Behind-the-Scenes of the Architectural Digest Greenroom

We’re all getting very excited as we gain momentum and progress on this year’s Architectural Digest Greenroom at the Primetime Emmys®. As with any design process, it’s especially rewarding to see normally disparate elements begin to take shape as a more cohesive whole.  An intriguing feature of this year’s greenroom design is the creative use of environmentally responsible wood.                                                      

This year’s amazing greenroom floor is provided by wood flooring specialists, Birger Juell, Ltd. Leaders in the industry for their sophisticated patterns and techniques and innovators for their use of reclaimed and recycled woods, Birger Juell offered us an amazing variety of pieces salvaged from former barn timbers and siding. Over the past few weeks, I’ve enjoyed collaborating on an exciting, complex inlaid design for our greenroom. The room’s intricate shape created an especially tricky challenge. Many sketches and conference calls later, a final design was reached—a wonderfully interlocking, plank and incised pattern reminiscent of light refracting within a diamond, yet subtle in its soft finish, scale and overall restraint.

A plan showing the wood floor detail (click to enlarge the image):

Another important wood element: Mimi London, Inc.’s sculptural cocktail tables are being fashioned from reclaimed walnut.  One of our design clients was clearing an old walnut orchard in order to make room for new crops and a vineyard.  My partner, Mimi, and I purchased the walnut and began playing with the idea of turning this amazing, raw material into innovative, functional furniture.   Like diamonds, we unearthed the pieces and started experimenting with different “cuts” and shapes to make the pieces really “sing.”  The result is a design that I’m featuring in this year’s greenroom: solid, burled walnut faceted into jewel-like tables. These pieces are then carefully bleached and finished into a silvery, driftwood tone matching the greenroom’s overall color scheme.

Cocktail tables by Mimi London. (Click to enlarge the image).