In This Milan Apartment, the Candy Colors Were Inspired by an Original Feature

Dsquared2’s head of design doesn’t do an all-white home.
Julie Vadnal Avatar

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As the head of design at Milan-based fashion brand Dsquared2, Federica Viero approaches interiors in the same way she does fashion: with lots of eye-popping shades. “I have always loved interesting color combinations,” says Viero “I could not live in a totally white home.” 

Dining room with pink walls and woman with dog
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

When she bought her two-bedroom, two-bath Milan apartment in 2017, she started dreaming up the decor like any smart creative—with a palette and mood boards. Thankfully the 100-year-old space helped provide inspiration, namely the original marble checkerboard floor tiles that held a hint of saffron, which she used as her jumping-off point. In other words, she designed her home from the ground up.

Living room hallway with two shades of paint
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

Kitchen table and silhouettes hanging on the wall
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

“I just had to find the right color combination for the walls, and all the rest followed,” she says. In the living room, Rhubarb by Paint and Paper Library mingles with a lighter version of the shade she created by adding a dash of white. In the kitchen, Sea Nor Sky licks the entire space.

Living room bookshelves with pink walls
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

But in the main bedroom and bathroom, she swapped paint for two different, but equally prismatic mediums: wallpaper and tile. A junglescape from Ananbô surrounds the room where she sleeps, and in a powder room, La Riggiola vintage tile creates a secret garden feel. 

Vintage bed with mural of a jungle
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

Bedroom with mural wallpaper
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

Besides the “very ’80s” kitchen and bathrooms, the former of which got a makeover thanks to Plain English cupboards and a faux taxidermy wall, Viero didn’t alter too much else about the space. “I tried to keep as much of the original as I could,” she says.

Blue kitchen with faux taxidermy wall
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

So when it came to furniture, Viero knew she couldn’t fill the space with completely new items. “I collect a lot of vintage pieces because they give me the sensation of something I know,” she explains, “something that has already been here before, protecting and embracing my soul.” In the living room, that meant ’50s-era bookshelves and vintage leather chairs she scored from Doe & Hope

Bathroom with floral tiles
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

In the adjoining dining room, she’s filled a cabinet with her impressive collection of earthenware Staffordshire dogs, which she started buying when she noticed them in books and interiors magazines, where they would sit on top of fireplaces in the English countryside. (Her real pup, a French bulldog named Hildegard, usually takes up residence at her side.)   

Sitting room with green walls
Maxime Galati Fourcade and Laura Fantacuzzi/Living Inside

Together, her vintage finds and rainbow-hued walls create a romantic and history-filled scene, but ultimately she wants guests to feel as at home as she does: “I hope when people come over, they feel warmth.”

Julie Vadnal Avatar

Julie Vadnal

Deputy Editor

Julie Vadnal is the deputy editor of Domino. She edits and writes stories about shopping for new and vintage furniture, covers new products (and the tastemakers who love them), and tours the homes of cool creatives. She lives in Brooklyn.