring work space was a must,” says Rinfret. To this end, a Chinoiserie desk from Paula Roemer Antiques and a chair from nearby Circa Who occupy an alcove adjacent to the main bedroom. A mirror on the wall just above the desk simultaneously reflects light and makes the room feel bigger. Another wall is clad in a wall-covering from Scalamandre that depicts picture postcards from the Côte d’Azur. Its  old-timey romantic Gallic feel added what Rinfret calls an “eclectic and travelled” note to the décor. “It’s great when a client allows you to do things that are really fun,” she says.

The sense of fun continues in the rest of the living area where a bespoke sofa is dressed with throw cushions upholstered in botanical prints from Quadrille and Manuel Canovas, respectively. Above it hangs an outsize color photograph of a lion whose oranges and greens are echoed elsewhere in the apartment. A coffee table, also bespoke, is trimmed with the same bamboo detailing that enlivens the kitchen and dining areas. 

In the main bedroom, the guiding principals were “restful and serene.” As it happened, one essential element for a good night’s sleep was already in place: glass sliders to let the ocean air in. Custom raffia-upholstered beds in the guest suite sport fin-shaped headboards that bring smiles of delight to guests of all ages.

At every juncture of the project Rinfret and her team worked with an eye toward unifying the interiors and in the end, they more than met that challenge. Each piece, whether custom or antique, imparts a collected, cohesive, lived-in feel to the apartment as a whole. As Rinfret puts it: “We added history in a way that reflected the client and her personality while honoring the place – and that’s what our design ethos is all about.”