You may not know the name Michael Habachy, but chances are if you have had a massage or dinner or hit the dance floor in Atlanta, you have done it in one of Habachy Designs’ spaces.
This multitalented interior designer has created the theatrical, exotic look for the restaurants Viande Rouge, Dressed and Buddha Restaurant; the nightclubs Vanquish, Reign and Aurum; and the Blue Med and Entebello spas.
And lately the designer is everywhere: For two months this fall, his Midtown Pop-Up Gallery featured local artists on display alongside Habachy’s interior design. He’s also a contestant on HGTV’s interior designer competition show “Design Wars” debuting Dec. 2, is designing additional Blue MedSpas as the Atlanta-based business expands, and is working with PFVS International on hotels in Qatar and Dubai.
In a landscape of milk paint and wainscoting, the Atlanta native has made a name for himself by going against the grain of much of Atlanta’s interior design community. Habachy is a fan of blood red, high-gloss black, pure white, graphic wallpaper, edgy artist-designed murals and attitudinal furniture that practically propositions you to sit your bad self down.
“This whole industrial-meets-farmhouse look, I’m over it,” Habachy said of the reigning style of many Atlanta commercial and residential spaces. “What I want to do is I want to educate people to know you can make a place look and feel luxurious without spending a fortune,” said Habachy, ensconced behind a massive walnut desk he designed for his former bachelor pad-turned-office in the Hastings Seed Lofts on Marietta Street.
With commercial projects harder to come by in a down economy, Habachy has recently brought his rock ‘n’ roll style to the home front.
It’s a natural progression. After his own club-hopping days in the 1990s, Habachy has married, to CNN International writer Jane Nix, and now prefers dinner out with friends to the throbbing beats of house music. But he’s still applying some of the lessons learned in his glamorous commercial spaces to Atlanta homes from a sophisticated apartment in the Buckhead Terminus building to a mid-century home in the Amberwood subdivision designed by Frank Lloyd Wright acolyte Robert Green.
Habachy has worked on projects with budgets ranging from $50,000 to $1 million including materials, finishes and furnishings, with Habachy’s fees generally ranging from 7 to 10 percent of that total budget.
One of Habachy’s design signatures is custom-built furniture, from headboards to sofas to entertainment centers.
“I think that’s what sets me apart from decorators,” Habachy said. “We’re more industrial design and architecturally inclined than a decorator would be.”
Habachy’s recent project for a family of three in the Terminus building, features a pair of '50s-era Brazilian chairs at $6,000 each whose cream-colored upholstery complements the soothing neutrals, lacquered white cabinets and tan drapery in the living room space. Habachy also created a custom entertainment center in the light-drenched living room with planked wood backing and cantilevered 2-inch-thick Lucite shelves with LED lights inside. “At night, they light up and glow like blocks of ice,” Habachy said.
Habachy even custom-designed the apartment’s living room area rug sourced from a company in Buenos Aires using cowhide whose pale blocks of color echo the planked wood hue and lines of the entertainment center.
Though Habachy makes a clear distinction between the sensory overload of his nightclub designs and the oasis calm preferred in most homes, the materials and techniques Habachy has used in Atlanta hot spots often work brilliantly in a domestic setting.
Nightclubs have their own design challenges, such as the ever-present threat of spilled drinks and women in stilettos puncturing upholstery, but the domestic front can feature comparable opportunities for destruction. Habachy is currently child-proofing a Milton family’s drapes and sofa with a synthetic coating manufactured by the Nano-Tex company that has protected many commercial club settings but also stands up to the wear and tear of three children under the age of 4 and their arsenal of juice boxes and magic markers.
Some of Habachy’s taste for the exotic no doubt originates in his parents’ Egyptian heritage and his own extensive world travels to India, Vietnam, Central America, Israel, Tokyo and a recent sojourn to the Jordanian city of Petra.
“That’s what creates the diversity in my work, having experienced the diversity of Tokyo and then Vietnam, melding the Old World with the New World,” he said.
Habachy's advice
Interior designer Michael Habachy offers his accessible tips for bringing balance and beauty to any home.
Go neutral
If you invest in a neutral palette (whether grays or creams) for your main pieces of furniture, it is easy to reinvent the look of a room easily by changing out paint color and accessories such as pillows and rugs for an entirely new look.
Right-size it
Make sure that your furniture fits. It's absolutely critical to lay out the pieces you intend to buy in a scaled floor plan. If you are not familiar with this process, then lay out all the actual furniture sizes directly on the floor using tape, newspaper, etc. This will give you a better sense for the space that you will need for your furnishings as well as remaining space for circulation.
Proportion is critical
Large pieces look best in large spaces, and smaller work better in smaller rooms. This holds true with area rugs as well. He prefers rugs to surround a complete furniture grouping. This keeps them to scale with the room.
Don’t neglect windows
So many people keep their windows plain and unfinished. Blinds are not decorative: they are strictly utilitarian. He prefers to use drapes or shades or a combination to soften a space. In some cases, even stationary panels flanking a window are a great way to make a room feel more cozy. Especially in a contemporary space, the addition of fabric and texture keeps the room from feeling cold.
Lighting counts
Lighting is probably the most important element in interior design and architecture. He likes to lay out the lighting as he is thinking about the interior architecture, furnishings layout, art placement, etc., so that it correlates with the pieces and areas that matter. Also, make sure that all lighting is on dimmers, so that you have control of the light output.
