Laura Kofoid, Founder of Laudi Vidni Handbags on her Home Style

What is your home style?
My style in everything is about beauty. Beautiful objects. Beautiful design. Beautiful clothes. Beautiful places. Why settle for okay or fine?  When my husband and I talk about how we feel about something, if one of us says, “It’s fine,” it’s dead.  I look for things that make my heart sing. That speaks to my soul.  That brings a smile to my face.  I really don’t care what others think.  I don’t design my home to sell it and I don’t dress to please others. Part of the challenge of dressing or creating my home is that I don’t like basics.  When we were designing our home, I would just pick gorgeous things, intense colors.  And then our designer Melanie Elston would say, “But you need a breath.  You have to break up all this color.”  But I hate beige, so it was very hard.  She found a bronze metallic for the game room (off of the orange family room and navy hallway) and that had to suffice as a neutral.  I think I was a Vegas showgirl in my past life. I love to live at the intersection of good taste and bad.  Melanie is the reason I am just this side of good.  I’m not a constant re-decorator or big shopper.  Our home was finished two years ago and I bought everything then. And I love it so much that it will probably always stay this way.  I always say that I’m going to die in this apartment and someone will come in to buy it and say, “How hideous. This apartment hasn’t been touched in 50 years. It’s so early 2000’s.”

Loves
I love every single light fixture in my home.  Most are antiques bought on ebay, at antique shops, or online.  Many are original to the apartment (1927).  They’re not necessarily precious, and certainly not expensive.  I actually bought a crystal ceiling fixture from ebay for my closet.  And my closet isn’t that fancy.  But seriously, why have a glass dome when you can have a crystal chandelier?  I love our rugs.  Antique Chinese in vibrant orange, another in rich navy.  Zebra in the office.  Three inch SHAG in the family room.  I love color.  I love drama.  I love items that have meaning—a hand carved wooden box picked up on vacation, travel photos enlarged and framed, children’s art.  I love fancy entertaining—china, linen, incredible serving pieces. My china is my wedding china (from 22 years ago) but it still looks so pretty, though, I’m saving for something really
extraordinary from Tabula Tua. I like order.  Everything in our home has a spot and our home is always neat (it drives my friends crazy).

Top Shops
Tabula Tua, ebay, Douglas Rosin, Judy Saslow Gallery, Golden Triangle, anywhere we travel. 

*Photos by Michael Lipman