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House Beautiful, October 2005
"New York Casual"
Markham Roberts attains superhero status after gutting and decorating a child-friendly Park Avenue apartment
Amanda Benchley always knew she had terrific friends. But she never knew that she also had at least one Superfriend, a seemingly mild-mannered type who had the ability to transform himself into a hero on command.
Markham Roberts was a longtime buddy of Benchley and her husband, Clayton. They knew he was a decorator, but they had never seen him in action, professionally speaking.
"When my husband and I saw him on the job, talking to the workmen, it was like - Markham's a whole other person!" says Benchley. "We knew he was fantastic on the non-professional side, but our respect for him just shot up enormously."
It seemed to Benchley that there was no recalcitrant contractor or co-op regulation Roberts could not leap in a single bound. It was a good thing, too. At the time, the Benchleys were renovating their Park Avenue apartment in New York and Amanda, a documentary filmmaker, was pregnant with her son, Teddy.
"I was pregnant and hysterical, and he never indulged me," says Benchley. "He was just very calm, cool, and collected."
Their collaboration almost never happened - both designer and client were wary of working with a friend. Needless to say, it worked out well. "It was a very nice experience and it didn't kill our relationship," says Roberts.
For starters, Roberts gutted the whole apartment. Raising and widening the door openings made it feel "more open and grander," he says. He ripped out the floors and installed dark-stained oak, which gave him a dramatic backdrop for the offhandedly modern look he wanted.
"They're super casual, so it's not too decorated," Roberts says. "It's very kid-friendly. They just weren't into a place that they had to worry about, that they couldn't enjoy or live in." As a fellow dog owner, he also knew it needed to be sturdy and not the least bit precious.
Part of the impetus for doing a good job was that Roberts and his partner, James Sansum, spend a lot of time at the Benchleys'. "As opposed to some of these apartments, they really use the living room," says Roberts. "It's where we all watch movies, eat dinner, order in food."
He installed a u-shaped, copper colored cotton velvet banquette for sophisticated lounging across from a blue suede chaise ¬ this is a living room where you can be horizontal and unashamed. "I wanted all the fabric to be really sort of luscious and luxurious," says Benchley.
Instead of trying to hide the television, Roberts simply mounted a flat-screen on the wall.
"I think it's a piece of art," he says. "I love it." A piece of more conventional art, a color photograph by the Benchley's friend Tapp Francke, hangs nearby.
On the apartment's original mantel is part of the Benchleys' coral and shell collection. Their fascination with the sea makes sense when you consider that Clay's father is Jaws author Peter Benchley. "Clay grew up traveling all over the world with his parents and diving, and they're big into marine life preservation - it's in their blood," says Roberts, who also collects coral.
The designer wanted to make a statement with that collection for the entrance gallery. He began with glorious brown lacquered walls, against which everything else, including an orange velvet sofa, pops. He built a clear Lucite console with a shiny white lacquered top and put some choice coral specimens inside.
Topped by shells and with a starburst mirror above it, it's an outdoor still life that happens to be indoors. The ocean theme is furthered by a seascape photograph by Karen Connell, which hangs across from the console table. (Even the Benchleys' Tiffany wedding silver has a shell motif.)
Since the apartment had no formal library, Roberts wanted to create a bookish dining room as a hybrid. He installed substantial bookcases around a Karl Springer table from the 1970s, giving the whole room a brainy appeal. As in the living room, a Noguchi ceiling lamp seemed the right finishing touch.
Amanda lobbied to use Philippe Starck's Louis Ghost chairs around the Springer table for some very good reasons: "They're cheap, they're really comfortable, and they seem to be able to go with everything," she says. And they make it easier to see the flokati rug Roberts installed under the table.
Roberts's powers of transformation also applied to pieces of furniture the Benchleys had owned for years. "We had to reuse a lot of the pieces I already had because we did not have a huge budget," says Benchley. "He saw potential in things I would never have seen."
Prime among these was a pair of Louis XVI-style chairs, a long ago flea market find for $100 in London, which Roberts painted white and upholstered in a brown and white geometric pattern for the entrance hall.
But it was the personal change she saw in her friend that lingers in Benchley's mind. "He is so commanding; he has such a presence," she says. "I'd never work with anyone else again."
