from inside out - Suzanne Rheinstein

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from inside out
Conversations on Interior Design
Suzanne Rheinstein
The Everyday Art of Living Well
By Adele Cygelman | www.domain-la.com
Stepping into Suzanne Rheinstein’s world is a lesson in how to mix Southern
comfort with East Coast tradition and tailor it to L.A.’s own laidback lifestyle. As the
owner of Hollyhock, a home furnishings and accessories store in West Hollywood,
Rheinstein keeps quality craftsmanship alive through the artisans she represents
and the antique textiles she revives. As an interior designer, she brings calm and
elegance to her supremely comfortable, lived-in spaces.
“Every day is all there is”—a 1970s quote by Joan Didion—is a mantra that still
suzanne rheinstein
dictates how Rheinstein approaches life. “Those words seemed so true to me in
Hollyhock | West Hollywood
many ways, then and now,” she writes in her new book “At Home: A Style for
Today with Things from the Past” (Rizzoli, 2010). “On a material level, they remind
me to appreciate and take pleasure in all the things I choose for daily life—the allwhite, eco-friendly toothbrush and our simply shaped drinking glasses as much as
our antique creamware plates.”
Rheinstein, who grew up in New Orleans, was working for legendary broadcaster
Eric Sevareid in Washington, D.C. when she met Fred Rheinstein and moved,
kicking and screaming, to Los Angeles. Their home in Windsor Square is a classic
Georgian Revival built in 1915 that she furnished with a
mix of vintage objects and European antiques. In 1988 she
opened Hollyhock on Larchmont Blvd. filled with the same
genteel mix of antiques and home accessories. It hit a nerve,
and she has had a devoted following ever since.
Last year Hollyhock moved to a more visible location on La
Cienega Blvd. Even though much of her business is to the
trade, the store is open Saturdays, and that’s when couples
come in to browse, drawn in part to the newly formed
La Cienega Design Quarter—an association of shop and
gallery owners who have spent the past couple of years
promoting the area as a design destination.
“Hollyhock is very user-friendly,” Rheinstein says. “We
put things in a way that everyone can see and get—
Christopher Spitzmiller lamps, William Yeoward glass,
Roy Hamilton ceramics, Gayle Warwick linens, letterpress
stationery by the Printery, my Lee Jofa fabrics. We carry design and architecture
books to help people with the history of decorating or how to do it. We always
have architectural fragments, trays, beeswax candles, linen napkins, throws,
lacquered wastepaper baskets and plenty of mirrors and side tables. You just have
to be obsessed with the difference between handmade and machine made.”
Her interior design business Suzanne Rheinstein & Associates, tucked into a
bungalow behind the store, follows the same philosophy. “I believe in fewer
but better things and assembling them over time,” she says. “You can’t
live by trends—I still have the same living room furniture from 1989. All my
decorating is object-driven, whether it’s a hand-woven basket or a Napoleon
III stool or an old Italian water urn. My favorite rooms have a mix of furniture
styles, personal art, painted surfaces and pay attention to comfort, textures,
details and light.”
Whether she is hosting book signings at the store or throwing her own home
open for house and garden tours, Rheinstein, true to her roots, entertains
generously and effortlessly. She has, however, absorbed some lessons from
her adopted hometown. “My style is less colorful than when I first came to Los
Angeles—I appreciate nuanced colors more, especially in gardens,” she says.
“Our garden is about every shade of green, from deepest blackest green to
chartreuse and the gray-greens of the Mediterranean plants that look so good
in Southern California.”
Yet some Southern fundamentals still apply. “I’ve lived in the same house for
30 years, been married to the same man for 34 years and have driven the
same car for 10 years,” she notes. “Obviously I don’t like change.”
Hollyhock 927 North La Cienega Boulevard, 310.777.0100 | hollyhockinc.com
Images from At Home: A Style for Today with Things from the Past © Pieter Estersohn