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"View Slideshow\n\nVeronica Toub has made a glittering name for herself designing jewelry and resortwear, but she also has a major passion for real estate. &amp;quot;I will be vacationing in the Greek islands, for example,&amp;quot; she says, &amp;quot;and all of a sudden, I\u2019m visiting old homes for sale.&amp;quot; In Paris, where she lived full-time for several years, the Los Angeles\u2013based fashion entrepreneur inspected countless properties before falling for the apartment that now serves as her pied-\u00E0-terre: a 3,800-square-foot flat in a 17th-century building on the Left Bank.\n\nIt\u2019s not hard to see what seduced Toub, the Anglo-Persian founder of VMT Los Angeles, a luxury brand known for head-turning caftans and handsome adornments such as a black-rhodium-and-gold zipper bracelet with gray diamonds. She was struck not only by the building\u2019s majestic stone-and-iron central staircase but also by the 44-foot-long glazed corridor overlooking the courtyard at the rear of the apartment, a sunny stretch she calls the Hall of Windows. The clincher, however, was the jaw-dropping view from the front of the home\u2014straight across the Seine to the Mus\u00E9e du Louvre.\n\nTo revamp the three-bedroom residence, Toub enlisted the help of architect Laurent Bourgois. Plaster walls were stripped down and resurfaced, elegant new cornices replaced dilapidated originals, and a kitchen, a bedroom, and two small baths were knocked together to create a capacious master bedroom and dressing areas. The floors also needed reinforcing and leveling, since the building had settled over the years; even so, the herringbone parquet in the salon still slants a bit. As Bourgois notes, &amp;quot;There was not a square inch we didn\u2019t touch.&amp;quot; The glass-ceilinged former conservatory off Toub\u2019s dressing room was transformed into a light-filled bath after the government preservation group Architectes des B\u00E2timents de France refused permission to turn it into a terrace. Also landmarked is the stone floor in the entrance hall, which doubles as a glamorous formal dining room thanks to a sleek black-lacquer Jansen table, striking flea-market chairs, and Manuela Zervudachi bronze sconces in the shape of coiled serpents.\n\n&amp;quot;Veronica is one of those people who can put quite different things together in a balanced way,&amp;quot; affirms Eric Philippe, the respected Paris dealer of 20th-century American and Scandinavian design, from whom Toub acquired prime furnishings by the likes of Paul L\u00E1szl\u00F3 and Frits Henningsen. Consider the inviting salon, for instance. There, a vintage L\u00E1szl\u00F3 sofa is harmoniously juxtaposed with an Alexandra von Furstenberg acrylic console striped with neon pink, a black-and-white Fornasetti screen, and a Turkish kilim patterned with large red, yellow, and blue diamonds. Nearby, brooding Renaissance Revival armchairs flank a grandly scaled Zhang Huan portrait of an Asian soldier made of ashes applied to canvas, and at the center of the salon are shining cocktail tables by Hubert le Gall, each one a boomerang of high-gloss black lacquer.\n\nEclectic combinations like that are indicative of Toub\u2019s &amp;quot;incredible, ebullient&amp;quot; taste, says decorator Caroline Sarkozy, a longtime friend (and the sister of the former French president), adding, &amp;quot;It\u2019s very representative of her travels, her lifestyle, and her curiosity.&amp;quot; Sarkozy is among the regular visitors when Toub is in the city, which is usually several times a year. Dinner parties for up to 70 are not uncommon, often featuring a menu of fragrant Persian dishes. &amp;quot;I\u2019m very much a homebody when I\u2019m here,&amp;quot; declares Toub, who also maintains a chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland. &amp;quot;I love it. All my old friends stop by.&amp;quot;\n\nAnother of the designer\u2019s diverse decorative interests is Anglo-Indian furniture, evinced by an inlaid lounge chair in the family room and a lacy tripod table in a corner of the entrance hall. Toub also has an enthusiasm for intriguing cultural artifacts from Southeast Asia, where she frequently travels, for pleasure as well as inspiration. Golden Sumatran ceremonial sarongs are draped over the back of the salon\u2019s sofa, and dramatic Indonesian carvings share the Hall of Windows with a vibrant green painting by Lebanese artist Huguette Caland and mother-of-pearl-inlaid Victorian side chairs (purchased from the legendary decorator-dealer Madeleine Castaing). In the sitting room hangs an antique sword from Borneo, which Toub slips from its sheath to admire; a moment later she drops it, narrowly missing one of her feet and making a dent in the centuries-old parquet. &amp;quot;The mark will add a bit of character!&amp;quot; she says, unfazed.\n\nAccidents will happen, she shrugs\u2014and in any case, Toub would much rather discuss the subtle touches she believes really make an interior successful. The study\u2019s walls are paneled with sensuous nubuck, while the mosaic-tile wainscot that curves around the designer\u2019s bath mimics button-tufted fabric. Much of the hardware used throughout the residence is custom made, including the master suite\u2019s bronze closet knobs and bath hooks, which are in the shape of daisies, a cheerful motif that was favored by one of Toub\u2019s aesthetic heroes, the Art Deco genius Armand Albert Rateau.\n\n&amp;quot;Everything is really thought-out,&amp;quot; Toub says, conceding a certain perfectionism. &amp;quot;My style is all about the details.&amp;quot;\n\nStep inside fashion designer Veronica Toub&amp;#39;s refined Paris getaway."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/veronica-toub-laurent-bourgois-paris-apartment-article>