R - Si

Miles Redd    (Photo: Fernando Bengoechea)

Miles Redd

300 Elizabeth Street (212-995-1922)
Known for exuberant color, usually in the form of paint, Redd has freshened up blah kitchens with a coat of Tiffany blue, tacky floors with two-tone patterns borrowed from classical Greece. Though his painting technique works for small budgets, Redd's taste in furniture (like his choice of colors) is traditional, and travels uptown with ease. Clients: The Frelinghuysen family

Katie Ridder Inc.

1239 Broadway, Suite 1604 (212-779-9080)
"I like each room in a house to have a wow factor," Ridder says, whether it is an unusual texture (horsehair for walls) or color (bright lacquered floors). Currently she's in an Oscar de la Renta mood: Luxurious materials turn into leather tiles; folk-art inspirations like peasant embroidery show up in overscaled wall stencils. Clients: Timothy Collins, Ann Harrison and Vicente Madrigal

Randall A. Ridless, LLC

315 West 39th Street, Suite 1101 (212-643-8140)
Ridless and associate Beth Martell add a fantasy element to crisp, classical interiors, working in a touch of Morocco, for example, or a Gaudí flair. Ridless is currently developing a fabric and rug collection that highlights a few of his favorite things: taffeta, cat-scratched velvet, embroidered jute. Clients: Terry Lundgren

Daniel Romualdez Architects

119 West 23rd Street (212-989-8429)
Romualdez seems to have a direct line to such early-twentieth-century greats as Sir Edwin Lutyens and Jean-Michel Frank, but he wears his architectural knowledge gracefully. His interiors might pair his own designs with eighteenth-century Swedish pieces, setting a scene that is timeless, refined, and unpretentious. Clients: Matt and Annette Lauer, Marina Rust, Tory Burch, James De Givenchy

Ruby

41 Union Square West, Studio 1036 (212-741-3380)
Young talents Alysa Weinstein and Bella Zakarian don't turn up their noses at modest budgets or square-footage. Problem solvers par excellence, they will work with what a client already owns, editing, rearranging, freshening. "Our clients are often time- and budget-conscious, seeking to improve their surroundings through smart design," Zakarian says. Clients: Jennifer Chambers, Stacey Reiss and Ross Intelisano

Saladino Group Inc.

200 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1600 (212-684-3720)
A New York fixture, John Saladino is known for magnificent rooms. He balances Italian furniture with his own designs, always establishing the structure of a space beneath the curlicues and gilt. Current favorites include "limestone in a warm beige color from Oklahoma, mouth-blown seeded glass, and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italian antiques with a strong architectural nature." Clients: Susan Harris and Paul Witt, Michael and Mary Jaharis

Joel Sanders

515 Canal Street (212-431-8751)
Sanders's apartment designs push the capabilities of computers and clients alike, as he creates fully functioning homes out of one continuous surface. A concrete floor may dip to form a padded conversation pit, then rise up to turn into a countertop. As he puts it: "Flexible living environments for fluid lifestyles." Clients: Scott Metzner, Martin and Ann Gallagher

Steven Sclaroff

801 Greenwich Street (212-691-7814)
"A reduced number of elements and contrasting pieces and materials can make a house full of museum-quality art and furniture still look comfortable enough to put your feet up and your drink down," says Sclaroff. His relaxed approach encompasses anything from rococo to Perriand, but he lets cool colors, a tight edit, and luxurious materials take the edge off contemporary and the fussiness off antiques. Clients: Kate and Andy Spade, Tony Kushner, Edward Klein

Selldorf Architects

62 White Street (212-219-9571)
Annabelle Selldorf deserves her reputation as a minimalist; her interiors often run the spectrum from black to white, with brief stops for stainless steel: "well-proportioned rooms," she says, "with ample lighting." Jolts of color come from Selldorf's impeccable taste in art, which could explain why she's a favorite of gallery owners. Clients: Eberhard Müller and Paula Satur

Roderick N. Shade Interior Design

P.O. Box 1797 (212-681-7942)
Shade's Harlem practice includes a custom-furniture line in deep colors and African-inspired shapes. His taste is eclectic, a rich combination of art, textiles, and modern furniture. "I like to see the hand-wrought against the highly stylized," he says, "and I enjoy drawing from ethnic sources." His book Harlem Style was published this month. Clients: Star Jones

Shamir Shah Design

10 Greene Street (212-274-7476)
This two-and-a-half-year-old firm is quickly making a name for itself, with functional planning and a luxurious stable of materials, giving modern a broken-in, handcrafted twist. "I like using elements such as patinated bronze and hand-gouged woods to create a strong, textured palette as a backdrop for furniture, most of which we design ourselves," Shah says. Clients: Ian Schrager

Shelton, Mindel & Associates

216 West 18th Street (212-243-3939)
A team for over twenty years, this firm still offers a fresh, seamless, soup-to-nuts version of high-modern design, synthesizing architectural elements and strong furniture groupings into intelligent, carefully edited, cool interiors. Clients: Melissa Soros, William Ford, Jim Nevins

Sills Huniford Associates

30 East 67th Street (212-988-1636)
Designer Stephen Sills arranges European and American furnishings in rooms known as much for over-the-top gestures (hand-laid cobblestone floor, backlit quartz-crystal fireplace) as for museum-quality antiques. Lately, Sills and his partner, James Huniford, have brightened their palette, turning to Southeast Asian spice tones. Clients: Tina Turner, Nan Swid, Vera Wang

Siskin Valls Inc.

21 West 58th Street (212-752-3790)
Paul Siskin's strength is his concentration on the nuts and bolts of decorating: seeking out those spectacular accessories -- chandeliers, brass wall hangings, objets d'art -- that give an interior personality. He sets these finds against a low-key background: early-modern furniture and a contrasting color palette ("If I had to choose a color I could love for eternity, it would be brown"). Clients: Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Tom Clancy