 |
||||
The Butler Did It! From hot Hollywood homes to Eva Longoria's new restaurant, Tracie Butler is taking the interior design world by storm with her glamorous style and inspired attention to detail 
"In L.A., just about anything goes," says Tracie Butler. "You drive down any boulevard and it's every style you could want or imagine." Including, of course, her own eclectic take on Hollywood style and glamour. Since opening her firm, Tracie Butler Interior Design in 2001, Butler has become the city's go-to designer for everything from innovative residential work for numerous actors, models and musicians, to hip clubs and restaurants. Over the last few years, she has designed such area hot spots as Shag, Parc and Central as well as her most recent creation, Beso, a Spanish-themed restaurant owned by "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker and celebrity restaurateur Todd English. "I always like to add a little depth and dimension to my rooms by using interesting colors, textures and materials," she says. For Butler, this could mean anything from burnished leather to baroque chandeliers to petrified wood. Currently, she's in the early stages of designing a furniture collection. Her dream, however, is to move into hotel design. "Las Vegas may not be the capital of culture," she says, "but it's the ultimate playground for a designer." HOMESTYLE: I think of you as someone who knows her way around Hollywood. How do you define Hollywood glamour today? TRACIE BUTLER: It's all about being young, sexy and hip, and fashion plays a big role in that. Take something like Swarovski crystals. They've been all over the runways in New York for the last few years and now they're starting to show up in home merchandise. I recently did Swarovski crystal drapes for a master bedroom. They look like evening gowns, so gorgeous. HS: What are the other essentials? TB: Fine fabrics, soft leathers, exotic woods and funky wallpaper with lots of patterns and colors. And, of course, this being Hollywood, the right lighting is incredibly important. People love their crystal chandeliers. HS: What are the hot colors? TB: That whole organic back-to-the-beach lifestyle is big and that usually means a lot of neutrals and a lot of white. But color is also important. Right now, I'm loving neons – hot pinks, bright oranges, citrines. They make great accent colors. HS: What's definitively out of style? TB: I am ready to give the whole Mediterranean look a rest. Enough with all that wrought iron! HS: It doesn't sound like there are too many antiques involved. TB: No. Not with my clientele. I deal with a lot of young actors and models and musicians, and they just don't have that appreciation. It's funny – I personally love antiques. I'm a big fan of Art Deco – the black lacquers, the silvers. It's so formal and elegant. But it's not part of my current business. On the other hand, however, Mid-Century Modern furniture and objects are very popular. HS: I hear that a lot today. Why do people continue to love that period? TB: It�s happy, playful and affordable – three things that are always important for young people. It's also a style that has a real history here. That whole early Palm Springs lifestyle was a very big deal in its day and it continues to inspire people. HS: People seem to live outdoors for most of the year in L.A. What role does weather and climate play in your work? TB: It's huge. A big trend in the last few years is to have what I think of as an outdoor living room – a terrace or patio with big couches, nice coffee tables, comfortable pillows and a lamp or two. Usually theres a tent or pergola involved. This is in addition to whatever is happening around the swimming pool. HS: You deal with a lot of celebrities and rising stars. Are they more demanding than regular clients? TB: I don't know if demanding is the word. Maybe complicated is better. Take something like security. They want to make sure the carpenter I hire to do their bookshelves isn't some kind of freak or a reporter for the "National Enquirer." HS: What's the first thing you think about when you're designing a room? TB: The functionality of the space – what does the room need to do? What role does it play in my clients life? Everything flows from that. HS: What are the big mistakes people make when decorating? TB: They don't realize that the devil is in the details. I go into so many houses where people have invested in what I think of as the basics – a couch, a cocktail table, a flat screen TV – but they haven�t spent a dime on drapes or area rugs or wall coverings. I mean, at the very least, you have to have a beautiful paint job. It's not that expensive and it makes all the difference in the world. HS: You also are well known for designing hip restaurants and clubs. How do these differ from residential commissions? TB: In general, they're easier. And the reason is they're less emotional. You deal primarily with businesspeople whose main concerns are budgets and timelines. They don't question every little design decision. But with residential commissions, you and your client can go back and forth for weeks on something like the tassels on the drapes. It's a very drawn-out process. HS: Do you prefer one more than the other? TB: I get different things from them. It's so much fun to design a hip new restaurant because you know the whole city is going to see it. It's all very high profile. But houses are wonderful because they're mainly about relationships. You're creating an environment where people are going to live their lives and raise their families, and that's a really nice feeling. Also, with houses, you get to buy the kind of really beautiful art and furniture that is sort of unheard of for a commercial interior. HS: What kind of house did you grow up in? TB: It wasn't fancy. My mom was a dental assistant. I did, however, have an aunt in Palm Springs who had a great funky house that I loved. But I think I was born a designer. At 14, when my friends were buying cosmetics, I was saving my allowance to buy new wallpaper for my bedroom. |
||||
|
||||
