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"View Slideshow\n\nWhenever and wherever you do move, whether it's halfway across the world or just across the street, you take your history with you. It's inevitable.\" This is the ironclad belief of Carleton Varney, who after more than three decades as an interior designer of note should surely have formed a philosophy. And he has, indeed he has.\n\n\"No matter how simple or how drastic your change of scene is, some of the before' aspects of how you formerly lived and what you lived with remain with you,\" he says. \"And it stays, even after the new look' makeover, the after' project, is complete. You may not realize it at the time, but this history has become a part of you. And how can you leave a part of you behind?\"\n\nVarney elaborates. \"At first you may be at a loss, deciding what goes with you or what you never want to see again. (Hate that lamp, love that rug\u2014but will it fit?) People who have extensive collections acquired through the years have a particularly difficult time making these kinds of decisions. So I draw them a floor plan of the rooms to scale. It gives them a clearer idea of what will work and what won't. I have one unbreakable rule: In the beginning, never throw anything away! At least not until you've tried it out in your new place. Then you and your decorator can make the necessary decisions and adjustments.\"\n\nNaturally it's a big plus when you and your clients are of a like mind. In this case, Varney and his clients, a prominent theatrical producer and theater owner and his wife, are altogether of a like mind. In their taste for color, they see sharp eye to sharp eye.\n\nAnd guess what? They're not moving halfway across the world. They're moving just across the street, from one Park Avenue apartment to another\u2014a full floor of eight light-filled rooms with windows everywhere, an apartment for all seasons.\n\nThe clients, notes Varney, have a great inventory of pieces. \"They've been everywhere and seen it all,\" he says, \"so when I planned the new residence, I used as many of their objects as I and my associates, Sara Beaudry and Daniel Parker, felt would work. They add comfort and beauty to their new home.\" The wife, whom he dealt with closely, was ecstatic when she saw the result of the transformation.\n\nEvery room of the once empty shell has been drenched with the colors she loves. (Varney himself has never seen a color he didn't love, if you rule out beige and gray.) The entrance hall sets the exuberant mood for the rest of the rooms, which are totally color-saturated, dramatic and sparkling. They are filled with antiques and objects, many of which can tell an interesting tale.\n\nVarney glazed the walls of the hall vermillion; the diamond-patterned stenciled floor is an interplay of light and dark brown. The 19th-century chinoiserie secretary- bookcase and the 18th-century English chest of drawers were meant for the room. Sitting atop the former are pieces from the clients' collection of Chinese pottery and porcelain. A pair of 19th-century carved walnut fauteuils still bear their original tapestry. The crystal chandelier once belonged to the late composer Henry Mancini.\n\nThe far-flung living room, with its panorama of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline, is flooded with light during the day. It glitters at night, the shimmering celadon walls a perfect background for the vibrant fabrics and the collections of porcelain, lacquerware, silver and crystal. The custom Irish wool rug is Varney's design, and the plaid silk of the curtains, the rich green damask of the sofa and the yellow floral chintz on the two club chairs are from his fabric house. The piano, a very old restored Steinway, is a memento from the original Pal-ace Theatre in New York. Even older, circa 1760, to be exact, is the chinoiserie cabinet on a stand. The cabinets lacquered to look like tortoise-shell are other acquisitions from the Mancini estate. Another beloved souvenir, a 19th-century oil-on-canvas landscape formerly owned by the husband's father, was once on display at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit.\n\nThe library is a silken sym-phony of brilliant colors; the ceiling is glazed in silver leaf, and the walls are swathed in sunflower-yellow-and-white-striped silk, the same sunny fabric used for the balloon shades. The vivid figured and brocaded velvet and chintz covering the sofa and chairs make a bold statement. These are neither colors nor fabrics for sissies. For a couple accustomed to dramatic surroundings, they are ideal. The 19th-century Indian rug is there to complement the room and hold it together; it's strong enough to succeed. A part of the library also functions as a dining area, which has been arranged near windows overlooking Central Park.\n\nThe luscious master bedroom is a dream sanctuary, a color-filled retreat with walls covered in a soft green-and-cream-colored linen chinoiserie toile. There are striped silk balloon shades and a French Brussels-weave carpet with a floral border. The Empire-style mirror and the Regency recamier, upholstered in yellow dam-ask, date to the 19th century, the latter precious enough to have been restored by the J. Paul Getty Museum in southern California.\n\nOne guest room, where again the views are spectacular, also serves as a study and retreat for the husband.\n\nAnother one, equally snug and cozy, doubles as a study for the wife. There the walls are covered with chinoiserie-patterned paper and the curtains are striped silk taffeta. The late-19th-century French hand-carved daybed, its headboard upholstered in a chinoiserie toile, and the 19th-century eglomise portrait with a gilt frame point up the room's loveliness.\n\nEvery room in the apartment sings and dances. Which is just what the doctor ordered for this world-of-entertainment couple who love and appreciate these sorts of dramatic settings and have been around them for much of their lives."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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