Screens have long been used to divide a room, offer privacy, protect against drafts from a window or from a roaring fire or simply add a decorative focal point.
We selected a simple yet chic three-panel canvas room divider with minimal black scrollwork around its perimeter; it stands 72 inches high and 54 inches wide and costs an affordable $150. Our marching order to four design teams was to figure out a use for it. If they wanted to alter it, we said, “Be our guest.”
Each team came up with its own concept, none the same. All may inspire you.
Designer Sandra Saltzman liked the simplicity of the screen and decided to use it in its purest form in a client’s suburban bedroom.
To add drama and height to the end of an already eclectically furnished living room, designer Paul Gonzales placed the screen atop a large beige travertine table, 7 feet wide by 30 inches deep, that sat in front of a bay window. Because the room’s walls were covered in a beige fabric and draperies were the palest celadon, the screen’s beige color blended perfectly.
Designers David Kaufman and Tom Segal decided to wrap the screen in layers of color and accent it with flowers, which they felt would hide its too-serious-looking burlap exterior. Instead of using it in traditional fashion in a living room, however, they installed it on a bedroom wall as a headboard.
To designer Terri Weinstein (see Contents, pg. 4), the screen presented an ideal surface for adding a painterly statement.
“Because my client’s room had a number of subtle patterns, I wanted to make the screen less plain so it could add boldness to the room,” she says. She hired artist Jarka Sobiskova, who painted an abstract tree of life in a palette inspired by the room’s colors of celadon, deeper greens, cranberry, gold and off-white.
When finished, Weinstein installed it atop the room’s low heating unit in front of a window, so it dramatically rises to within one inch of the ceiling and helps conceal the view of an unattractive building across the street.
———-
RESOURCES
Screen, No. 1556305, from Pier 1 Imports; for information where to find the screen at the store closest to you, call 1-800-447-4371.
Sandra Saltzman vignette: bed, Marco Fine Furniture, and John Boone night table–at Holly Hunt Ltd., Merchandise Mart; custom shelving–Giancarlo Teoli Designs; lounge chair and ottoman–Dialogica at Galleria M; textiles for chair–“Zebra” plush velvet, Edmond Petit–Stark Textiles, Mart; textiles for ottoman, “Louvois” from Old World Weavers–Stark Textiles, Mart; trimmings for ottoman by Lelievre–Stark Textiles, Mart; chair pillow–Whitneys, Saratoga, Wyo.; drapery fabrics, “Petit Rayur Strie” satin, Clarence House, and “Aspide Damask” from Old World Weavers at Stark Textiles, with “Palazzo Ducale Jasmin” fringe from Brunschwig & Fils–all at the Mart; drapery fabrication by Zirlin Interiors.
Paul Gonzales vignette: Silk drapery fabric–Scalmandre, Merchandise Mart; workmanship by Baird’s Decorating Service; silver Georgian candlestick lamps and shades–Lang/Levin Studios, Mart; bronze–personal collection; sofa–Interior Crafts with fabric from Robert Allen, Mart; rug–Oriental Carpet Gallery, Mart; turquoise lacquer vintage cocktail table–Kittinger, available through the trade.
David Kaufman and Tom Segal vignette: Stainless steel Tizio lamps by Artemide–Evergreen Oak Electric/Crest Lighting; antique nightstands–Sandwich Antiques Market; African sculptures–Primitive Art Works; Andy Warhol prints and all other accessories–personal collection.
On pg. 4: Terri Weinstein vignette: red lacquer tray, celadon vase and black Burmese table–Golden Triangle; “Garbo” sofa by Frewil–Barbara Pearlman, Merchandise Mart; coffee table–The Fine Line.
