Christmas Memories

Last week when I posted on cozy rooms, a few readers commented on the red living room of the late textile designer Alan Campbell. The image was from a 12/01 House Beautiful article on celebrating Christmas with Alan Campbell and the Netto family (which includes designer David Netto). It's actually a bittersweet article as the photographs were taken at Christmas 2000, and a few months later both Alan Campbell and David Netto's mother died.

Most of the images are of Campbell's Connecticut home decorated in its Christmas finery (and a few are of the Netto's Manhattan home). What I find interesting is that I always associated Campbell with the bright colors and funky patterns of his fabric designs, but his home was actually very elegant and refined. And do you recognize the exterior of his home? The home is now owned by Bunny Williams and John Rosselli and is used as a guest house (and featured in its own chapter in An Affair with a House). Bunny was close friends with Alan Campbell and encouraged him to buy the house many years ago. When he died, Bunny wrote that she could not imagine anyone else living there so she bought it to "keep it in the family", so to speak.


A view of Campbell's Christmas tree with an inset of the Netto family. I want that chair!


Campbell's red living room is one of my all-time favorite red rooms. The image to the right is the living room of the Netto's Upper East Side home. Nice to see the contrast between country and city chic.


I LOVE this photograph of Campbell's dining room. The wallpaper is Zuber, which looks smashing with that darkish green trim. And to keep things from looking too fancy, Campbell chose some simple Hitchcock chairs for the dining table.


A shimmery vignette in the Netto's Manhattan dining room.


Cheery stripes in the Netto dining room.


A view of the former Campbell dining room after a redo by Bunny Williams. Fortunately the Zuber wallpaper is still gracing the walls.

Image at top: The exterior of Campbell's classic home.