Photography by Ashley Gieseking
Tucked under stairs or down a hall, the powder room’s the door your guests should open and gasp or giggle—not because they chanced upon an occupant, but because you’ve cut your imagination loose. “Nothing goes together,” warns Susan Block, owner of The Designing Block (7735 Clayton, 314-721-4224), waving me into her own powder room. It could be Dr. Who’s keepsake closet: neoclassical sconces with Victorian crystal beads; a sparkly, modern honeycomb-glass sink; a vintage cigarette holder. But it’s all the same mood and sensibility, ribboned together with color. The carmine red of the cabinet repeats in a jesterish lamp’s polka dots and in the amused smile of a woman in the oil painting over the commode, her eyes slanting down as if to take the user’s measure. The floor’s a checkerboard of Carrera marble and black granite; the wallpaper trellised in black matte and lacquer; the abstract Ted Collier painting a whooshed letter O in black matte and gloss paint. The space works so unexpectedly, you wonder what Block envisioned. “I never say what I want, because the minute I say exactly what I want, I can’t flippin’ find it, and I pass up something far superior,” she says. “I like more of an adventure”—a treasure hunt, not a checklist. “Usually, if you just buy stuff you like, it all works out.”
