Mario Buatta: A man after my decorating heart

Mario Buatta

"To be a good decorator, you have to be three things: an actor (you have to pretend you like the person, their house and their things!), a psychiatrist (you have to figure out what the client wants) and a lawyer (to collect your money)!"

This phrase from an interview Mr. Boatta gave to AD started me on this post. 
It is so true and realistic, it reflects someone who's been in the business and who is confident enough and honest enough to distill his experience in a phrase. 


 That made me admire the person who is dearly known as the Prince of Chintz, 
but is to me the Prince of professional decorating. 
If a person is true to himself and his ideas, then he is true to his work. 


I grew up in a maximalist home of velvet curtains and upholstery and armchairs covered in chintz.
I shaped my aethetics in the flowery South of England.

I work for a company with natural, contemporary aesthetics.
I had a long affair with Designers Guild.


Life shows me that I'm growing into a modern maximalist,
an archaeologist, universitarian and gardener by DNA, 
and I am embracing the person that I am,
a work in progress.


As I am looking into who I am growing to be, in this start of the year, I find this serendipitus insight resonating to my heart and mind.

Some of Mario Buatta's decorating maxims:

“The best time to look at a room is the day after you’ve had a party because you see the way people used the space.”

Every room should be a different color. Each space should have its own mood.

Three perfect colors are lemon-yellow, leaf-green, and Prussian-blue.

These color combinations always work.

 For a living room: 

yellow walls, a pale-blue ceiling, and white woodwork. 

For a kitchen:

 off-white cabinets painted robin’s egg–blue on the inside (it makes the dishes look great) with a lemon-yellow ceiling. 

For a bedroom: 

apricot walls, a pale-blue ceiling, and off-white woodwork. 

For a library: 

red walls, squares of silver tea paper on the ceiling, and brown accents".

A few of my favorite rooms, decorated by Mr. Buatta.

I love the warm glow of this room.

I love the Brunschwig & Fils chintz with the rose and buttermilk velvet.
I like plenty of different types of sitting, too.

In this room, I can smell the warm, fragrant air bringing in the perfumes of the rose garden. 
My favorite room of all!

This is a bathroom but it could well be my home office.

Elegantly feminine.

Gracie, Mr. Buatta.

Read more on Mario Buatta's views on decoration, homes and life, as it were, 
 here, here and here. 

 Listen here.