Clockwise, from top: Wire Chair by Charles and Ray Eames, Vitra; PK54 Dining Table by Poul Kjærholm, Fritz Hansen; Viscontea Cocoon Pendant Lamp by Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Flos; Cabinets, Montana Furniture; Half Empty Club Chair, Frederik Nystrup-Larsen.
Hallas repeats this color cocktail elsewhere, choosing one to three punchy hues to ground a room, then introducing a supporting cast of pastels and more muted tones in smaller doses. The home is a rainbow, yes, but not one lacking in balance and, where needed, restraint.
Off the main bedroom is her office, the first space she tackled after the family moved in five years ago. Originally it was to be painted a characteristically crisp, splashy blue. Hallas stopped herself with brush in hand, however, and instead took the opportunity to move outside her comfort zone, opting for a much more subdued gray—albeit framed by an apricot ceiling and lemony drapes. A marble and steel dining table by Poul Kjaerholm for Fritz Hansen (which remains in production since it first launched in 1962) serves as a sleek desk. “These pieces are normally associated with my parents’ generation,” she notes. “I really love classic Danish furniture, but I try to show it in a new light”—a feat she achieves by bringing in items such as an amorphous chair-like object by art duo Frederik Nystrup-Larsen and Oliver Sundqvist, as a knowing wink to not take things too seriously.
Linked by a sense of fearlessness and fun, each room in the home serves as an individual test case in color and styling. The main bedroom, painted lavender-gray with a wall of cobalt cabinets, provides the couple’s version of a calming respite, while the other bedrooms—one drenched in bubblegum pink, the other anchored by bolts of orange and lilac—sleep their 14-year-old daughter, Sienna, and 18-year-old son, Samuel, respectively.
Balancing Hallas’s vivacious decorative approach with the developing tastes of her children has been something of a comedy. “Our son is definitely going to live in a very white apartment when he moves,” she says with a hearty chuckle of the chromatic-loving gene skipping generations. “We redid his room last summer, and my thought was: Samuel will hate it no matter what we do because he’s a teenage boy, so we might as well go 110 percent.” At the foot of his IKEA bed is a graphic rug, across from a yellow upholstered Terje Ekstrøm for Variér chair. To the left hang two large-scale photographs by Hallas, and perched below is a white Ingo Maurer table lamp, quietly in conversation with a paper pendant light she picked up in Tokyo (a love for travel—and Japan in particular—is a recurring theme throughout the apartment).
Below: Vintage Murano Glass Pendant Lamp; Purple Frame Paint, File Under Pop; Lightsome Sconce by Svend Aage Holm-Sørensen, Warm Nordic; Demountable Chair, Fredrick Paulsen; Cabinets, Montana Furniture.
Above: Lampampe Paper Lamp, Ingo Maurer; Malm Bed, IKEA; Throw Blanket by Tony Matelli, Normann Copenhagen; Ekstrem Chair, Variér Furniture; Framed Photos, Céline Hallas; Irregular Col Rug, Oyyo.
I really love classic Danish furniture, but I try to show it
in a new light.”
Below, from top: Hampshire Desk, Rattan Chair, Pastel Shag Rug, Jenny Lind Daybed, Modern Dome Touch Table Light, Crate&kids; Duvet Cover and Mini Gingham Pillows, Heather Taylor Home; Model 63A Bench by Møller, Design Within Reach; Sierra Rug, Armadillo.
Above: Rattan Twin Daybed, Modern Floral Rug, Victorian Dollhouse, Nesting Play Table and Chairs Set, Rattan Rocking Horse, Butterfly Mobile by Baby Jives, Beaumont White Wall Rack, Crate&kids; Sunflower Gingham Duvet Cover, Heather Taylor Home.
“I love a hodgepodge of colors and shapes...it has something
to do with growing up in
New York.”
“
Above: Vintage Murano Glass Pendant Lamp; Purple Frame Paint, File Under Pop; Lightsome Sconce by Svend Aage Holm-Sørensen, Warm Nordic; Demountable Chair, Fredrick Paulsen; Cabinets, Montana Furniture.