When devising design schemes for new interior design clients, I check out the furniture they already own. If possible, I like to find ways to make their pieces more fabulous.

A client living in Greenwich Village owned this cute little rocking chair. We reupholstered it in an epingle fabric by Schumacher. This piece adds so much to the space: it’s a conversation starter and a great perch for putting on shoes. It also adds to the space a bit of pattern and whimsy.

My client owned two of these Louis XVI chairs so I sourced two more, nearly identical, to make a set of four. Two sit at her dining nook and the other two are elsewhere in the apartment–by a window seat and opposite a secretary’s desk. We chose different color leather for each pair. They come together for dinner parties.

Featured above is one of those Louis XVI chairs. Sometimes you just have to buy new: this secretary’s desk from Chelsea Textiles fit the space too perfectly to pass up.