Elaine Griffin

This month’s issue is all about breaking the rules of decorating and you’ve just written a book called Design Rules: The Insider’s Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator. Can you give us a few rules to break right now?
The best part of learning the timeless rules, proportions and decorating tips I share in Design Rules is that once you know the rules, it’s okay to break them. Because then you’re making an educated decision to break a rule that doesn’t work for you as opposed to operating in ignorance.

 You are a Georgia girl. Do you still have some Southernisms that you use in decorating or entertaining?
I’m from Brunswick and, even though I’ve lived in New York City forever, Georgia’s fabled beaches of the Golden Isles are still home! Being Southern is more than just a geographical description; it’s a lifestyle. We invented gracious living and nobody does it better than we do! Park Avenue ladies will often let you die of thirst in their apartments, which would never happen south of the Mason-Dixon. Southern hospitality rules my home up north. My husband, Michael (who was born a Boston Yankee but is converting), and I lavish our guests with abundance when they come over. An empty glass just breaks a Southerner’s heart and, sugar, I am no exception! We also have proper napkins for each social moment; sad to say, y’all, but most Yankees couldn’t tell a cocktail napkin from a luncheon napkin from a dinner napkin if they tried, bless their hearts. It’s a lifestyle I always leave a little of with my clients. I’ll make sure that even a hermit has seating for a dinner party of four, and there’s always a place for a bar tray or table.
 

What is the one rule that we Southerners find hard to break?
Southern ladies love their formal dining rooms (where else would you put your grandmother’s dining furniture and show off Sissy’s heirloom china?), even though the rest of the country has moved in favor of the living/dining room combo. We are also partial to more; you won’t find any such thing as monastic zen décor anywhere in Buckhead.  
 

And one rule we find hard to obey?
Family photos, even when exquisitely framed, should be banned from the living room. Show them off en masse, in same-colored frames, in the den on a bookcase or étagère, or hang them in a breakfast nook or on hallway walls, instead.

What is your must-have color of the moment?
Peacock blue. I can’t get enough of it, especially when paired with olive green, lemon yellow and ivory. Benjamin Moore’s Calypso Blue 727 is sheer perfection. When you have brilliant blue walls, though, it’s important to not over-blue the upholstery in a room; use colors that complement and contrast, and then bring the peacock back in through accessories like throw pillows. The rug should be predominantly your other, non-blue color, with just a wee bit of blue in it for recall.

What is your favorite way to entertain?
Southerners are the most social creatures in the world and there’s always room for one more at our tables. I love that! Other than the Italians, you don’t get that with any other culture. So I’d say I just love having people over any time of the day, period. Most New Yorkers find that flat-out strange; they prefer to entertain rarely and then in restaurants. It took some time for Michael to get used to coming home to surprise guests that I’d run into on the street and invited up for impromptu cocktails, but he came around eventually. Brunch, dinner, tea and, of course, cocktails (it’s always noon somewhere!)—j’adore having a living room full of folks.

What of the South do you bring to your designs?
Southerners are all about the importance of faith, family and friends, and one’s home is where the three intersect. I can’t help my clients with the faith part, but every room we do is about accommodating family and friends; there’s always seating that prompts you to pull up a chair and sit a spell, like we do down home. And we are warm and inviting, too, which is the number one thing I want my clients’ homes to be.

What floral designer do you most admire?
There are oodles of talented florists in New York City, but I swear by Connie at Plaza Florists on the Upper East Side. He totally gets my chic and elegant thing, and tweaks it for the occasion.

Are there Atlanta antiques stores that you find yourself revisiting?
I don’t head to the ATL without checking in at Ainsworth-Noah. They have the best things ever, and Winton and Hal are forever scouring Europe for new finds so I don’t have to. For rugs, I’m wild about Moattar.

It’s not like we aren’t rushing out to buy your book—because we are—but could you give us your two most surprising rules?
Number one, rooms should look like the people who live in them. It’s the only rule I won’t break. Sometimes people who are just entering the zone of extreme financial abundance forget that and live in homes that, although lavishly kitted out, are as cold and impersonal as hotel rooms. Number two—and this is related to number one—hotels aren’t meant to serve as design inspiration for your home. Helllooooo, they’re HOTEL rooms! They’re meant to appeal to the broadest number of people and require minimal effort to maintain. A generation ago, people traveled hither and yon, and stayed with friends or fabulous friends of friends who lived in gorgeous places. They went on marvelous tours of stunning homes and gardens. They saw great castles and chateaux in books because they read books. THAT is what should inspire you—not the lobby bar at the Four Seasons.

As a married woman now, do you have to factor in your partner’s taste? Or can men just be ignored?
I’ll confess, when Michael and I moved into our apartment as newlyweds two years ago, I went through and told him where everything would go. I’d figured out a place for everything but my husband. “And where do I go?” he asked. That was mortifying, to say the least. So I turned what should have been our walk-in closet into his little study (sayonara, shoe space!) and I’m glad we did because he loves it so much. Couples have to agree on most things that go into a home, but not everything. I tell my disputing clients that if someone feels really strongly about something, then their say goes.  (And no, ladies, you can't feel really strongly about everything in your house.) And I do think it’s a cardinal sin to make men live in super-girly bedrooms; they can be a wee bit femmy but not egregiously so. No ruffles! 

+ Elaine Griffin’s work has appeared in Elle Decor, House Beautiful, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Accents, New York and Oprah's O at Home. She has also appeared on the Today show and The View, among other TV programs. Before she embarked on her design career, she spent nine years as a successful publicist in New York and Paris. Griffin performed postgraduate work at the New York School of Interior Design and began her design career in the offices of legendary design superstar Peter Marino.