Modern meets French inspiration in Buckhead

By Christopher Oquendo

For the AJC

Nancy Staab describes her Buckhead condo as very French.

Christopher Oquendo, Special LuxeCrush.com founder and editor Nancy Staab did the interior design of her condo at the Paramount in Buckhead.

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• Photos: French-inspired condo

“I am not sure how that happened, but I grew up with a mother who was in the antiques business and this is the result,” she said.

The contemporary condo also is an appropriate setting for her to mix sleek modern pieces with items she started collecting at any early age (such as British coronation cups and early editions of “A Christmas Carol”) and antiques from stores and shows, estate sales, auctions and arts fairs in the U.S. and Europe. Staab, a journalist who previously worked for The Atlantan, Southern Living and Southern Accents and now is founder and editor in chief of LuxeCrush.com, handled all of the interior design for the condo.

“I think incorporating salvaged architectural pieces is one of my signatures, and this adds a little bit more masculinity or heft to my otherwise feminine spaces,” she said.

Living in the Paramount makes Staab feel like a cosmopolitan, city girl, and reminds her of a character from the past.

“I feel a lot like Eloise living here, and that was my favorite childhood book,” she said. “I live high up and have two balconies off my dining room and bedroom that are somewhat romantic. It’s fun to go out on the balcony and sip a cocktail and take in the urban views.”

Snapshot

Resident: Nancy Staab, founder/editor of LuxeCrush.com

Location: The Paramount, Buckhead

Size: 1,764 square feet, two bedrooms, two baths

Year built: 2006

Year bought: 2010

Architectural style: Contemporary

Renovations: None

Favorite architectural feature: The Paramount’s high ceilings and “slightly traditional touches” such as arches and moldings that Staab said were already painted the perfect putty green to match her French decor.

Interior design style: Continental and French. Staab said she loves the curves and femininity of French pieces, the ornate craftsmanship and ormolu, and the Rococo shell motifs. It wouldn’t be French without “the glamorous glint and reflection of trumeau mirrors and the dangling crystals from sconces,” Staab said.

Favorite design feature: Collections are an important part of her decor. Her collections include miniature portraits on ivory; architectural fragments, statues and urns; miniature boxes displayed in glass vitrine tables; terra cottas; pearl-handled flatware; gold-etched glasses and French celeste blue Sevres porcelain. There are stacks of coffee-table books in nearly every room on topics including art, fashion, style, decor, food, travel and antiques. “I love to layer a space with meaningful, idiosyncratic, decorative objects and collections accumulated over time. Books also help make a space and say a lot about their inhabitants,” she said.

Interior designer: "I did all the interior design myself. I have often toyed with the idea of going into interior design, but journalism is my first love,” she said. “I guess you could say my interior design approach is very Continental and French, though I try to avoid being too froufrou or over-the-top with the gilding -- more Petit Trianon than Versailles Palace. ... Not everything should be period and antique. Throw in a few, clean, modern pieces or something humorous or out of place to keep it from being too museumlike, such as sleek, modern glass obelisks or a calfskin rug or modern art. ... I prefer spaces that are very light and airy, and always lean to a light-filled space with a pale, maybe even Gustavian palette. I love mirrors, crystal sconces, anything reflective, and furniture that's curvy and graceful and not too dark and ponderous. My goal for my own apartment was to approach something like the playful French spaces of interior designer Lillian Williams and the tasteful classicism of late fashion designer Bill Blass' estate or maybe designer Charles Spada. But my pied-a-terre is still very much a work in progress.”

Favorite outdoor feature: The Paramount pool with outdoor grills and cabanas. “It's lovely to walk outside your apartment and be at your own private pool, which is usable more than half the year,” she said.