Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
“Clients come to us to find extraordinary places around the world, places they’ll be talking about at Thanksgiving tables 30 years from now,” explains SmartFlyer agent Robert Merlin. To plan those unforgettable itineraries (some of which include stays in private homes in a variety of styles located around the globe), the team needed a clean, airy, sophisticated workspace, and so they asked Paula Roberts of Berrywood Design in St. Louis to design one on a budget for the company’s office in University City. Roberts turned to IKEA for a glass conference table (it extends for vendor presentations, and the white chairs stack afterward). She used austere white desks from Crate & Barrel, then softened the look for clients with Midcentury loveseats and a gilded table. Travel photographs by agent Amy Zebala’s husband, Lukas P. Zebala, were printed oversize on glass as inspiration.
Courtesy of SmartFlyer
Agent: Robert Merlin
Place: Monteverdi Tuscany
Style: Tuscan villa
Why go: “The family that owns Monteverdi has painstakingly restored a beautiful borgo on a hill in the heart of Tuscan wine country. Its style softens rustic authenticity—ancient stone walls, wide archways, centuries-old wooden beams—with the luxuriousness of contemporary Italian design.”
Courtesy of SmartFlyer
Agent: Betsey Brown
Place: La Reserve Paris, 42 Avenue Gabriel
Style: Belle Époque
Why go: “Built in 1854 as a private home, it was once owned by the fashion designer Pierre Cardin. The rooms are 19th-century Paris: burnished gold and garnet velvet, damask wallpaper and handmade lampshades, a library and cigar room. George Sand would have felt at home.”
Courtesy of SmartFlyer
Agent: Amy Zebala
Place: Blue Door, Palm Springs, California
Style: Midcentury Modern
Why go: “This house is quintessential Palm Springs. A designer renovation of a Midcentury home with a mountain view, it’s faithful to the period: Walk in, and you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back into the 1950s. With floor-to-ceiling glass, this home provides indoor and outdoor living and feels chic and crisp but never fussy.”
