Traditional, Midcentury-Modern Apartment

Designers Scott Laslie and Alex Guerrero apply their own distinctive take on style, featuring chrome furnishings and other works of art.

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November 25, 2014

By: Brian Patrick Flynn

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Photo By: Brian Patrick Flynn

Before: Lifeless Beginnings

When Scott Laslie and Alex Guerrero first moved into their new apartment, it was colorless. They decided to work together to combine both of their styles in every room, and assigned more than one purpose to some of the rooms.

Coming Together

To merge Scott's style with Alex's style, the couple combined each of their own favorite pieces to create something truly unique. While the traditional-style furniture and modern art collection are from Scott's previous home, Alex's flair for all things midcentury modern makes its way into the room in the form of a chrome Milo Baughman coffee table.

Alex's Midcentury Style

To incorporate informal dining into their living room, the couple included a midcentury-modern Saarinen tulip table and four chrome Bertoia chairs, all of which came from Alex's previous home, a townhouse just one block away that he sold prior to moving in with Scott.

Modern and Traditional Mashup

The chairs of Scott and Alex's living room are a perfect example of how the couple combined Scott's traditional sofa style with Alex's chrome Bertoia chairs, a staple in midcentury-modern design.

Chrome Coffee Table

Although the living room is made up mostly of traditional pieces from Scott's collection of furniture, one of Alex's prized possessions, a chrome and glass 1970s coffee table by Milo Baughman, anchors the seating area.

Window Treatments

Scott and Alex had custom top-pinch draperies made from scratch, and incorporated blackout liner to help control the harsh rays of the California sunshine.

Open Shelving

Although Scott's design style is more traditional and European-influenced, he and Alex both agreed that Alex's midcentury-modern wall-mounted media storage system was ideal for the space. To attach this system to the wall, two vertical wooden slats were fastened to the wall with a drill, then the shelves were cantilevered over them. Not only does the wall system house all of the couple's media components, it also keeps their favorite books and accessories on display.

Spanish Design

Many of Scott's traditional European antiques coordinated perfectly with the Spanish architecture of the house, which includes textured plaster walls and arched hallways.

Inviting Entryway

In order to give their modest hallway more of a grand-entry look, Scott combined his traditional European console table with a modern piece of art.

Pendant Lighting

Belgian bell-jar pendants were installed in the entryway and in the kitchen hallway to add a designer touch to the apartment. When purchasing custom lighting, Scott suggests buying an additional replacement globe to save time in the event that one should break.

Office Space

Scott and Alex turned their formal dining room into a workspace, complete with a Chinese farm table and mixed styles of seating that accommodate both dining and desk use. A pair of console chests is not only home to turquoise table lamps but they act as concealed storage to keep the couple's work-related clutter out of sight.

European Furniture

To take full advantage of every square inch of space in the formal dining room, Scott brought in a rustic European armoire to house his fabric and wall-covering samples.

Spacious Work Area

Thanks to its generous dimensions, the Chinese farm table in the workspace can easily accommodate Scott and Alex's laptops as well as samples and swatches that the designers each work with on a daily basis.

Globe Pendant Light

Although the overall style of the workspace is traditional, Alex was able to bring a touch of his classic, modern style into the room with a smoked-glass pendant light centered above the Chinese farmhouse table.

Art Exhibition Entryway

Determined to make the most of the apartment's wall space to showcase his huge collection of modern art, Scott designated the back wall of the master bedroom as a gallery. It can be seen from the entryway and from certain vantage points in the living room.

Sentimental Sculptures

When Scott and Alex created their online design source, Found Market, they together developed its branding, a graphic emblem of a hand. In keeping with their labor of love's signature graphics, Scott's collection of hand sculptures is displayed on a wall in the entry just off the couple's bedroom door.

Before: Tight Squeeze

In its original state, Scott and Alex's apartment left much to the imagination as far as space planning was concerned. They wanted to maximize storage in their master bedroom and create an area to lounge and sleep.

Clever Space Planning

Scott and Alex were able to incorporate a small lounge-like seating area around the casement windows in their master bedroom. Alex, a fashion design consultant, has a huge collection of designer clothes. The couple worked extra storage to house many of Alex's winter clothing pices into the bedroom's design, incorporating a 6-foot-tall chest with five drawers and a glass-enclosed cabinet at the top.

Gray Master Bedroom

By painting their master bedroom a dark shade of gray-brown from Benjamin Moore called Affinity, the couple was able to create a dramatic, neutral backdrop on which to showcase Scott's collection of modern art.

Hanging Storage

Both lovers of masculine-style interior design, Scott and Alex worked iconic masculine accents into the apartment, including a wooden deer head that doubles as open storage for the couple's collection of hats and baseball caps.

Trick of the Eye

To bounce light around the room, and make the space appear slightly larger, Scott and Alex hung a classic traditional mirror on the wall opposite the casement window. This offers a second vantage point from which to check out the gorgeous view.

Master Bathroom

Scott used the blue tones of the bathroom's shower tile as a jumping-off point for the color scheme of the apartment. The same tone of blue from the tile is picked up in the bedroom in the form of bed linens, accessories and art installed gallery-style above the bed.

Charming Windows

One of the characteristics that drew Scott and Alex to the apartment was that it had casement windows in every room in the house, the bathroom included.

Art Everywhere

To add personality to their bathroom, Scott incorporated a modern piece of art depicting a crying girl in black and white with tears in a bold red. The bathroom's walls are covered in mustard-colored glazed ceramic subway tiles that were installed parquet style. Black and white hexagon mosaic tile covers the bathroom floors.