Home Tour: Parlor Interior’s Taylor Abess Takes You Inside Her Renovated North Bay Road Home
Before arriving in Miami, Taylor Abess, a Los Angeles native and Founder and Creative Director of the design firm Parlor Interiors, spent a decade in New York City working in the fashion industry and transitioning to design with Parlor studio in Soho. It was in New York where she met and eventually married Matthew Abess, an accomplished art curator and collector, writer, and fourth-generation Miamian from a prominent philanthropic family.
In 2017, they moved to Miami and purchased a historic home in the prestigious bayfront enclave of North Bay Road for their young family of four. Originally built in 1940, Parlor Interiors did an extensive redesign and renovation to return the home to its glory while celebrating the family’s personal story throughout.
Taylor intensively researched its original design and craftsmanship as well as the prevailing architectural styles of its era. “I didn’t want our home’s design to be confined to any one aesthetic – I wanted it to be uniquely ours, while still paying homage to its historical roots through preservation of select architectural features,” says Taylor.
Inside the foyer, a bespoke double-ceiling height chandelier by Joseph Pagano dangles through the stairwell, connecting the interiors from bottom to top.
To the left of the foyer is the high-drama dining room, where the home introduces the theme of legacy through art in a custom, handcrafted chandelier created by artist Michele Oka Doner. The Fertile Seed Chandelier is modeled from thousands of tropical seeds gathered from the grounds of their respective childhood homes, which Oka Doner then cast in a bronze foundry and molded into an elegant serpentine formation.
“The Fertile Seed Chandelier was created just for Taylor and Matthew’s home,” says Oka Doner, a childhood friend. “A labor of love, as all of those thousands of seeds were collected by me in a very short period of time. Matthew and I are both Miami Beach natives, and I wanted to bring something into his life that came from the earth beneath his feet.” The piece floats above a brass and walnut dining table by Valentin Loellmann, rounded with Sculptural Chairs by Rooms Studio.
In the living room Taylor excels at seamlessly incorporating fine modern art, ancient artifacts, and vintage decorative pieces into one cohesive space that is surprisingly inviting despite its grandeur. The formal living room stuns with custom moldings and paneled ceilings in tribute to the home’s architectural history. One is greeted by Marcin Rusak Studio’s kaleidoscopic Flora Table featuring flowers set in resin. Anchoring the space is the formal sitting area, with an oversize 1970 vintage chandelier (Kamenický Šenov, Czechoslovakia) dazzling over the Thomas Duriez Ring coffee table (from Galerie Armel Soyer, Paris), curved sofas (upholstered in Pierre Frey fabric), and Pasayage rug (from The Invisible Collection). The original fireplace was moved to serve as the sitting area’s stately backdrop, adorned by a 19th century Victorian marble mantle. Centered in front of sunlit French doors is a grand Vadim Androusov maquette sculpture buttressed by a fluted Bianco Del Re marble pedestal, an original design by Parlor Interiors fabricated by Kreoo Arcaico.
Beyond the formal living room, one enters Matthew’s gentleman's study. An ode to the home’s seaside locale and Matthew’s love of the language arts, Taylor designed the millwork, including a built-in bookcase, with custom corbels made from marine rope dyed in Japanese calligraphy ink.
Taylor’s art-driven, atmospheric design continues in the family room, where a 19th century American mirror framed in elaborate carved wood reflects brightness and greenery. The custom millwork features a built-in wall unit with arched niches exhibiting Matthew’s collection of ancient art and antiquities.
Abutting the family room is the fully renovated, old-world elegant kitchen and breakfast room. The space opens up to 14-foot-high vaulted ceilings with exposed beams, chef’s kitchen, and roomy seating area that captures light from the garden. Rich, layered materiality reigns supreme here, including polished quartz counters, honed Carrara marble brick backsplash, burnished brass hardware, black oak custom millwork, and luxe fabrics. Inga stools by Thomas Hayes (upholstered in Koala fabric by Pierre Frey) line the kitchen island, while the sculptural Atlas dining table by Atra is encircled by antique Spanish revival dining chairs. Centered behind the table is an enchantingly cozy bay window with custom built-in bench upholstered in Holly Hunt’s Checkmate fabric.
The bathrooms further showcase Taylor’s meticulous attention to detail and historical architectural reference, even up to the custom air conditioning grids she commissioned to match those original to the house. While both the guest bathroom and the powder room cabana bath feature bold, rhythmic graphic tile work reminiscent of the Art Deco style, neither is beholden to that genre. Swathed in a textural floral wallpaper by Fabscarte, the powder room is very much a vibe, featuring a Devon & Devon vanity; antiqued Gregory Nangle mirror from Wexler Gallery; textured Gregory Nangle sconces cast in bronze and 24 karat gold gilding (also from Wexler Gallery); and Lisa Eisner hardware from The Future Perfect.
Taylor reimagined the residential spaces upstairs, creating a new floor plan with a large addition for an impossibly romantic primary suite. The primary bedroom features vaulted ceilings constructed to match the original look of the home. The primary bath echoes more old-world elegance and a rich, layered aesthetic. A sumptuous Devon & Devon freestanding tub sits on a handmade geometric black and crème terracotta tile floor (Levantine 2 by Tabarka Studio) with a charming bay window and custom setee as its backdrop.
Today, Taylor Abess continues to elevate the world of interior design through Parlor Interiors, infusing each project she and her team works on from Floida to California and beyond with a blend of timeless elegance, sincerity and legacy while educating her clients in collectible design as a form of art.
For more information, visit www.parlorinteriors.com.