Mount Kisco resident Elizabeth Calderone was tired of commuting to Manhattan for her high-powered career in the fashion industry, including stints as a VP of merchandising for Bergdorf Goodman, a buyer for Barneys New York, and head of the retail division for Theory. So when a close-to-home opportunity to return to her longtime interest in home furnishings came up, she was ready for it. She and her husband, Warren Cook, an MBA, decided to purchase and revamp Pleasantville’s longtime Upholstery By Anna business. Renaming it TapeMeasure, the pair expanded and re-invented the business into a high-end, custom home-furnishings studio and workshop, relocating it to a bright space they renovated opposite the Jacob Burns Film Center. The warm Scandinavian-feeling front studio portion of the space features very light birch wood walls and fabric samples hung casually from wooden pegs. The rear workshop is staffed by two seamstresses, including master seamstress Anna Maraldo, the business’s previous owner, and three or four experienced upholsterers/craftsmen.
“My fashion background makes me really attuned to what’s new and going on in the textile industry,” says Calderone. “And your house is just like your wardrobe—it needs to be updated, too.” Not surprisingly, a significant portion of the shop’s business involves recovering heirloom, flea-market, and estate-sale finds. All work is custom and includes upholstery and reupholstery (a wingback chair, depending upon condition, would start at $600; a sofa, depending on size, at $1,400), as well as slip-covering (a seat is about $125, a full wing or club chair $450 to $500). Also offered are custom-designed window treatments (drapes, shades, curtains, valences, etc.), fabric headboards, and bedroom ensembles, including pillows, bolsters, shams, and bedding.
Fabrics are sourced from all over the world, including Italy and France, in addition to the United States, and include sumptuous velvets, ultra-soft mohairs, fine Belgian linens, and beautiful woven prints in styles from modern and contemporary to more classic and traditional. Design houses represented include Kravet, Lee Jofa, Brunschwig & Fils, Scalamandre, Knoll, Donghia, Osborne & Little, and more. And while, in most instances, TapeMeasure supplies the fabrics for its projects, it will also gladly work with a client’s own material. Also noteworthy is the shop’s selection of high-end, designer wallpaper from Ralph Lauren, Cole & Son, Stroheim, Schumacher, and Thibaut, starting at about $90 per roll. Estimates and local pickup and delivery are complimentary. Also offered: in-home interior design consultation.
