Hawaii-born interior decorator and entrepreneur Alice Spalding Bowen (1890–1991) created innovative home decor for her clients, of course, but she also applied her unique touch to her own home in Honolulu, as seen here in 1965.
Expressing her tenets that simplicity, through restraint, was the essence of beauty — and that spiritual, as well as physical needs, require the decorator’s consideration — this silvery gray and leaf-green room was Ms Bowen’s serene retreat after a busy workday.
In this calming and serene green retreat, the furniture was traditional rather than modern — overstuffed armchairs, graceful antique tables of dark wood, a crystal chandelier.
Dwarf trees of fresh green and white flowers were as comforting to her in this room as the silver-embroidered chairs.
Between the two windows (or French doors) was placed a large double-with screen painted with an Asian landscape theme, using the darker shades of green in the room. Below, a simple marble bench held a plant pot of cane reed grass.
Sheerest sudaris, or blinds, veiled the tall windows, creating misty transparencies of her white and green garden. Silver-leaf moldings and crystal accessories underlined the cool quiet.
