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Chic neutrals are cool and all, but have you ever thought about what it would be like to live inside a watermelon? A banana? How about an ’80s roller rink? Susan Alexandra’s New York City store, which opened last week, is a pigmented oasis on the Lower East Side promising all that and more.
Lucky for us, the shop isn’t just the perfect downtown stop to browse the brand’s signature beaded purses, accessories, and homewares, which includes Janie Korn candles and Dominique Ostuni ceramics. It’s also brimming with innovative and vibrant design elements—hello, beaded banana door handle—that you’ll want to adopt for your own home, no matter your personal style.
Susan Alexandra’s founder, Susan Korn, is no stranger to interior design, and so she led the space’s transformation alongside architectural pros Lula Galeano of Studio Galeon and Levi Shaw-Faber of Wiggle Room. And while the store is truly the physical manifestation of Korn’s brand, many of the design choices can be applied right at home, as long as you’re interested in injecting marvelous color into your everyday.
Play With Colored-Glass Bricks
Who wouldn’t want to bring a disco home? Add a burst of color and minimize wall hangings by organizing multicolored translucent glass blocks into custom archways, room partitions, or corner tables.
Color-Block Your Ceiling
We’re calling this Accent Wall 2.0. Paint your ceiling (and the top quarter of your walls) for a color-blocked creation that will make any room feel more dynamic. Bonus: Paint accent shelves and cubby spaces to match.
Outline With Tile
Mosaics are basically the supersize version of a beaded Susan Alexandra bag, and they’re plentiful in the store. Multicolored tiles in all shapes and sizes are perfect for crafting custom images and patterns, aka embedding visuals directly into your walls.
Get Carried Away With Lighting
Korn’s shop is adorned with giant fruit sconces and intricate beaded chandeliers. While these are bespoke designs, antique and modern lighting finds can serve as bold interior choices that bring interesting colors and silhouettes to a space. We like this Matin wall sconce from Hay.
