The Martin Creed show at the Park Avenue Armory gave us much to think about plus one great decorating idea. We’d normally find the ornate 1880’s dark wood-paneled grand corridor rather oppressive —unlike the astonishing 55,000 square foot Drill Hall. We found the space curiously modernized by Creed’s inspired black diagonal stripes, applied to the walls as though they were giant pieces of tape.

The stripes chill out the stern grandeur and gave the place a jazzy, subversive feeling we loved.

We never would have thought of applying such a radical fix to Victorian “dark”…