Lynne Scalo: Incorporating Art into your Home

Interior designer Lynne Scalo’s background includes intensive study of fine arts, so it’s no surprise that art holds an important place in her design plans. For a Greenwich house she designed, which we featured in the winter edition of New England Home Connecticut—a home lived in by a sophisticated, well-traveled couple and their young children—the art Lynne chose reflects her keen eye for blending styles and periods to forge a space that’s fresh and up to date, but somehow timeless as well.

In the living room, Lynne honors the home’s classic Georgian style with its elegant architectural details by adding contemporary touches to traditional forms. The colonial-style wing chair, for example, is upholstered in cream-colored leather, and a contemporary sisal-weave rug covers the floor. The art plays the same game of bridging the years; a contemporary piece sits above the mantel, while alongside, hang a rustic mirror and a classic painting in a traditional gold frame.

Photograph by Tim Street-Porter

Lynne placed these silk screens in a young, hip client’s living room. They are iconic and make for a great conversation starter over cocktails. “I adore Basquiat, Haring, and all of the unknown artists that we see on the sides of buildings, streets, in the most unlikely places for art,” she says. “I approached the famed photographer Norman Seeff and he loved my concept. He provided the portraits and I came up with the commentary, style, and colors.” These were produced in a limited edition of twenty five and are available through Lynne Scalo Design.

Photograph by Phillip Ennis

For her own beach home, Lynne chose an abstract floral painting that plays of the floral wallpaper. While its colors are a perfect match for the wall, the contemporary nature of the painting is unexpected. “It provides a contrasting, yet complementary, vision of a botanical design,” she says.

Photograph by Tim Street-Porter

In this elegant seating arrangement the abstract piece pops against a stark white wall. “It reflects the mood of the room and turns the whole environment into a piece of artwork,” Lynne says.

Photograph by Phillip Ennis

See more of Lynne Scalo’s work in the most winter issue of New England Home Connecticut.