O
ne day last year, a long-time client left a cryptic
phone message for designer Kelley Proxmire, saying
“I’ve got something exciting for you.” She and her
husband had just purchased a pied-à-terre in the Watergate complex and immediately asked Proxmire to
decorate the interiors.
The stars were aligned on this project from the get-go. Since
Proxmire had designed the couple’s farmhouse near Middleburg,
Virginia, they trusted her eye. Even more fortunate was the fact
that just a few years earlier, the previous owners of the apartment
had completely gutted and renovated it with help from DC architect Outerbridge Horsey of Outerbridge Horsey Associates. His
refined, carefully planned design provided Proxmire with the perfect starting point. “It had already been very well done,” the designer says. “The architect oriented all of the public rooms along
the river, which really set the flow.”
Guests enter the fan-shaped apartment through a central corridor that leads to the living room, library, dining room, kitchen and
family room—all of which offer sweeping views of the Potomac
River and Washington Harbour. Meanwhile, the master suite and
a guest room overlook the Watergate’s inner courtyard—an equally famous, if less dramatic, vista.
Armed with an intuitive understanding of her clients’ aesthetic
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