TRANSFORMING A MANHATTAN CARRIAGE HOUSE
CHRISTOPHE DE MENIL has been living in her East Side town house for 20 years and it's almost, but not quite, completed. That's partly because she was only a tenant for several years and partly because she had no clear vision of what she wanted her home to look like. Nor could she simply turn over the design to an architect or a decorator. She comes from a family of art collectors and patrons of the arts, has devoted herself for many years to nourishing undiscovered talent, especially in music and dance, and last year became an artist of sorts herself, designing a line of extravagant evening clothes. With that background, it was natural for her to work with several artists in the design of her home and to be involved in every esthetic decision from the selection of the furniture to the exact height of the countertop work space in the kitchen to the presence of a swimming pool on the first floor.