Peek inside the swoon-worthy closets of 3 of the city’s most chic women: Part I
This is Part I of our three-part closet series. Tune in next Friday, March 9, for Part II.
Three Charlotte women let us inside their closets—and sartorial sensibilities—to show that it’s possible for one of the most overlooked rooms of the home to also be one of the most glamorous.
Gray Walker
When the eldest son of interior designer Gray Walker (graywalkerinteriors.com)
went to boarding school, a design opportunity presented itself: she could shift the
bedrooms and guest rooms in her Myers Park home to make way for a true dressing
room to house all of her beautiful clothing.
“I’ve loved clothes all of my life,” says Walker, 50. “You have to have a space like this to really enjoy and see what you’ve got.”
The resulting space highlights her sophisticated style—and a number of sentimental
items. Take, for example, the watercolor nude hanging on the wall. It was the first
piece of art Walker purchased on her own, fresh out of college and living in
Columbia, S.C. She loved the colors, the loose look.
“It kept getting demoted from every room in the house because my husband doesn’t like nudes,” says Walker. “But it worked out just fine because now it’s in my little space, in my boutique.”
Playing off of her adjacent master bedroom, Walker’s dressing room started with a
Manuel Canovas classic trellis wallpaper design in one of her favorite shades:
lavender. Next came roman shades trimmed in the same hue, and a lavender island
in the middle of the room. A year later, Walker fell in love with a Christian Lacroix
wallpaper she saw on a road show and immediately thought of her closet ceiling.
“It was the finishing touch that created the feeling of being outdoors in some
wonderful lattice gazebo with flowers growing through the top of it,” says Walker. “I
love gardening and I feel like this room feels like a spring day.”
Having designed a lot of closets with large center islands for her clients, Walker
wanted something similar for her own space, and the magnificently appointed
mirrored-top surface helped make the storage fixture striking and functional. She
loves seeing the reflection of the wallpaper on the ceiling—and the stunning light
fixture from Visual Comfort.
“I just love mirrors,” she says. “I think they are glamorous.”
One side of the island holds Walker’s lingerie, socks, and nightgowns. The other side is home to her accessories, jewelry, sunglasses, and belts.
“The walls of my dressing room are totally old-school prep, then the feminine part would be the flowers on the ceiling, and the glam is the mirrors on my island and light fixture,” she says.
This story first ran in SouthPark Magazine.
Written by Whitley Adkins Hamlin
Portrait by Dustin Peck
Closet photos by Erica Mark Photography
This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Peek inside the swoon-worthy closets of 3 of the city’s most chic women: Part I."