"New York Casual"
Markham Roberts attains superhero status after gutting and decorating a child-friendly Park Avenue apartment
Amanda Benchley always knew she had terrific friends. But she never knew that she also had at least one Superfriend, a seemingly mild-mannered type who had the ability to transform himself into a hero on command.
Markham Roberts was a longtime buddy of Benchley and her husband, Clayton. They knew he was a decorator, but they had never seen him in action, professionally speaking.
"When my husband and I saw him on the job, talking to the workmen, it was like - Markham's a whole other person!" says Benchley. "We knew he was fantastic on the non-professional side, but our respect for him just shot up enormously."
It seemed to Benchley that there was no recalcitrant contractor or co-op regulation Roberts could not leap in a single bound. It was a good thing, too. At the time, the Benchleys were renovating their Park Avenue apartment in New York and Amanda, a documentary filmmaker, was pregnant with her son, Teddy.
"I was pregnant and hysterical, and he never indulged me," says Benchley. "He was just very calm, cool, and collected."
Their collaboration almost never happened - both designer and client were wary of working with a friend. Needless to say, it worked out well. "It was a very nice experience and it didn't kill our relationship," says Roberts.
For starters, Roberts gutted the whole apartment. Raising and widening the door openings made it feel "more open and grander," he says. He ripped out the floors and installed dark-stained oak, which gave him a dramatic backdrop for the offhandedly modern look he wanted.
"They're super casual, so it's not too decorated," Roberts says. "It's very kid-friendly. They just weren't into a place that they had to worry about, that they couldn't enjoy or live in." As a fellow dog owner, he also knew it needed to be sturdy and not the least bit precious.
Part of the impetus for doing a good job was that Roberts and his partner, James Sansum, spend a lot of time at the Benchleys'. "As opposed to some of these apartments, they really use the living room," says Roberts. "It's where we all watch movies, eat dinner, order in food."
He installed a u-shaped, copper colored cotton velvet banquette for sophisticated lounging across from a blue suede chaise ¬ this is a living room where you can be horizontal and unashamed. "I wanted all the fabric to be really sort of luscious and luxurious," says Benchley.
Instead of trying to hide the television, Roberts simply mounted a flat-screen on the wall.
"I think it's a piece of art," he says. "I love it." A piece of more conventional art, a color photograph by the Benchley's friend Tapp Francke, hangs nearby.
On the apartment's original mantel is part of the Benchleys' coral and shell collection. Their fascination with the sea makes sense when you consider that Clay's father is Jaws author Peter Benchley. "Clay grew up traveling all over the world with his parents and diving, and they're big into marine life preservation - it's in their blood," says Roberts, who also collects coral.
The designer wanted to make a statement with that collection for the entrance gallery. He began with glorious brown lacquered walls, against which everything else, including an orange velvet sofa, pops. He built a clear Lucite console with a shiny white lacquered top and put some choice coral specimens inside.
Topped by shells and with a starburst mirror above it, it's an outdoor still life that happens to be indoors. The ocean theme is furthered by a seascape photograph by Karen Connell, which hangs across from the console table. (Even the Benchleys' Tiffany wedding silver has a shell motif.)
Since the apartment had no formal library, Roberts wanted to create a bookish dining room as a hybrid. He installed substantial bookcases around a Karl Springer table from the 1970s, giving the whole room a brainy appeal. As in the living room, a Noguchi ceiling lamp seemed the right finishing touch.
Amanda lobbied to use Philippe Starck's Louis Ghost chairs around the Springer table for some very good reasons: "They're cheap, they're really comfortable, and they seem to be able to go with everything," she says. And they make it easier to see the flokati rug Roberts installed under the table.
Roberts's powers of transformation also applied to pieces of furniture the Benchleys had owned for years. "We had to reuse a lot of the pieces I already had because we did not have a huge budget," says Benchley. "He saw potential in things I would never have seen."
Prime among these was a pair of Louis XVI-style chairs, a long ago flea market find for $100 in London, which Roberts painted white and upholstered in a brown and white geometric pattern for the entrance hall.
But it was the personal change she saw in her friend that lingers in Benchley's mind. "He is so commanding; he has such a presence," she says. "I'd never work with anyone else again."