Room of the Day: Mom’s Master Suite Takes On a New Global Style
A mother of 2 remakes her Manhattan bedroom and bath with inspiration and items from Morocco, Turkey, India and Afghanistan
It’s hard to believe this room full of texture, patina and worldly finds used to be a white drywalled box. In the midst of switching career gears from fashion design to interior design, Lena Lalvani, a mother of two girls, wanted to put her new career into practice while finishing up her degree. As she’d gone through a big change in her personal life and was moving back into the Tribeca apartment after living elsewhere, she decided to give her master suite a fresh start. “I told my two daughters, ‘We’re going to make Mommy’s room into a queen’s room.’ My daughters are even more creative than I am, so we had fun working on it together,” she says.
Also lending a sense of age to the apartment is the large exposed brick wall. It had always been there, but it had been covered up by white drywall. After unearthing it, the designer had a faux painter meticulously paint every brick to give it an antique look.
The large scale of the room required large pieces. Lalvani designed the king-size platform bed with built-in side tables and custom headboard. She added a statement chandelier overhead, with a warm metallic finish that plays off the gold in the wallpaper.
Chandelier: Jonathan Adler; rug: CB2
The large scale of the room required large pieces. Lalvani designed the king-size platform bed with built-in side tables and custom headboard. She added a statement chandelier overhead, with a warm metallic finish that plays off the gold in the wallpaper.
Chandelier: Jonathan Adler; rug: CB2
Another piece that stands up to the scale of the room is the oversized mirror. Lalvani hand-painted the frame, inspired by Moroccan tile colors and patterns.
The carved armoire is from India and is about 100 years old. “It’s funny, because you’d never expect from the outside what’s on the inside — I outfitted it to hold wrapping, sewing and other craft supplies,” Lalvani says. She and her daughters enjoy working on creative projects together. Organizational pieces from The Container Store and Amazon keep everything neat, labeled and organized in the chockablock-full armoire. “The girls know the craft closet well and will pull out bins and search through them on my bed when they need threads or ribbons for their fashion design projects,” she says.
Lalvani has a passion for world travel and picks up inspiration and items wherever she goes. She designed the headboard around two textiles she got on one of her many trips to Turkey. They’re backed by cushions she designed, hung from a curtain rod and visually anchored by a floating shelf overhead.
The tapestry over the headboard was handwoven in a temple in India. The designer had a plastic frame fabricated to protect the beautiful piece, which is full of gold embroidery.
Lalvani’s background in fashion taught her the power of accessories, and her necklaces and earrings add more patina, worldly finds and color to the room. To create the earring cabinet on the right side of the bed, she bought hinged shadowbox frames from Michael’s, covered them with photographs and hung her earrings on pins inside. They’re easy to admire and access and the frames keep the dust out.
The tapestry over the headboard was handwoven in a temple in India. The designer had a plastic frame fabricated to protect the beautiful piece, which is full of gold embroidery.
Lalvani’s background in fashion taught her the power of accessories, and her necklaces and earrings add more patina, worldly finds and color to the room. To create the earring cabinet on the right side of the bed, she bought hinged shadowbox frames from Michael’s, covered them with photographs and hung her earrings on pins inside. They’re easy to admire and access and the frames keep the dust out.
She also enjoys making jewelry for herself. Her father was born in Afghanistan, so she likes to incorporate her heritage into her work via Afghan beads.
A favorite Gustav Klimt print, a Moroccan light, a stack of books and Lalvani’s necklaces enliven this side of her bed.
A leather chair and mirrored desk add more texture to the room. The designer used to live in Brussels and bought the desk on Rue Haute, a favorite antiques and interior design shopping haunt.
Chair: Jonathan Adler
Chair: Jonathan Adler
The closet area also serves as a hallway to the newly redone master bathroom. She had the closet doors custom made to be unobtrusive and blend right in with the hallway and bedroom.
The bathroom was the first part of the project Lalvani designed and completed, but she based the gold and white palette off the wallpaper she had already chosen for the bedroom.
The bathroom was the first part of the project Lalvani designed and completed, but she based the gold and white palette off the wallpaper she had already chosen for the bedroom.
“As soon as I saw these distressed corbels at Restoration Hardware, I knew I had my bathroom design,” Lalvani says of the pieces sitting under the sink. The corbels relate well to the carved Indian armoire and wood-screened window in her bedroom. Lalvani had a glassworker create the Starphire countertop and added a sculptural limestone vessel sink. Gold Moroccan tile, a Casbah-inspired pendant light and a large mirror complete the exotic luxe look.
The floor has the look of bleached hardwood but is ceramic tile. Her builder created a curbless shower by slanting the shower floor toward an infinity drain. Using clear glass on the stall makes the room look and feel much larger.
All tile: Ann Sacks; mirror and light fixtures: Restoration Hardware
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The floor has the look of bleached hardwood but is ceramic tile. Her builder created a curbless shower by slanting the shower floor toward an infinity drain. Using clear glass on the stall makes the room look and feel much larger.
All tile: Ann Sacks; mirror and light fixtures: Restoration Hardware
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Room at a Glance
What happens here: Interior designer Lena Lalvani sleeps, reads to her two daughters, stashes craft supplies, gets creative inspiration and displays favorite things from memorable trips around the world
Location: Tribeca neighborhood of New York City
Size: Main bedroom: 216 square feet (20 square meters); closet area: 51 square feet (4.7 square meters); bathroom: 71 square feet (6.6 square meters)
Designer: Lena Lalvani
The queenly spirit sprang from the lively gold and turquoise Flavor Paper wallpaper Lalvani fell in love with and installed on some of the walls. New turquoise-painted wainscoting gives the room a classic element that balances out the bold paper.