HOUSE OF STYLE: Kyle White’s downtown loft features a floating staircase in front of a mother-of-pearl wall. (Photo by Elizabeth Lippman)
It also features zebra-hide rugs in his neutral-colored bedroom. (Photo by Elizabeth Lippman)
There is also a wall of closets that includes a shoe closet. (Photo by Elizabeth Lippman)
The day Kyle White, lead colorist for the famed Oscar Blandi Salon, closed on his NoHo duplex, he grabbed a bottle of champagne, went over to the apartment and sat there until he finally fell asleep on the bare floor. “I was 37 years old,” he says of his 2004 purchase, “and I couldn’t believe it was mine.”
Today, White — with a celebrity client list that includes Megan Hilty, Mariah Carey and Tatum O’Neal, to name just a few — is still in awe of his beautiful home.
The historic landmark building was built in 1892 (it was the Mercantile Library) and converted to condo lofts in 2003. “I found it on my own,” he says. “I knew I wanted two bedrooms, and I just started looking online at new developments.
“I walked in and saw this big area that became the kitchen and the living and dining rooms — it’s about 800 square feet, with an exposed brick wall and an enormous arched window. The arch is 12 feet high and 11 feet wide. That window was the whole reason I chose this unit.”
The rest of the 2,000-square-foot pad, which he bought for $1.5 million, has two bedrooms (one of them is called “Tatum’s Room” because O’Neal often stays there), 2 1/2 bathrooms, a floating staircase, 13-foot ceilings and a closet so big that White might turn it into an office.
Designer Paul Davis transformed the loft space into a true home. “The design took 2 1/2 years and cost about $250,000,” White says. “We did it in stages not only because of the financial aspects, but also because I couldn’t take the workmen in the apartment all the time.”
On the day White showed The Post his apartment, Davis stopped by to talk about the renovations.
Custom work was done throughout — from the floors to the lighting fixtures to putting recessed handles on all the doors instead of doorknobs. Davis enlarged the closets so they reached the ceiling, back-lit them and added doors made of ebony Micasa wood. Since there are no doorknobs, the wall of closets (including a shoe closet) looks like a solid wall when the doors are closed.
Then there’s the pièce de résistance — a wall that extends across both floors (it’s 30 feet long by 25 feet high) and is covered in mother-of-pearl shells. The cost? $30,000.
Davis also designed all the furniture and had it custom-made. The furniture includes two gray velvet couches that split in half so they can be easily turned any which way. “We like to keep it flexible,” Davis says, “so we can move everything around.”
Davis also put two zebra-hide rugs in White’s bedroom. “I didn’t know they were going to have heads on them,” White says. “I was a little shocked that they’re real zebras, but I adjusted to it. Paul told me they died of natural causes.”
There’s also a cowhide rug in the living room, two chairs with driftwood finishes, a brick-colored dining table that blends in with the brick wall and a custom chandelier.
The final piece of furniture that was added, last October, was a handmade, 600-pound, glass-topped coffee table that Davis wanted for White’s home, and that White kept putting off. “It cost $20,000,” White says, “and I tried everything to get him to relent.
“I charge $550 for highlights, so I understand the importance of having the best. But I was holding out, so finally my sister [who’s in real estate] just decided to get it for me.”
And then there’s the artwork. White has everything from a Marilyn Minter photograph to a Jeff Koons balloon dog, all gifts from a friend, dermatologist Fredric Brandt.
They’re the main touches of color in the apartment, which is mostly done in muted browns, white and gray.
“I’m surrounded by color during the day,” White says, “and a frenetic pace. When I come home, I want a peaceful atmosphere with minimal clutter and calming colors.”
No surprise, given that he sees 30 clients a day and perfects a lot of shades, primarily blond. “I think I’m good at everything,” White says, “but I seem to have a reputation as a blond specialist. There are an infinite number of shades.”
He must be doing something right. Maria Menounos comes in from the West Coast every eight weeks for highlights. Charlize Theron told him: “You make me feel like a woman again.”
But when White heads home to his partner Tim Cass (a broker with the Corcoran Group), he sometimes thinks about the huge leap he took from his beginnings to his life now.
“I’m from Commack, LI,” he says. “I’m the youngest of seven children, and my father was with the NYPD. We didn’t have a whole lot growing up on a cop’s salary. But I always believed there was more out there. Once I got to Manhattan, I knew this was it. I was home.
“And now I have this fabulous apartment and I’m really home.”
KYLE WHITE’S FAVORITE THINGS
* AMarilyn Minter photograph—one of a series of three andagift from Dr. Fredric Brandt, a friend who kept one for himself, gave one to White and one to Madonna.
* Aclip from Page Six: “It’s the first timeIwas in Page Six, and a friend framed it for me. I felt like I finally made it,” White says.
* An Hermes throw,agift from Tatum O’Neal
* The 600-pound glasstopped coffee table
* The mother-of-pearl wall that cost $30,000
* Abowl designed by British architect John Pawson
* Acoffee-table book on Leonardo da Vinci, a gift from Calista Flockhart after White did her hair
* His shoe closet
* His dog, Coco,aCairn terrier