Comedian Nicole Byer’s California Home Is a Marvelous Maximalist Mashup
Name: Nicole Byer‘s home, designed by Caitlin Murray, founder and CEO of Black Lacquer Design
Location: Los Feliz—Los Angeles, California
Size: 3,200 square foot
Years lived in: 2 years, owned
Caitlin Murray, the founder and CEO of Black Lacquer Design, designed the living room, dining room, guest bedroom, and master bedroom of Nicole Byer‘s 3,200-square-foot Los Angeles home.
“I’m in love with the punchy palette!” says Caitlin. She says Nicole “approached the project with so much adventure and trust—she was totally unintimidated by bold colors and just the maximalist aesthetic in general, which made for a very fun and spirited project all around.”
Caitlin continues: “We layered in plenty of pattern and texture; hunted for vintage to mix with contemporary pieces; and, went full glam right next to restrained whimsy. There were even times when she was pushing me to take it further, which makes for a rare and refreshing client-designer dynamic.” Caitlin filled out the house tour survey below.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Her Style: Maximalist mashup—is that a thing?
Inspiration: The client inspired the entire thing! A comedian, she has such a dynamic and playful personality that I really wanted to come through in her home. Anything else wouldn’t do her justice!
As always, the house itself inspired much of the design as well. It’s a 1930s-era Spanish house with many of its original details. Since the previous homeowners had already introduced bright tiling and funky light fixtures and we weren’t doing a full remodel, these elements necessarily influenced the design as well.
Favorite Element: I’m a little obsessed with the very feminine Rococo-style mirror in her master bedroom, and how it provides this subtle juxtaposition to all the other more modern and playful pieces in the space.
Biggest Challenge: Designing around some of the funkier existing elements! The tiles throughout, for example, are very eye-catching and since we were already looking to call upon a lot of color in the furnishings and accents, I had to create the entire palette from those tiles. I drew on a lot of purple, yellow, orange, and turquoise, which aren’t colors I’d used together like this before. It was a whole new color fusion for me, and I had so much fun playing with the hues until it all felt right! Typically the most challenging parts of a project tend to allow for the most creativity, and this was definitely the case here.
Biggest Indulgence: We didn’t do any major construction in the home, so the paint and wallpaper in the master bedroom were probably the biggest splurges for this project! The boldly patterned wallpaper is such an essential backdrop for the space—it feels a bit subdued tucked behind the four-poster bed and black drapery, but it goes a long way towards bringing all the elements in the room together into one cohesive design.
From the wallpaper, I pulled the blue wall paint which we contrasted by painting the existing trim piece at the top of the walls in black. I think it feels so fresh lining the light blue walls and it created the perfect end point for the wallpaper, too.
What’s your best home secret? People are always coming to me for advice on designing with color! The trick I share is to define a palette from the start and stay inside that for every color choice throughout the space. This provides the cohesion needed to tell a vibrant color story without it feeling bananas.
What do people most get wrong about using color in their home? I think a lot of people feel that if they want to use a ton of color in their home, they should paint the walls white to provide a clean canvas for colorful furnishings, accents, and artwork. This is absolutely not the case! A well-defined color palette gives you the visual structure to play with multiple hues on the walls as well.
Favorite paint color brand to use and why? You just can’t go wrong with Farrow & Ball. I have so much trust in that brand. If I specify a Farrow & Ball color, I know it’s going to look gorgeous on the wall.
Best Advice: Always hire the experts to do expert work!
Resources
PAINT & COLORS Master Bedroom
- Walls — Benjamin Moore Caribbean Mist in a matte finish
- Ceiling — Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White in a flat finish
- Trim — Benjamin Moore Black 2132-10 in a satin finish
LIVING ROOM
- Credenza — Modshop
- Circle mirror — Croft House
- Orange lamps — Chairish
- Black and white bench — Chairish
- Table above pouf — Chairish
- Pouf — Chairish
- Striped chair — Anthropologie
- Rugs — The geometric one was from Anthropologie and jaguar rug was from Cowhide Imports
- Coffee table — Chairish
- Teal ottoman — One Kings Lane
- Sofa — Anthropologie
- Desk — Vintage
BEDROOM
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Correction: An earlier version of this post mistakenly called Caitlin Murray‘s firm “Black Lacquer Interiors.” It’s actually Black Lacquer Design. We’ve updated it to be more accurate—hopefully, we can blame it on Mercury retrograde.