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Investing in a few good pieces and going cheap with the rest, actresss Julianne Moore turned the bland, stark apartment of her styist, Leslie Fremar, into a chic haven—on a $15,000 budget.
Inside Julianne’s Design Studio
Organized Inspiration
“Leslie and I pored over design magazines...for ideas. We tacked favorite pages, along with fabric and paint swatches, onto corkboard to see how it all harmonized.”
The Power of Paint
“People think there’s some magic to picking colors, but you just have to choose what you like. If you respond to strong hues, there’s no reason not to go for it. You can always repaint!”
Diplomatic Negotiations
“When vintage shopping, I always ask, ‘Is the price firm?’ I find it is a respectful, non-embarrassing way to bargain.”
Getting it Made
“If you see a wood table or something straightforward that you love but can’t afford, check on the Internet for a local artisan to copy it. Often, the same design can be constructed out of inexpensive materials.”
Inside Julianne’s Design Studio
Organized Inspiration
“Leslie and I pored over design magazines...for ideas. We tacked favorite pages, along with fabric and paint swatches, onto corkboard to see how it all harmonized.”
The Power of Paint
“People think there’s some magic to picking colors, but you just have to choose what you like. If you respond to strong hues, there’s no reason not to go for it. You can always repaint!”
Diplomatic Negotiations
“When vintage shopping, I always ask, ‘Is the price firm?’ I find it is a respectful, non-embarrassing way to bargain.”
Getting it Made
“If you see a wood table or something straightforward that you love but can’t afford, check on the Internet for a local artisan to copy it. Often, the same design can be constructed out of inexpensive materials.”
Julianne's Paint Picks:
For the bedroom: Feminine but not cloying, mauve walls establish a warm serenity. She chose Iced Mauve (#2115-50 Benjamin Moore). The pale backdrop gently complements a pair of canary yellow curtain panels.
In the living area: Keying into the Moroccan rug's soft undertones, Moore chose a sedate wall color: Pigeon Gray (#2133-50 Benjamin Moore) and trimmed it with Atrium White.
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Julianne Moore's Other Talent: Decorating!
It's not exactly tabloid fodder, but actress Julianne Moore has a secret: She decorates—and she's really good at it.
- by Ruth Altcheck
Investing in a few good pieces and going cheap with the rest, actress Julianne Moore turned the bland, stark apartment of her stylist, Leslie Fremar, into a chic haven—on a $15,000 budget. Ask her about her design heroes and you’ll hear names like George Nakashima and George Nelson. Over the past 10 years, she’s honed her organic-modern style in six homes, plus the occasional friend-in-need rescue mission. Leslie Fremar’s NYC two-bedroom definitely fell into the latter category. “It looked like 1986,” Moore remembers.
Though Fremar can dress top-notch stars like Jennifer Connelly and Maggie Gyllenhaal, she was clueless about furnishing her West Village rental. “I still thought shabby chic was the way to go, which is totally not my approach to fashion,” says Fremar, a devotee of forward-thinking labels like Marni and Dries Van Noten. Luckily, Moore had decisiveness enough for two: “Leslie is very confident about an outfit, while I’m very confident about an interior,” she explains. Together, they created a place with an easy urbanity worthy of Fremar’s inborn elegance.
Moore’s Law #1: Start with one special element
Moore based the apartment’s palette on a rug that Fremar had brought home from a trip to Morocco. The unusual pink-and-yellow pile was so lively on its own that they decided to go neutral elsewhere: a sophisticated purplish-gray for the walls and creamy white for the trim. Notes from nature—the wood coffee table, cork stools, a luxurious sheepskin throw—inject a layer of subtle texture.
Moore’s Law #2: Mix high and low
Nearly half of the apartment’s furniture came from big retailers like IKEA, which Moore swears by. The key to avoiding a generic appearance, she says, is to mingle mass-produced items with unique elements.
Moore’s Law #3: Let meaning be your guide
“This is a small space, so everything has to bring a lot to the party,” Moore says. When it came to colors for the bedroom, she sought fabrics that would express her client’s personality. The bold yellow drapes have a two-part reference, recalling a beloved Dries Van Noten coat and the curtains in Fremar’s parents’ home (“I made fun of them all through my childhood, but now love them,” she jokes). Accent pieces are similarly personal: The Hugo Guinness dove prints nod to the city’s lack of nature—and Moore’s own obsession with birds. “I wanted the place to feel like Leslie,” Moore says.
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