Ep. 310: The Elegant Life with Alex Papachristidis

We welcome celebrated New York based interior designer Alex Papachristidis, known for elegant and timeless spaces who's work has been featured on the Architectural Digest 100,Veranda, Elle Decor, House Beautiful and more. Alex founded his Manhattan based interior design firm in 1987 and has had projects all over the world from Colorado to London, Saudi Arabia to Texas. In this episode, he talks about his now available second book, The Elegant Life: Rooms that Welcome and Inspire, and the inspiration behind the homes he chose and the ways in which it showcases his abilities to do modern interiors with the same sort of grandeur of traditional interiors. Alex also talks about his love of soft goods, picking colors that represent you, and why we shouldn’t try and hide from the ugly things, but instead make them prettier. 

 What You’ll Hear On This Episode:

• The importance of actually being able to live in your living room. 
• Creating interiors that are reflective of who you are and how you want to live. 
• How Alex gets his clients to tell him what they like. 
• How to not be afraid of color. 
• Alex’s love of a challenge: how did he do his sister’s home in plaster, white, gold, and silver? 
• How to pick colors that are going to be timeless and that you will love for a long time? 
• More about Alex’s colorful and layered home in the Upper East Side. 
• What does Alex mean by trying your paint finishes dry and wet? 
• Alex’s love soft goods to give a room extra coziness. 
• When taking on a project yourself, make sure you don’t downgrade and that you keep things all sort of the same level but just tweak it to make it new and fresh. 
• When you start collecting, go to the best dealers, stores, and museum exhibits for inspiration. 
• What was it like working with Greek contractors in Athens? 

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Alex’s Viewpoint: IG 
• The Age of Elegance 
• The Elegant Life 
• Everyday Elegance 

Decorating Dilemma 

If you could, Alex recommends dropping the ceiling enough to bring crown molding into the room. This would open the room and create a panel that would complete the kitchen as a unit. He would also define the kitchen in another color, for example, paint it in white so it stands out and creates some delineation between rooms. Alex reminds us that if you have something ugly, just try and make it look pretty rather than trying to hide it.