Holiday House 2013

Walls, doors and ceiling were sprayed by hand in pink, coral, blue and yellow, so the shell of the room is the loudest thing in it and everything else has to answer. A neon script reads Celebrate over a red damask wing banquette. The dedication is written straight onto the plaster in marker: love, life, family, friends. The curtains are magenta wool with a swagged valance over sheer white, the carpet is an overdyed pink, and the chandelier carries pink paper shades.

Against all of that, the furniture is old and quiet. An inlaid Italian commode takes a pair of gold zebra lamps and a framed portrait; a mirrored table holds pink glass, a Phaidon monograph and one lit candle; a carved giltwood mirror hangs where the mural is thinnest. The tree is flocked gold, hung with magenta glass, Santas and two pink nutcrackers on duty at its foot. The hall was given the same treatment and then hung, deliberately, with black and white photography in plain white frames.