Kathy Griffin in her suite
Serene might be the last word that comes to mind when thinking of the red-haired, silver-tongued comedienne, Kathy Griffin. But those, who have watched Bravo's Emmy-nominated show, "My Life on the D-List, " know that Griffin likes her home that way.
So when Griffin, and the interior designer of her home, Mike Nielsen, president of Nielsen Diversified, met with the folks at Kimpton to discuss a Kathy Griffin suite for the Hotel Triton, the words were: sleek, sexy, modern. And the implications were nothing at all like the Hotel Triton.
"I'm really pristine and I like everything in its place, but when you come in, you feel like you can still kick your shoes off and get a pizza," said Griffin.
"We went into this hotel and it was stuck in the 80s," she said. "I'm about light. bright and opening it up. When I stay in a hotel room, I don't want to go home to a dark box."
The big challenge of the six-day. one suite renovation project was to manipulate the small, rectangular room and incorporate a seating area. "We had to work around the space. In a boutique hotel in downtown San Francisco, we typically don't have a lot of room," said Nielsen.
To make the space feel bigger, he used light colors and simple, linear furnishings.
"We used a lot of white and sage green; we think of it as a spa green. The space has a spa-like feel to it as well, so it's very clean, fresh and airy." Nielsen said.
Griffin and Nielsen insisted on a plasma TV to complement the suite's newly modernized style
"The seating area is critical for a suite. Initially, in the suite, there was a bed and a sofa tucked to the side. We reversed the room. Now you see a bed and furniture when you enter it - and you see a comfortable space for seating and lounging," he said.
"I was so happy that he took that room and made it bigger," she said. "He doesn't half-ass it. If he's going to do it, he's going to do it right. I like that I can really leave everything up to him and nine times out of 10 he'd be half way through the explanation and I'd say 'perfect.'"
Nielsen used some of his Nielsen Diversified, Inc product in the suite. The company manufactures the Nielsen Galleries product line, which supplies permanent botanicals, arrangements, planters, vases, canvas art, and decorative accents to home and hospitality interior designers.
In addition to feeling like Griffin's home, the sleek, modern space is designed with her hotel design preferences in mind. And as a comedienne on the road, she knows a thing or two about travel.
"I am on the road so much that even if it's for a short amount of time, I want to walk in and feel good. I prefer a modern hotel because I find the old fashioned hotels are cluttered. When I come in, I'm unpacking - I have a show in two hours - I want a clean room with good sheets, 24-hour room service and stuff that's calming. The last thing that I want to worry about is the hotel," she said.