Interior designer Carleton Varney aims to keep splashing color in a world of beige
MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — Avoiding life in a bowl of oatmeal has been one of the guiding principles for one of the brightest lights of the interior-design world, Carleton Varney.
A man who has never met a color he couldn’t coordinate or a person he couldn’t charm, Varney finds nothing appealing about the beige-ing of America.
“You go into these hotel rooms and everything is so bland. Beige carpets, off-white walls — it’s like living in a bowl of oatmeal,” he complained recently during “Carleton Varney & Friends Weekend” at the Grand Hotel here.
His career began very differently from where it is now. A former teacher at the New Rochelle Academy in New York with ambitions to become an ambassador, he found himself working for Dorothy Draper, the grand dame of dramatic decorating, in the early 1960s.
She believed decorators were not made, they were born, and he blossomed under her tutelage, eventually becoming the owner and president of Dorothy Draper & Co. Inc.
Varney has decorated numerous landmark properties, including the Grand Hotel, The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., as well as countless private residences. The Draper/Varney fan base has continued to expand with his HSN television show “Live Vividly” and Dorothy Draper & Co. Furniture, a line made by Kindel Furniture.
Varney has written nearly 30 books on decorating; the latest, “Mr. Color,” is a personal tour of his projects from the boldest patterns to the finest details.
Devotees signed up to rub elbows with the designer and some of his celebrity pals during the two-day event, which began with a book-signing and cocktail reception. Actress Barbara Eden of “I Dream of Jeannie” TV fame (with her husband, Jon Eicholtz), Top 40 radio host Rick Dees and his wife, Julie, and the widow of actor Errol Flynn were among them.
“I’m a farmer now,” said Patrice Wymore Flynn of her life in Jamaica. Actually, she’s more of a rancher, raising cattle for beef on the Errol Flynn estate.
While the curious gathered to hear more, Eden signed copies of her best-selling tome “Jeannie Out of the Bottle,” while Varney autographed copies of his book and his first CD, “Music With Style,” until they sold out. The owners of Grand Hotel, Dan and Amelia Musser, were among those mingling. Not only is their hotel featured in the book, but so is their lakeside cottage.
As designer-in-residence for Grand Hotel since 1976, Varney took color and motif elements of Mackinac Island and incorporated them into the hotel’s design scheme.
Taking their cue from the color scheme of Grand Hotel, Lynette and Richard Merillat expressed how delighted they were with Varney’s palette, not only in the interior of their Lake Michigan retreat, but also the exterior.
Their home takes up major real estate in “Mr. Color” for good reason. The footprint is 17,500 square feet with a boathouse measuring 10,300 square feet. White Pines, as it is called, is boldly painted a forest green and has red trim and a bright red roof.
“It looks like a Christmas card” when it snows, Varney told guests during a luncheon.
“There are no limits to the imagination,” he said. “I dream my rooms. I always say creating a beautiful hotel or a home is like writing a symphony, because throughout the whole process you have to keep repeating the melody.”
“I love green. It is my favorite color,” said Varney, whose lime-green trousers and red socks punctuated his pronouncement. When asked why he always wears red socks, he said, “It’s to honor my friend and actor, Van Johnson, who always wore them.
“I think in terms of walking through a beautiful garden that makes people so happy,” he said of his use of color in decorating and dressing.
Mr. Color, the book and the man, live up to the label.