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Re-design, re-creation and re-invention are not easy – but that is the challenge for designer Susanna Kost who works with many repeat clients. Often projects require rethinking the client’s original collections and furnishings, with an eye towards simplfying.

Kost believes “Rooms should leave space for the occupant’s personality…for candles, flowers and music and party guests…” Rooms should celebrate the client’s personality, which can be complicated.

One of her favorite quotes is from Jean Cocteau “Style is a simple way of saying complicated things”. Kost uses art, collections and accessories in rotating combinations to keep a room fresh. Her feeling is that rooms that do not evolve, become stale.

So how is style expressed without becoming cluttered or overdone? According to Kost, restraint and careful editing aka controlled exuberance. Displaying collections allows each piece to retain its importance and yet the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Current passions? “My current passion is metallic anything – I love reflection”. The wall panels in this library are finished with a metallic automotive paint (the backdrop for a rotating art collection), under a mirrored ceiling and furnished with metallic pink leather chairs. “The shimmer in the night with candles is spectacular”.

How to describe her work? Kost loves to combine divergent styles in what may be described as uber-eclectic. She has completed projects that she labels “The Jetsons meets LA Confidential” and “Mid-Century meets Cribs”. Currently she is working on her own home which looks to be moving in the direction of “Zen-Glam” – think hemp, metalic gold, Asian antiques.

See more from Susanna Kost.