No More Playing It Safe

Before: A minimalist living and dining space needs jazzing up.

The problem: "I had a very unfortunate moment of Santa Fe in the late eighties, and so with this apartment I didn't want anything muted or watery or pastel," says Lisa Kogan, O, The Oprah Magazine's writer at large. Her senses singed by all that burning sage, Lisa's taste is now so exquisitely sharp you could cut your finger on it.

The ghosts of Mies and Breuer and Eileen Gray nod approvingly down from style heaven on the chic black, "weimaraner taupe" and crisp white of her living room. Yet, says Lisa, "I feel like I've got a good little black dress, and I don't know how to make it great. I want to be a bit daring, but I'm torn because I like things to be very spare and clean, and I also like them to be very whimsical and out there. So I told Todd, just think feng shui meets rococo."