5 Minutes With… Courtnay Tartt Elias

Her avant-garde approach to design and technicolor interiors have garnered a proceeding reputation for interior designer Courtnay Tartt Elias of… pure fun. The principal designer of Creative Tonic, Courtnay has been fashioning together interiors that invite celebration, layered with inventive pattern combinations. Here, we tapped the designer to find out what she’s most looking forward to at this year’s WNWN… along with a few other necessary details.

Coffee or Tea… Champagne, of course!
Town or Country… Town in my head, country in my heart!
Design is… all around us! From the tiny patterns on the back of fall leaves to the shadows cast by skyscrapers—all we have to do is slow down, open our eyes and really look.
Fave floor at 200 Lex… ALL of it! I’m coming from Texas and 200 Lex is like drinking from a fire hydrant.
BORDER PAPER is the new MILLWORK.
Fabrics are… my ice cream!
Furniture can… be a mix of all the things you love.
Comfort looks like… a fancy dinner party where you throw off your shoes and dance on the coffee table.
Luxury for me is… a day spent in bed with my design books, shelter magazines, Laffe (my little ruby Cavalier King Charles shadow), and nowhere to go!
Art will… elevate a room and lift the spirit every time.
Design Muse… my husband: Mr. Creative Tonic!
Next Passport Stamp… London and the English countryside this fall.
I’m a firm believer in… three purposes for every room, love and enjoying right where you are.
The world needs more… kissing on the dance floor.

What are you most looking forward to seeing this year?
Connecting, design friends and new fabrics, of course.

Any panel discussions or showroom events you’re attending?
As many as I can squeeze in especially anything with Hudson Moore and so excited for my Kips Bay Show House panel with Billy who will make us all laugh.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I’m so excited to take a fresh, new East Coast perspective back toTexas!