above: Hirsch worked with Shoreline Painting to drench the room in this military green from Fine Paints of Europe
Why should powder rooms have all the fun? Dining rooms can be jewel boxes, too, just on a larger scale. We asked Amy Aidinis Hirsch—who turned out this Greenwich glow up with Gracie wallpaper and glossy paint—about the return of formal gathering spaces and bringing the drama to the dinner table.
INTERVIEW WITH AMY AIDINIS HIRSCH, AMY AIDINIS HIRSCH INTERIOR DESIGN // PHOTOGRAPHER AMY VISCHIO
GM: Tell us what the client wanted.
Amy Aidinis Hirsch: They love to entertain, and they absolutely wanted something that was very formal. They wanted it to be extremely elevated, with this very, very feminine beauty and Old- World aesthetic.
Having this damask pattern on the floor with the Gracie metallic wallpaper on top was just total elegance. And they brought us the Baccarat chandelier.
GM: What did the space look like before?
AAH: It was a white box. It had the woodwork, and it had the coffer, but every single thing within it was completely white.
I think the key to the whole thing is that now there’s so much going on in here, but it all works. The military green is killer with the metallic silver. Being able to do the cornice on the window treatment was totally old school. I don’t want to say ’90s vibe, but it brought back Old-World design, right? Like that Mario Buatta-esque feeling.It was invigorating to go back into history and pull out something that hasn’t been done in a while. When we did this, everybody was going for things that were much more transitional and gray and modern; less is more. This was definitely opulence.
GM: I can tell this was a fun project for you.
AAH: It’s more fun, right? When you see all the things that are on the sideboard, I went and hunted for those. All of that—the marbled shades and the lamps—came out of the Antique and Artisan Center. I love the ginger jars with the dragons on them. Everything has an age to it, and it wasn’t just collected off of Pinterest.
GM: Did you decide on the color first or the paper?
AAH: It was the paper.
Their whole house is kind of silvers and grays and blues, and this room didn’t get a lot of light. I wanted to enhance the fact that dining rooms should be moodier. They’re under candlelight a lot, so I went for the military green, which is a contrast to what’s happening in the paper itself. The paper has a little blue, pinks and the silver. And we customized it, adding a little bit of green into the actual flowers and leaves that were there. We followed with the fabrics—the velvet, and more antique velvet on the Georgian-esque chairs. And then we added the rug. The rug played one of the bigger roles because it has a pattern that needed to play well with the wallpaper. It was about finding something Old World with a damask circular pattern, but not so old that it felt outdated.
GM: I love the combination of the paneling with the paper. It’s impactful.
AAH: That glossy paneling going around the room is a commitment. The room doesn’t get much light, but the high gloss allows the light it does get to bounce back. It creates highs and lows, instead of a flat paint, which can be so dead. The silver leaf also plays a role. It dances around the room. And the beauty of this room is you can always add more silver leaf or details later. We left room to grow because it was a big commitment for them, and they were game for it. I love when clients can see and appreciate that. She’s very artistic herself— into entertaining and cooking— so she was exploratory in her approach.
GM: Do you think people are swinging back towards formal dining rooms?
AAH: Yes. I have a client in Arkansas, and they want a jewel box. They’re moving away from transitional and clean; they want ornate, stylistic spaces. I think people still want clean lines, but not so stark and sterile. Rooms like these counterbalance simpler designs.