Designer of the Month: Yshmael Zapatero

The November Designer of the Month is Yshmael Zapatero, who is decorating two very different homes, one of which is a La Galleria house. By masterfully mixing contemporary, antique, and traditional styles with Asian accents Yshamel has created homes that are understated but dramatic, sophisticated yet inviting, as you can see in the pics below (and it was hard selecting the dozen best ones!). Here is part of an interview with Yshmael:

How do you create a room? Do you mostly have an idea of what you want it to look like, or do you mostly see things and develop an idea as you shop?

When doing a room, I go for what my mentor, Ray Hoffman, always tells me, the wow factor - I want to walk in to a room and go "Wow, I want that."

I never have an idea of what I want a room to look like, and it's funny the room can come from a rug, or an art piece or a color, but it's never the furnishing.

How would you describe your style?

I dont have a style, that would be restricting; I love Oriental decor, but I never do anything totally Oriental -- I find that mixing things makes it more interesting. That's why I liked La Galleria from the beginning: there was the Louis XV chair next to the Chinese screen.

I love color and texture, well made furniture with details, that is all I need, and prims I tend to forget those.