Artist Rebekah Maysles lives in a wonderfully layered apartment in Harlem, the same neighborhood where you can find the Maysles Cinema (mayslesinstitute.org), the nonprofit documentary movie house founded by her father, filmmaker Albert Maysles. She has a great imagination and lets color be the driving force behind her décor. Her kitchen is green and pink, which, she says, “look perfect together. I have some memory that my uncle wore a lot of pink and green.” (Her uncle, David Maysles, co-directed the famed 1975 documentary Grey Gardens with Albert.) “The kitchen cabinets are from all over the place. The tiles on the floor are from Morocco. I wish the lamp was Tiffany, but I think it came from my mom’s house.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
Rebekah’s living room has its own Grey Gardens vibe, the difference being happy-functional clutter that invites you in rather than repels you. And yes, there are cats, but not an army of them! “The long sofa is from a thrift shop and is great to sleep on,” she says. “The green chairs are also from a thrift shop, and for some reason I don’t like them so I let the cats use them for fun. Somehow this prevents them from messing up the other sofas.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
A relatively quiet dining area just past the kitchen is decorated with a Moroccan rug and more thrift-store finds. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Rebekah painted the cabinet she found in a church thrift shop after her mother gave her a World of Interiors magazine. “It had all of this painted furniture in it, and it looked so beautiful,” she says. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The bathroom walls are covered in ceramic tiles Rebekah found in Morocco and a wall hanging from India. Photo: Wendy Goodman
The dresses hanging in Rebekah’s bedroom were found in thrift shops. “Somehow I couldn’t muster up the strength to wear the coral one, but I love it and think it looks like a sculpture.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
A collection of paintings by Rebekah’s family, including one by her mother, who painted it with her own mother on Fishers Island, where the Maysles have a summer house. “The simple sunset with the deep-red colors [at bottom] was made by my brother when he was little.” Photo: Wendy Goodman
Some unfinished artworks that Rebekah is doing for her next project for Anthropologie. These cutouts in her studio are going to be used in a collage. Photo: Wendy Goodman
This collection of plates Rebekah designed for Anthropologie has sold out, but she is working on new plates and a collection of sheets and wallpaper to be released soon. Photo: Courtesy of Anthropologie
