It was the statue that caught the eye first. This large, neo-classical lady adorned mostly in roses standing on a a pillar in the corner nearly reached the ceiling.

Things were really getting really interesting.

It was week three in Thomas Bartlett’s four-week project to transform a small, empty, just-finished flat into a showcase of possibilities.

“I spent Saturday and Sunday painting fabrics,” Bartlett said as we arrived at the Riverfront flat to see what was new. He’s working with Barbara Beckmann, owner of Beckmann Designs, who along with Sharon Lomnaco from Royal Drapery, is creating the curtains. They’ll go up this week.

 Michael Gibson, of Fine Interior Finishes, had finished the painting. The formerly white walls were sea-foam green, from the kitchen through the living room, bathroom and bedroom.

Now, Bartlett was bringing in the furnishings he’d chosen — some from his own home and showroom — to complete the transformation.

The statue was just the beginning.

Also on hand this day was Monica Benyo, director of sales and marketing for the residential units in Riverfront. As we watched, Ken Hallman and Robert Baumgartner were carrying in a fascinating and eclectic assortment of furnishings. Among them was a leather folding screen, a reproduction of a Spanish antique, hand-painted in rich, warm colors. “It gives drama and depth to the room,” Bartlett said.

  There was also an 18th-century French settee upholstered in English chintz — with pillows, including one made of tiger-printed silk — two small Chinese tables, and two huge blue and white Mexican temple jars.

Bartlett had also brought in two French armchair chairs upholstered in a rust velvet, which, he noted, picked up colors from the screen.  “With all the blue, we’re going to pick up some of the rust or red in the chairs and screen.”

Another screen, in a blue-green velour folds across the kitchen entrance.

A pewter lamp sat on a delicate French table, and another was on the floor. Several art works, including a water color of Bacchus, were waiting to be hung.

“It will all come together and feel warm and user friendly.” Bartlett said. “It’s all in the attitude.”

Bartlett noted people often feel in decorating a small space — the flat is 940 square feet — that “they need to put small things in it. It’s not true.”

Even as he was saying this, Hallman and Baumgartner were carrying in a giant painting. “Garden Tapestry” by Arne Nybak, a San Luis Obispo artist and friend of Bartlett’s.  “I took it off my wall,”  Bartlett explained. The richly colored garden scene covered the wall behind the statue of the lady of the roses, and the statue of a man, painted into the scene created a witty, almost trompe-l’oeil effect.

The statue, Bartlett explained, came from the Sheares and Window, “which was a fabulous showroom at the San Francisco Design Center.”

Along with the grand items, Bartlett was beginning to assemble details as well — like the small pillows made from fragments of 16th-century tapestry Bartlett bought in Paris 25 years ago. They were sitting on two cream-colored chairs Bartlett had brought from his home library. They were placed by a small round marble table, near the statue, to create a place to dine — “although this person will most likely usually eat out,” Bartlett speculated.

Indeed, the personality of this imaginary tenant is emerging as Bartlett’s creates the Napa pied-à-terre. “The idea is this is a single person who has traveled the world, collected things, and brought them back and asked me to put them all together,” he said. It is usually the case “with almost all the people I work for,” he added.

Bartlett, a Napa native and former 4-H all-star, who studied design and painting, is also one of the valley’s leading supporters of the arts. The person who would live in this artful flat, he added, “is probably a member of the Napa Valley Museum. I hope so.”

Next week: The final touches.

Editors’ note: This is part three in a four part series following Napa designer Thomas Bartlett as he decorates a flat at the new Riverfront development in Napa.