Interior designer Alexander Baer weaves a thread through his new home in Guilford. And the thread is gold. Each room has just the right gold touch to add a subtle exclamation point to a classic design scheme. Rich in dark woods, elegant fabrics, antiques, contemporary art and gold highlights, the interior beautifully complements the gracious French-inspired town residence, which was designed by Laurence Hall Fowler in the 1920s.
"I really think if you went through my house you would find a little bit of gilding or gold leaf in every room, even the kitchen," says Mr. Baer. "I believe gilding punctuates rooms. And when pieces are highlighted with just a little bit of gilt, it really brings them out and gives them a bit of a sparkle. In a relatively dark room, gilt on chairs or tables gives relief to the woods and the fabrics."
The library, tucked behind the foyer, is an elegantly comfortable room, with a design plan keyed to deep colors and wood tones. It contains a Lawson traditional sofa covered in a rich paisley of gold and burgundy, floor-to-ceiling mahogany bookcases and 80-year-old draperies in gold and olive-gray silk. The walls are papered in a gold medallion print on an olive-green background.
Into this dramatic decor, Mr. Baer has introduced furniture that hints of former golden glory. Two 18th-century French fauteuil chairs, covered in a rep-weave stripe of rusty-beige, anchor a lacquered Chinese table. The delicate frames of the chairs were once gilded in heavy gold leaf, but now the wood has taken on a soft, whitish patina, worn away in some places to expose the red bole underneath.
On an opposite wall is a late 1800s demi-lune table, painted greenish-blue and decoratively gilded. The gold shows the effects of more than a century of service. But Mr. Baer makes no attempt to regild his antiques. Instead, he usually has the wood cleaned and occasionally the gold leaf touched up.
"Gilding probably gets prettier as it gets older," says the designer. "As it oxidizes, through waxing, with people touching it, it just creates a wonderful luster. I don't like newly gilded things that are real shiny and intense. I love the look of worn gold."
"Gilded objects are like jewelry," he continues. "When you buy gold jewelry or even silver for the table, it is very shiny and unscratched. Over the years, as it gets more and more scratches, it develops a wonderful patina. The same is true with gilding."
To find gilded antiques, Mr. Baer often shops private estate auctions. If he were going out locally to buy a gilded piece, he says he would start with Howard Street antique shops like Amos Judd and Son, Cross Keys Antiques or the French Connection. "E. J. Grants at Savage Mills has some marvelous things," he adds. "They buy with a wonderful eye and they not only have old things, they have some wonderful new things that are made today from old woods."
Most of the gilded objects in Mr. Baer's home are antiques; and the living room, which reflects what he calls a fabric color base of "bronzy-gold," displays much of his collection. A set of four early 19th century Italian side chairs with cane seats and backs arranged around an English tilt-top breakfast table are the central focal point of the room. The chairs were once heavily gilded, but now much of the gold has slipped away. Yet, when light hits their frames, a distinct golden luster warms the wood.
The burnished pieces with the most shine in the living room are two new neoclassical chairs styled with an Egyptian motif, an appropriate choice since Egyptian artisans embellished furniture and mummy cases with gold leaf thousands of years ago. Mr. Baer believes the more visible areas of the arms and legs, which resemble lion paws, are gilded with 24-karat gold while less prominently displayed spaces are covered in a less precious gold.
Although the original seats probably had a boxed cushion of some sort, Mr. Baer uses overstuffed pillows in an Italian contemporary maroon cotton, silk-screened with a gold design, and decorated with Scalamandre custom-made tassel sets. The most unusual gilded pieces are two Regency console tables that flank a large window. Each of the half-round marble-topped tables is supported by just one leg, designed as a massive lion head.
Sometimes, a piece has gilding in less obvious places. Sitting in front of the black marble fireplace is a table made from coromandel, a rare Indian wood. Although the wood resembles rosewood, the table didn't quite satisfy Mr. Baer. "I decided it needed a little bit of definition," says the designer, "so that the wood would become important. What I did was to have a bank of gold leaf added." The thin strip of gilding goes completely around the circumference of the table, adding depth and distinction to the hardwood.
Mixing together the finest of classic furniture, plus throwing in some contemporary art for surprise, is a theme that runs through Alexander Baer's new home. He says he does not like to create set pieces in which all of the furniture comes from a particular period. He is very good at practicing what he preaches. For example, in the foyer of his home, a Regency marble-topped pier table, a hint of gilding still gracing the carved lines of the frame with its rambling rose garlands, sits directly across from a huge contemporary lithograph by Gene Davis, framed very simply in gold leaf.
The dining room displays Mr. Baer's sure and sophisticated grasp of mixing colors, styles and periods. Between two French doors draped in a rosy-pink, trimmed and tasseled fabric, against a lime green wall, sits an Italian console table from the late 17th or early 18th century. This elaborately carved and gilded rococo piece has a shell motif and graceful, almost fanciful, legs that glow with a rich gold patina. A Frank Stella architectural study, bordered in a simple wood frame embellished with gold leaf, hangs above the table.
A Chippendale mirror from the mid-1700s hangs above a massive Louis XVI-styled credenza on the opposite wall. Completely covered with gold leaf and highly burnished, the mirror is probably the shiniest piece in the house. Elaborate and intricate, the frame consists of a pair of carved griffins, a pagoda and floral garlands. Both the Italian console table and the Chippendale mirror blend in nicely with the two-pedestal Sheraton table, surrounded by eight contemporary black lacquer, French-inspired side chairs.
Since buying the house last September, Mr. Baer has completely remodeled the kitchen and master bath. He has given both a touch of gold. In the kitchen, a hand-colored antique print hangs in a gold-leaf frame. In the bathroom, gold is the accent for the contemporary design.
Designed by Mr. Baer, the room is a wide corridor of black granite flooring, white walls, mirrored walls, comportments and closets, all tucked under a white vaulted ceiling. The look is clean and crisp. It is set off by gilded cornices and gilded fretwork on the walls that enclose the vanity and a mirrored niche. A small Victorian chair, painted black with a mother-of-pearl floral inlay accented by decorative gilding, sits nearby.
Sam Robinson, of Valley Craftsmen, who did the gilding, says the gold in the bath is actually metal leaf, which is applied in a process similar to gold leafing. However, the material gives the look of burnished gold but does not contain gold. In the adjoining bedroom, the double-glazed, deep-taupe walls are highlighted by metal-leaf gilding on the beadwork in the crown molding.
Although the bed, draped in cream and taupe damask bed hangings, is a show-stopper in the master bedroom, the Chippendale mirror, over the antique American chest, also commands attention. Unlike the completely gilded mirror in the dining room, this piece has a mahogany frame highlighted with gilded features. A gold griffin stretches his wings on the pediment and a rococo golden garland of leaves and flowers runs down each side. Burnished to a high sheen, the mirror is a testament to the skill of the craftsmen who carved and gilded it almost two centuries ago.
Mr. Baer is always looking for ways to add just a touch of gold to his rooms. A recent find, currently hidden away in a closet, is an antique box that he believes was used in a church, probably for collections of some sort. It is intricately carved and gilded. "I am going to turn this upside down, fill it with moss and use it for a planter," says Mr. Baer.
Alexander Baer's house is a showcase for using architectural and decorative gilding in interior design. For people who think gold is too fussy or too glitzy, it shows how a lot of style can be achieved with just a dusting. Mr. Baer, himself, seems pretty much sold on the value of gilding and gold leaf in American homes. "I think most rooms need a little zip, and I think gold does just that," he says.