Inspirations

Expert Advice: 9 Hard-Wearing Material Recommendations from a Hotelier

Hotels are designed to take a beating: Everything that goes into them, from building materials to bedding, has to be not only exceedingly comfortable but resilient. What looks great day after day—and even gets better over time?

For advice, we turned to hotelier Ray Pirkle, a hospitality pro and aesthete who earned his creds working for Ian Schrager and Amy Sacco, among others. Ray is currently co-owner of Hudson, New York’s Rivertown Lodge, a former movie house that he transformed with Workstead design into lodgings that are as fresh looking as they are cozy—see A Hotel with a Sense of Place. And recently, Ray opened Camptown: A High-Style Cabin Retreat in the Catskills. Here are Ray’s tips for hard-wearing interior materials.

Photography by Matthew Williams, unless noted.

1. Iron accents

when selecting materials, think about how things will look going forward,&# 14
Above: When selecting materials, think about how things will look going forward,” advises Ray. “You want everything to gain a positive patina.” Toward that end, the lobby at Rivertown Lodge has Workstead-designed iron firewood racks flanking a Morso stove. The coffee table legs are also iron.

2. Wool upholstery

 ray sourced the sturdy vintage seating from ebay and added wool upholster 15
Above:  Ray sourced the sturdy vintage seating from eBay and added wool upholstery that’s “both soft and strong and surprisingly easy to clean.”

3. Matte wood floors

dark wood floors tend to show more dirt and scratches than light wood floo 16
Above: Dark wood floors tend to show more dirt and scratches than light wood floors, according to Ray. In the Rivertown Inn, he spec’ed Scandi-style bleached European oak from LV Wood’s Hakwood collection, and after considering several matte finishing options, settled on the easiest: clear Monocoat, a natural oil. “It was a cinch to apply—we did it ourselves—and it’s durable. We use Monocoat Soap to maintain it, and Monocoat Refresh gets rid of stains.” Adds Ray: “The floor has a lived-in look, but that’s exactly what we wanted. When just about everything in a room is pristine, it’s nice to see signs of life.”

4. Vegetable-tanned leather

“leather darkens over time and gets scarred, but there’s not 17
Above: “Leather darkens over time and gets scarred, but there’s nothing you can do to it that makes it less attractive,” says Ray, by way of explaining the hotel’s leather touches. These include saddle leather guest room key rings and the Rivertown Tavern’s leather-topped Jack Stools by Tyler Hayes (available from Lostine). The bar counter is oil-rubbed bronze, “another outstandingly tough and beautiful material.”

5. Waxed canvas

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