Deftly Downsized

A pair of self-taught artists blend colorful walls and offbeat collections in a compact city home

Written by Kim Waller • Styled by Jen Everett
Photographed by Mark Lund • Produced By Carole Nicksin

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Trading 11 rural acres in Michigan for a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan involves a considerable leap in lifestyle. But, "after thinking about it for 20 years, the time was right," says Marcia Finks. So she and her husband, Bill, decamped for the grand old Ansonia, a legendary 1904 Beaux Arts building on Broadway, originally a hotel and once home to the likes of opera star Enrico Caruso and legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini. Now, instead of an ancient cherry tree and acres of gardens outside the window, the couple's view is of the Hudson River—"and we love it!" says Bill. "And I don't have to weed it," adds Marcia.

But how to cull beloved belongings from a 4,000-square-foot ­saltbox-style home and cram them into an 850-square-foot city apartment? And make it sing? As artists who create whimsical figures from found items, the couple are drawn to "things made by hand and marked by time." Treasures they've collected include colorful fabrics from several continents, art glass, carnival masks, Chinese screens, paintings, and an array of furniture. "We kept only what meant most to us," says Marcia. "The trick was putting together things from all over to make a new whole."

Color was key. Marcia took inspiration from her idols, England's early-20th-century Bloomsbury Group artists such as Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. "These painters used wonderful chalky hues and combined them in unconventional ways you wouldn't think would work, but do." So the living room walls became a rich, deep blue—"great with the white trim"—spiked with orange and cream pillows and upholstery, and the vivid aquamarine of Venetian- and American-made Blenko art glass. Painting their study-bedroom a lavender blue—luscious with wood tones as well as reds and purples—never even struck her as risky. "In big, high rooms, these are colors that make you feel cradled."

To honor the inherent formality of the century-old space, Marcia balanced such wild notes as an elephant-head desk and ox-horn chair with more traditional pieces. Happily, such favorites as a 19th-century English library table and a delicate 18th-century chinoiserie ladies desk felt right at home on the Ansonia's original herringbone oak floors. A wall dense with cherished contemporary and turn-of-the-century portraits recalls the stately parlors of 18th- and 19th-century homes. The overall result is at once warmly civilized and free-spirited, layered with the owners' unique passions. A carved devil and a grinning Mardi Gras mask stare down from a bedroom bookcase; an embroidered Suzani bedcover from Uzbekistan unrolls as a Roman shade. And it all works because the decorator-in-residence knows "what makes me happy." Apparently, that's how their friends feel, too. Says Marcia, "Funny, but neighbors with much bigger apartments prefer gathering in ours!"

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