Exquisite is the best description of the Uptown home of decorator Mary Satterlee. Even the view from the street with its perfectly trimmed hedges and a boxwood border surrounding the checkerboard pattern of concrete squares interspersed with lush grass. Open the front door and you’ll find a whitewashed envelope decorated with handsome antiques and contemporary furnishings. “My home is a combination of treasures found in flea markets, antique stores and design markets from as close as around the corner on Magazine Street and as far away as Paris, Florence and Buenos Aires,” Satterlee says as she gives a tour of her circa 1880 cottage.
(She and her husband, Dane Andreeff, also have homes in Baton Rouge and Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.)
She adds, “Some of my favorite pieces were purchased at the Les Puces de Saint-Ouen Flea Market in Paris on a family vacation, while I added many modern pieces when I owned the U Dwell shop on Magazine Street for five years. I loved buying for the store and from time-to-time a few pieces never made it to U Dwell, instead they were unloaded at my home address.”
Satterlee’s eclectic taste is evident throughout her home. Her living room is a picture-perfect study of combining the old with the new. “While the French settee and 19th-century marble-and-iron side table are from the Les Puces de Saint-Ouen Flea Market, the 19th-century Eucharistic holder is from a Catholic church in New Orleans, the 19th-century demilune chest is from Sweden and the pair of antique Italian ecumenical relics came from Italy,” she says. “I liked the juxtaposition of adding the pair of Barcelona chairs and a Lucite coffee table to create the eclectic styling of the room.”
The dining room is also a study in contrasts, with a custom-made stainless steel table top resting on iron legs, surrounded by Plexiglas armchairs and white, Belgian linen-upholstered side chairs to add interest to the space. Then comes the antique Italian chandelier that washes the room with light and makes it truly an exquisite space.
For all of the high style, there’s still a comfortable feeling in each room of the 2,200-square-foot home that features an open-to-the garden addition across the entire back of the structure, washing the room with light from the large windows. The den, breakfast room/office and kitchen all blend perfectly with the older part of the structure.
Completing the house are two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom is glamorous, featuring a pearlized vinyl Hollywood-glam headboard and antique Louis XIV bedside tables topped with crystal balustrade lamps.
What is Satterlee’s favorite room? “I love my bedroom,” she says. “It is my sanctuary. I love to hunker down under the feather down comforter with the shades pulled and watch an old movie.” She also enjoys being within walking distance of Audubon Park. “I am also close enough to Langenstein’s to be able to pick up dinner every day.”
