Eclectic Ecstasy

Colour, texture and pattern run riot in a New York City apartment whose characterful aesthetic reflects the infectious enthusiasm of its designer owner

- Ian Phillips

New York City-based designer Doug Meyer is not into monochromatic interiors. ‘I’ve been to some beautiful rooms that are beige and grey and monotone, but they don’t make me happy. Good decoration must stimulate you visually,’ he says.

Doug prefers things that are ‘odd’, and sees his own design schemes as ‘more conceptual, like a piece of art’. His former apartment in Manhattan was a perfect case in point. There, he covered the walls in almost 3 000 sheets of paper: there were vertical stripes of 13 different colors in the living room and rectangles with more than 500 distinct motifs in the bedroom.

Doug’s new home, which he shares with his husband Meade Ali, is equally fantastical, but it required a fair amount of work to get it that way. Located in a nondescript brick hi-rise in Chelsea, the interior was previously unprepossessing and littered with the remains of its previous inhabitants, a young family of hoarders. ‘It was crazy,’ says Doug. ‘Literally, there were paths where you could walk and the rest was just stuff – boxes and kids’ toys and clothes.’