starting next week i’m going to be teaming up with housing works to have a fun thrift-store related contest on d*s. we’re going to be celebrating the way readers have used thrift-store goods to decorate their homes, and giving away VIP tickets to next week’s housing works design on a dime benefit. last year was the first year i visited design on a dime in person and i was blown away by the booths and the way people used thriftstore and found goods to create beautiful room vignettes. if you’re unfamiliar with design on a dime, here’s a quick rundown: a wide range of designers are asked to create rooms, from which people can buy items. 100% of the profits go to housingworks, which provides lifesaving services to homeless and low-income new yorkers living with HIV and AIDS. it’s great design for a great cause, and i’m really excited because this week and next i’ll be running short 10 questions interviews with some of the designers taking part in this year’s show.

up first today is steven sclaroff, who has worked in the fields of architecture, interior design and product development since 1988. in addition to designing beautiful interiors for places like kate and jack spade, steven runs a beautiful shop in tribeca specializing in antique and vintage furniture and home goods. i love the way steven integrates vintage, found, and fleamarket finds into his work, so i’m thrilled to have him here today to talk about his personal style, his plans for his design on a dime booth, when he knew he wanted to be a designer, and what some of his most fun projects over the years have been. thank you to steven for taking the time to answer these questions, and thank you to mark lund and roland bello for their photography. stay tuned for more interviews tomorrow and next week (and the contest on monday!)

CLICK HERE for the full interview and photos of steven’s work after the jump!

[image above: steven's tribeca store, shot by mark lund]

1. How would you describe your personal style?

I like my work to include my clients’ personality as much as possible (or as I can stand) and look like it designed itself, over time, during an indeterminable time. Essentially I guess I want my work to look personal, effortless and timeless. You are going to have to ask someone else how I am doing with this. I tend to like things that are special without being precious – and I like rooms to feel like if something gets moved, broken or lost even that no one will cry.

[images above: steven's designs for jack spade]

2. What are some of your favorite projects you’ve worked on during your career?

I have been really lucky with work. I have enjoyed so many great projects with amazing clients like Kate and Andy Spade, Waterworks, Thompson Group Hotels, Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan, among others over the roughly twenty years I have been at it.

I can’t pick a favorite project, though making 40 Russian Proun-inspired Bar Mitzfah centerpieces in a week from white card in architecture school is a standout. I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to do it.

3. Moving on to new projects, how did you become involved with Design on a Dime?

I was invited last year by Housing Works, and since I have always been a fan of course I said yes. This is my sophomore stall.

Housing Works’ important premise of serving a particular community that at times is literally left out in the cold is especially easy to support.

[image above: some of the pieces steven will be bringing into his booth at this year's design on a dime]

4. Is there a theme or goal with your display at this year’s Design on a Dime? If so, how did you decide on that theme?

I decided to make my room kind of a boudoir/lounge – but gender-neutral. It is furnished from my store with a big 1930s vanity, loungy, neutral seating and vintage lighting. The vanity is stocked with personal care items from Malin+Goetz – I feel like they sort of typify the concept of equal pampering since their offering is so unisex in feel – which I wanted this room to be. A vanity usually is a purely female prop, but why wouldn’t everyone want to use one if they had the space? All of the furniture floats on an ivory wool carpet from Beauvais. The walls are pale gray and hung with photography donated by Yelena Yemchuk (saucy nudes), Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton (bikinied babes), Toby McFarland Pond (glass of scotch) and Tom Schierlitz (R2D2). All of the photographers are represented by Brydges-Mackinney (Shawn Brydges did the art-wrangling), and the framing is donated by City Frame. One of the most important fittings of the boudoir – the mirror – is from Remains Lighting.

My goal is to hopefully make a lot of money for Housing Works. I kind of wanted to incorporate one of those old-school fundraising thermometers painted on plywood into the design of my vignette.

5. What was the biggest challenge you had in decorating your display for DOD?

None!

6. What are your tips for readers looking to decorate their homes on a dime?

Don’t shop all from the bottom shelf. Scrimp for some things that will last forever. Be a minimalist and avoid bad compromises that will diminish your budget and wind up landfill.

Be sure you like whatever you buy for the long haul – really try to avoid anything trendy. Ask yourself – will this item shame me later like a bad 80s haircut?

7. What are some of your favorite affordable (or unexpected) design resources?

The streets of New York. I still can’t believe what hits the curb on big trash day. Freegan decorating – nothing cheaper than that.

8. Can you tell us when you realized that you wanted to be a designer?

When I started cutting oriental rug photographs out of Antiques Magazine to appoint my sisters’ dollhouses.

9. Has your style changed over the years? If so, how and why do you think it’s changed? If not, how to you keep things fresh at home while maintaining the same style?

I feel like I probably get more conventional in terms of comfort as time goes by. I have had a lot of chairs I bought without sitting in them – that time has sort of passed. I mostly select things based upon utility now – I mean they still have to be cute but I have no problem shedding extraneous attractive items if they are crowding me or just not serving their purpose well. When something new comes in, usually it is the death knell for something else. All my furniture should be nervous when a truck pulls up here.

10. Are there any designers, trends, or ideas you’re hoping/excited to see at this year’s DOD?

I hope that people will minimize the use of materials in their vignettes that can’t be sold/wind up in a dumpster. It seems a shame.

[images from steven's store in tribeca, shot by mark lund]

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