November 2012

NOVEMBER 2012

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hroughout all my projects,” says Mark D. Sikes, “I work to make the new feel old, to add layers of patina and age.” The designer’s appreciation for classic, all-American good taste is on abundant display throughout the 1920s home in the Hollywood Hills that he shares with his partner, Michael Griffin. In the brief two-and-a-half years they’ve lived there, Sikes has managed to fashion the kind of cultivated interior that seems to have developed over generations. “It doesn’t feel like a ‘decorated’ house,” says Sikes. “It’s very organic and open. In fact, that’s the first change I made to the house after we bought it. I had all the doors rehung to open out.” can Republic have made a huge impression on my sense of style,” he says. Like Sikes’ Mediterranean-style home, de la Renta’s and Williams’ island residences boast an easygoing grace that appears utterly uncontemplated but is, in reality, created through the application of great talent and care. This type of aesthetic steeliness—the refusal to deviate from an assiduously developed style statement—is a recurring This indoor-outdoor lifestyle is theme of Sikes’ popular blog, indicative of Southern California, Chic People, Glamorous Places, but it also suggests the homes of Stylish Things, where he frequenttwo of Sikes’ role models, Oscar ly celebrates those designers de la Renta and Bunny Williams. and artists, such as Katharine “Their homes in the DominiHepburn and Carolina Herrera, 158 Lonny NOVEMBER 2012 who’ve stuck to their guns. When it comes to decorating for the holidays, Sikes and Griffin believe in “keeping with our own sensibility, our green and white theme.” “Fresh ficuses are delivered every three weeks; orchids arrive once a month. That’s how we live year-round,” says Sikes. “I don’t believe in changing my point of view just because of the calendar. We create festive holiday celebrations, but we do them our way, according to the taste of our house.” 2012 NOVEMBER Lonny 159