The world’s famed designers create exquisite interiors for their clients, but what about the spaces they fashion for themselves? For these sought-after professionals, their own homes are places to express their personal tastes and experiment with new trends, showcase bold patterns, and display treasured art and antiques. We’ve gathered a selection of the elegant and inspiring living rooms of decorators and architects whose residences have appeared in the pages of AD, each filled with smart and stylish ideas for your own design project. From over-the-top grandeur to sleek modernism, see the stunning spaces where the world’s top talents entertain and relax.

Photo: Pieter Estersohn

Architect Lee Ledbetter renovated a landmark 1963 house in New Orleans to share with his partner, Douglas Meffert. Surrounding the custom-made cocktail table in the living room are a pair of Harvey Probber brass armchairs upholstered in a KnollTextiles fabric, two Louis XVI–style fauteuils in a Holly Hunt leather, a vintage T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings chair in a Zoffany stripe, and a vintage Florence Knoll sofa in a KnollTextiles Ultrasuede. A large mixed-media artwork by Robert Helmer hangs on the brick wall, which is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White.

Photo: François Dischinger

Designer Sara Story restored a Victorian home in Snedens Landing, New York. An artwork by Sterling Ruby and a zebrahide add pizzazz to the living room.

Photo: Douglas Friedman

What appears to be a gilt-framed mirror in Timothy Corrigan’s Paris apartment is actually a window aligned with two mirrors, one in the living room and one in the dining room beyond. Corrigan highlighted the ingenious hall-of-mirrors illusion by installing matching Napoléon III chandeliers in the two rooms. The armchairs and the curtain and sofa fabrics are all from Schumacher’s Timothy Corrigan Collection; the stools are vintage Jansen, and the carpet is a Corrigan design for Patterson Flynn Martin.


Photo: Miguel Flores-Vianna

Architect Jorge Elias filled his 17,000-square-foot home in the Jardim Europa neighborhood of São Paulo with extraordinary antiques and images. An 18th-century Russian chandelier, vintage velvet sofas, Louis XV fauteuils, a gold-leafed Hand chair by Pedro Friedeberg, and artworks by Serge Poliakoff and Fernand Léger are among the eclectic mix in the living room.

Photo: Douglas Friedman

In Pedro Espírito Santo’s frescoed Lisbon, Portugal, salon, an 1860s Orientalist painting is flanked by foil bouquets. The gilt-wood fauteuil is antique, the cocktail table is Asian, and the needlepoint carpet was custom made.

Photo: Oberto Gili

Surrounding a living room doorway in the Hamptons home of David Kleinberg are two Richard Serra prints, one displayed over a mahogany cabinet by Paul László; the photograph in the hall is by Alejandra Laviada. Twin French Art Deco zebrawood side tables are joined by Art Deco armchairs covered in a Rogers & Goffigon fabric; the upholstery throughout the house was done by Anthony Lawrence-Belfair, the throw is from Homenature, and the raffia rug is by La Manufacture Cogolin.

Photo: Pieter Estersohn