Michael Simon Interiors, Inc.

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Michael Simon Interiors, Inc.

NYC-based interior designer, furniture creator, collector and former composer.

08/19/2026

Before-and-after photographs from my first Kips Bay Designer Show House room in 1998.
I was given a windowless walk-in closet in the basement with 7-foot ceilings and a concrete floor. With just five weeks to transform the space, I created a wine cellar and gentleman’s retreat for an imaginary client.

To make the room appear larger, I designed a marble floor utilizing four different types of stone in a small plaid pattern. A boiserie with diminutive molding profiles was developed in keeping with the scale of the room, and refrigeration for wine, a faux window for light, and carefully chosen antiques completed the composition.

A handsome mahogany bergère, commissioned for the Duc de Penthièvre, occupied pride of place next to a Directoire mantel. A Louis XVI canapé, upholstered and draped in tooled glove leather, was placed in a mirrored alcove beneath a barometer, alongside a semainier with volvelle components—an ornamental calendar of sorts with gilt-metal indicators for each day of the week.

08/17/2026

A daytime view of a desert residence in Paradise Valley, Arizona, overlooking vast mountain ranges in the distance.

The free-standing chimney breast, clad in églomisé, incorporates a custom-designed fireplace mantel in patinated bronze and chiseled limestone. There are two fires in the room: one within the firebox and the other upon the chimney breast itself, where the églomisé panels catch and reflect the light with a fiery magic of their own.

08/12/2026

A Napoleon III–style mirror, originally purchased in white paint, was subsequently water-gilded to reflect a crib in a charming nursery for a special little girl.

The mirror was selected for its simplicity but refinement, in keeping with the textiles and carpet—also simple but suitable for the young resident.

08/10/2026

Powder Rooms are perfect spaces for flights of fantasy or, as I like to call them, fughettas.

This Powder Room has a sense of drama owing to the Pompeian red plaster walls, burnished with wax to a high sheen. The custom-fabricated commode in Macassar ebony brings refinement and polish to the space. Michael Simon-designed sconces and a pendant add sparkle to the room.

08/07/2026

Uncrating a beautiful sculpture circa 1936 by German artist Heinz Henghes for one of our projects. This beauty weight 700 pounds and will be cantilevered off a granite plinth.

08/05/2026

I’m highly invested in details and enjoy developing backgrounds that establish scale and a specific sense of place.

While this Family Room boasted a double-height ceiling, the mantel and overmantel were situated beneath a bridge connecting two rooms on the floor above. The limestone used for the mantel and trumeau helped introduce verticality, while the dado and textile boiserie above the wainscot created a feeling of intimacy within an otherwise spacious and soaring room.

07/31/2026

I’ve often been asked how city or mountain views influence the design of our clients’ residences. For this project, perched atop a mountain in Paradise Valley, Arizona, the landscape informed nearly every decision.

The furniture plan was arranged to take full advantage of the views. The palette was established by the fading landscape surrounding the property at the time I first encountered it. What had once been green had softened to mushroom; brilliant reds had mellowed to shades of shrimp, and so on.

I often look to the exterior to help shape the interior, allowing the architecture, furnishings, and palette to feel rooted in their surroundings.

07/29/2026

I recently came across some very old photographs—pre-digital!—of a home theatre I designed for an opera singer and her husband, IBM’s Chief Scientist.

The theatre, with tiered seating for 75 guests, was conceived as a venue for musical performances by remarkable talent and lectures by some of the most important scientists in the country at the time. Executed in a Pompeian taste, the design was inspired in part by the residence’s setting in California wine country.

Not only was it a joy to design this theatre, but it was an even greater pleasure to attend many of the concerts and events held there over the years.

07/27/2026

I am very sensitive to the lived experience within the residences we design. For this mountaintop dining room, overlooking a majestic desert valley, I was concerned that guests not facing the view might not enjoy the experience as much as those who did.

To address this, we photographed the landscape from the eye level of diners facing the view, flopped the image, and reinterpreted the scenic viewshed through a modernist lens. Every element within the églomisé panels was derived from and informed by the textures and textiles used throughout the residence.

The result is an artwork that enriches the experience for those facing what would otherwise have been a wall. Miriam Ellner () executed the remarkable églomisé panels, which remain among her finest achievements.

07/24/2026

A snapshot of a paneled and mirrored powder room, reflecting a P.E. Guerin (.e.guerin) basin with a gold ring and a gilded bronze basin set, used for a commode in place of a standard vanity.

Every detail coalesces to create a space that pampers guests in quiet luxury.

Address

180 W. 58th Street
New York, NY
10019

Telephone

+12123077670

Website

http://www.michaelsimoninc.com/

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