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The Bold &
The Beautiful
Designer’s Fort Lee home is filled with
priceless pieces of art
WRITTEN BY PAM WYNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY BIANCIELLA
P
erched in a Fort Lee high-rise above the banks of the Hudson
River sits the ultra-glam “digs” of Malcolm McKinstrie, interior
designer to the rich, the famous and the fashionable.
“I call my home a ‘museum salon’ with a star view,”
McKinstrie says of his floor-to-ceiling windowed open-floor space,
which is chock full of his amazing art collection. In 2006, he
removed walls and gutted the apartment down to the studs. “I wanted
that incredible view of water and skyline to be the star, so I kept trim and
moldings very simple,” McKinstrie says of his year-long renovation.
Starstruck. That’s how McKinstrie often feels in his sky-high home on
a warm spring evening when the balcony doors are open to the night, the
crystal chandeliers twinkle, and his jaw-dropping collection of old-world
antiquities and priceless paintings takes the spotlight. “Every piece I have
chosen has a unique story to tell,” McKinstrie says passionately of his lifelong love affair with collecting objects of beauty, “I never tire of their magic.”
Living Room
Using a neutral color
palette of gray, white and
silver, McKinstrie created
a simple but striking
backdrop for his extensive collections of paintings, many of which he
has discovered stateside
and abroad. A perfect fit
in color and scale, the
large painting over
the sofa is a 1960s
Rubington, “The
Burning of Paris,” which
McKinstrie discovered in
a New York gallery. The
living room furniture is a
blending of antique and
modern pieces that are
covered in soft gray heather cashmere and trimmed with brick-red leather piping.
“I always love a punch of color in a room, especially a spot of leopard on an accent
pillow,” he says. “It is key to mix a bit of modern with classic.” (Right) The
unobstructed view of the Manhattan skyline sold McKinstrie on the potential star
power of the once dark and dreary apartment. “Day or night, there is always
something of beauty to see,” the designer says of the outdoor terrace that takes
center stage in the warmer months.
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(201) GOLD COAST MAY 2016
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