Southern Color

I had started to write a Mardi Gras post about New Orleans style, but winter storms and snowy weather derailed my plans. It is now Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent. As I look out the window at a blanket of white, I think many of us could use a dash of color - Southern-style. Architectural Digest listed New Orleans decorator Melissa Miles Rufty (MMR Interiors) as "one to watch" in 2013. " 'Southerners are all about history and a sense of place, of where you come from,' the South Carolina native [told AD], adding that her goal is to create interiors whose components 'don’t look like they all arrived the same day.' Hospitality and comfort are part of the package." Take a look . . . 

Melissa Miles Rufty's lively New Orleans living room. 

Photo courtesy of MMR Interiors via Architectural Digest.

"Melissa Miles Rufty" text by Mitchell Owens.

Architectural Digest (January 2013).

A detail of a cottage interior Melissa Miles Rufty designed in Louisiana. 

Photo courtesy of MMR Interiors via Architectural Digest.

"Melissa Miles Rufty" text by Mitchell Owens.

Architectural Digest (January 2013).

"The master bedroom's feminine mystique starts with something old: an antique headboard Rufty found at Bush Antiques just after graduating from Tulane. 'It's so New Orleans, so sexy,' she says. 'I imagine it's from some French hotel.' Bed linens reminiscent of Old Paris porcelains are by Leontine Linens [Applique Grace Border with Embroidered Addison Monogram]."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

"In a girl's bedroom, a pink scribble painting by Amanda Talley."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"Rufty made the dining room's dramatically overscale mirror with an antique overdoor and mirrored squares of old glass. The centerpiece on her grandmother's 18th-century mahogany table is a tulipière from Dunn and Sonnier. Chairs from Karla Katz Antiques."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

Here is a closer view of the tulipiere (which was pictured in a Southern Living article):

"Tuck stems of roses, succulents, pepper berry, and eucalyptus into the holes of an 18th-century glazed ceramic French brazier for a dramatic cascading effect."
Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.
Photography by Laurey W. Glenn.
"Big Easy Style Thanksgiving Table"
Southern Living.

" 'Decorating should exude a sense of place,' says designer Melissa Rufty. She commissioned painter Rose Casterline to depict the local New Orleans bar scene for her dining room. The damask wallpaper — Schumacher's Brighton —'adds to the sexy atmosphere.' Satchmo, a Shih Tzu, guards a wine closet holding a collection of antique Cognac Rufty inherited from her father."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"An awkward space underneath the foyer's stairway became a surprisingly cozy nook once Rufty added a velvet banquette and a vintage faux-bamboo coffee table."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

"The family room may look adult and formal, but child-friendly tricks are hidden throughout. The sofa and club chairs are covered in Inside the Lines, a Perennials outdoor fabric that looks like wide-wale corduroy and feels like velvet. Clarence House's Velours Tigre Soie on the ottoman gains patina whenever Rufty's daughters plop down on it in wet swimsuits. A patterned rug hides spills. The eccentric oak leaf-shaped chair was an eBay score; Rufty re-covered it in Rogers and Goffigon's Somerset, with embroidery by Villa Savoia."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"Rufty inherited her antique dessert service from her mother."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"The generous porch is classic New Orleans."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"In the breakfast room, David Knox's photos of tobacco fields and farmhouses are a biographical touch — Rufty and her husband are from the Carolinas."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).


"A sun-bleached tortoiseshell from Dunn and Sonnier melts into walls lacquered Benjamin Moore's Sepia Tan."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

"To wake up the living room, Rufty covered her grandmother's Adam armchairs in Dedar's ikat. Lithographs were hung below a pair of sconces, shaking up notions of how high art should be: 'Europeans stack art high and low. To me, low is endearing.' "

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

A gilt daybed with Nobilis's Velours Kimono pillows.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

" 'I love wallpaper,' Rufty says, 'and this one has endured. It's Asha by Osborne and Little, and it was the backdrop for a sweet pink nursery until the room was reinvented as a kicky preteen's room. Fun wallpaper is also a great deterrent to the dreaded poster collection!' To give twin beds height and pizzazz, Rufty made bed curtains and bed skirts in a favorite fabric, Osborne and Little's Showboat. The shade is AGA Reverse by China Seas. Marine desk chair by H Studio; Parsons desk from West Elm."

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photography by Francesco Lagnese.
"A Romantic Victorian Home in New Orleans"
House Beautiful (October 2010).

Applique Maxwell Monogram - Leontine Linens.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via Leontine Linens website.

“If you begin with your client as inspiration, your design will always be open-minded and varied,” Melissa says [here]. "Her work is relaxed and chic but never trendy. She takes great care in layering rooms with interesting color combinations, comfortable furniture, and hand-picked accessories. Most important, she maintains, 'My job is not done unless the client’s personality greets you at the door.' ”

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Interior design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via MMR website.

Penelope monogram by Leontine Linens.

Design by Melissa Miles Rufty, MMR Interiors.

Photo via Pinterest.