The New York City pied-a-terre of writer Julia Reed was filled with antiques and art she inherited from her grandmother and great-grandmother's homes in Nashville. Many of those things were chosen by A. Herbert Rodgers, a legendary Nashville decorator, and had great importance to her. So much so, she recreated Rodger's original arrangement in her Living Room, placing the parrot green Chinese Chippendale sofa, pair of parcel gilt consoles and English painting of a young boy in the same arrangement they conformed to for 50 years in her grandmother’s house. Presented with a set of givens with great emotional significance to their owner, Thomas’ assignment was to find a way to tie the pieces together so they made sense in their new setting. The first thing was to find a wall color so the focus was on developing a custom shade of yellow for the living room. It needed to be sympathetic to the antiques and add just the right note of vibrancy and richness to a Manhattan apartment belonging to a writer with a sophisticated eye. He then introduced new fabrics into the mix; khaki silk strie with custom chenille braid trims for the curtains, blue and brown satin stripe slipcovers for a set of side chairs, silk Lampas and velvet pillows for the sofa, and a delicate shade of grey silk for the bergere chair next to the sofa. The colors relate in a subtle way and possess an understated sense of luxury. This project was featured in the February 2001 issue of "Vogue" and in the December 2005 issue of "Southern Accent".