It's hard to imagine how a 550-square-foot Brooklyn rental apartment with a small backyard garden could be a passage to India. But Alayne Patrick's place is exactly that. Pinks, reds and oranges abound; antique silks share space with exquisitely embroidered cottons. Patrick first visited India in 1989, and in Rajasthan, she had a revelation: "I saw this fine, beautiful work and thought, In America, nobody ever sees this. You only see the kitschy, Bollywood stuff.' So I decided to bring some things back." Three years later, those souvenirs went public with Layla, her Brooklyn boutique, and she now hops a flight three or four times annually to gather textiles, linens and fashion accoutrements. Even her clothing line, using wood-blocked fabrics she designs, is manufactured in India. But Patrick's treasures have also found a more private purpose—brightening and enlightening her home.
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How to (tastefully) Decorate with Souvenirs
This story originally appeared as Bombay in Brooklyn in Domino magazine.
Patrick sets up for one of her regular cookout-and-card-playing parties in the garden; she made cushions for the chairs and sofa and combined three saris into a canopy with some velvet ribbon.
BIRDCAGE (similar to shown) From $155 Pearl River (800) 878-2446 TABLECLOTH (similar to shown) John Robshaw hand-loomed cotton from $22 and DRESS (similar to shown) $225 Layla (718) 222-1933
kitchen and dining area
"Color makes you happier and opens you up. And anything with a little sparkle is good," Patrick says. But that doesn't mean she wants her apartment to feel like the chaotic streets of Delhi. Owning a store, she says, is like "having five children who never go to bed," making an end-of-day retreat essential. For Patrick, that means taming her love of exuberance by restricting color and pattern largely to accessories, and setting them against a spare, grounding backdrop of dark hardwood floors and white walls. Prior to becoming a shopkeeper, Patrick spent 20-plus years as a fashion stylist, working with the biggest photographers in the business, so she knows a thing or two about staging. "My home, like my store, is my edited version of India," she says. In the sun-splashed kitchen, hot pink is a strong but not overpowering thread, playing out in the seat cushions on the dining chairs, the embroidered tablecloth (one of the first things she bought on her Eastern sojourns) and the upholstered bench.
CHAIRS (similar to shown) "St. Germain" $119 each, ballarddesigns.com CHAIR CUSHIONS Silk from $65 each, Nest (415) 292-6199 TABLECLOTH (similar to shown) Antique textile $725, WHITE PILLOW (similar to shown) John Robshaw silk $110, GOLD PILLOW (similar to shown) Antique textile $75, all at Layla (718) 222-1933
Mixed-up piles of inexpensive Chinese towels and vintage English china (Patrick nods to other countries too!) bring just enough cheer to an all-white kitchen.
TOWELS $1.75 to $3.50 each, pearlriver.com
Covered in antique Indian fabric, a vintage bench is both seating area for guests and gallery; the painting is by New York artist Jasiu Krajewski, who uses seaweed-based pigments.
BENCH (similar to shown) "Floor Cushion Platform" $200 urbanoutfitters.com ARTWORK (above) Mixed media on kozo paper "Free Falling" $1,800 e-mail jasiukrajewski@hotmail.com
living room
The palette is more dynamic here than in the rest of the apartment, yet Patrick still achieves a stately calm: Hues are uniformly regal, and patterns share an intricacy of craftsmanship. Again, the bold splashes are mostly reserved for textiles and small pieces. In a lively take on colonial style, these vibrant Eastern touches accent vintage, decidedly Western furniture: Antique Pakistani dowry pillows decorate a cane-sided daybed, and a traditional men's shawl from the Kullu region is thrown over a Victorian chaise (apart from the Indian goods, almost everything Patrick owns hails from New York flea markets). Even the walls are subjected to her meticulous eye. She used eight shades of white—with yellow, pink and brown bases (avoiding blue-based whites)—to give the apartment subtle warmth. A simple, striped-cotton dhurrie she designed provides a crisp contrast to the sumptuous detailing.
DAYBED (similar to shown) Beadboard "Island" $2,390 Maine Cottage (888) 859-5522 PILLOWS (similar to shown, on daybed) $56 to $345 each, THROW (on daybed) Waziri shawl about $385, and POUFS Satin $385 and $485, all at Layla (718) 222-1933 CHAIR (similar to shown) $4,440 georgesmith.com for stores CHAIR FABRIC Corduroy $25/yard, Joe's Fabric & Trimmings (212) 674-7089 CHANDELIER (similar to shown) "Moulin" $799 brocadehome.com BLINDS 2" wood 35" x 60" $101 each, smithnoble.com RUG (similar to shown) Cotton flatweave $775 Madeline Weinrib Atelier (212) 473-3000 ext. 780
Like her home, Patrick's garden—filled with roses, butterfly bush and lavender—offers a color-rich refuge from New York grit.
LAYLA, 86 HOYT STREET, BROOKLYN, NY, (718) 222-1933; LAYLA-BKLYN.COM
