Every entrenched industry is getting a dose of disruption these days. And as fans of the little guy, we’re all for it. Perhaps the biggest industry to see some shakeup is the $14 billion American mattress trade—and it couldn’t happen to a better brute. News articles in recent years have shone a light on the […]
100 Percent Handmade: Valentin Loellmann’s Historic River House in Maastricht
In 2012, German designer Valentin Loellmann took a risk on a listed heritage building in one of Maastricht’s most sought-after neighborhoods along the Maas river. The building, a former stable house, was missing a roof, all its windows, and electricity, “but I wasn’t afraid of what it would take to fix it up,” he says. […]
Seeing in Technicolor: 10 Color-Stained Kitchens That Swap Paint for Pigment
Noticed recently, with increasing frequency: kitchens where color-stained wood does more with less. Tinted linseed oils and pigment-rich Polyx-oils offer a tactile alternative to lacquered gloss or flat paint—allowing tone, grain, and texture to coexist. It’s a resourceful move: cost-conscious, low-VOC, and richly expressive. The result is a custom look without the custom price tag. […]
“This Is the House I’d Leave Amsterdam For”: A Family’s Airy, Springy 1893 Quarters in Haarlem
It was a Sunday and as usual Arianne Bonthuis was perusing the Dutch real estate sites. Arianne and her husband, Derk, and their four young kids had long ago outgrown their Amsterdam apartment when a banner ad on Fonda.NL caught her eye. “After a few clicks on the pictures, I turned to my husband and […]
Kitchen of the Week: Charlie Smallbone and deVol Team Up to Create a Conservatory Kitchen, Copper Doors Included
A surprise star at the recent Chelsea Flower Show in London: a kitchen oriented to the garden. Set in an energy-efficient Passive House conservatory, the design intrigued us thanks not only to its cabinet doors of patinated copper but also its exotic pedigree: It was created by UK kitchen titans Charlie Smallbone (formerly of Smallbone […]
Formerly a Garage: A 400-Square-Foot One-Bedroom House in LA
We brake for grottages: garages converted into cottages (our own Michelle Slatalla invented the term for her own place). This one is the work of LA house flipper-turned designer-builder Shanty Wijaya of Allprace. Wijaya replaced the crumbling dwelling on the property with a spec construction, and rebuilt the remains of its one-car garage as this […]
Is It Worth It? Luxury Starter Sheets from Sferra’s Alma Line
Over the four years I’ve lived in my apartment, I’ve steadily—slowly—swapped my lesser-quality essentials for better, more lasting versions. Glassware, under-bed storage, even my plastic clothes hangers: They all got upgrades. Somehow, though, it took me years to invest in quality bedding—I’m not sure why, given how much attention I pay to my bed and how […]
The New Road Residence: A Curated London House from Hostem
James Brown, the 28-year-old owner of always edgy London fashion boutique Hostem, had a yearning to move into art and furnishings. But rather than simply expand his inventory, he took on an entire townhouse, an elegant Georgian specimen in Whitechapel, a 20-minute stroll from Hostem’s Spring Store and in-progress updated headquarters, both in Shoreditch. With the company’s artistic director, Christie Fels, who has a background in interior […]
Villa Lena: A New Creative Hub (and Hotel) in Tuscany
Last summer I met up with French designer Clarisse Demory in her Paris apartment during the only two days of the year that she happened to be in the city. Clarisse had been living deep in the flowery hills of Tuscany for the past year (she brought bunches of dried flora back with her), working on […]
Ses Sucreres and Hevresac, Two Subtly Stylish Hotels in Menorca, Spain
Last summer, our friends Jonathan Hokklo and Ashley Helvey were traveling around the Spanish island Menorca. Around that time, Ashley was sending me photos of sinks, mini refrigerators, and light fixtures at one of the hotels where they stayed called Hevresac. The hotel is one of a few from owners Ignasi, a Spaniard, and Stéphanie, […]
Steal This Look: The Low-Impact Kitchen
The cover of our newest book, Remodelista: The Low-Impact Home, features the kitchen of architects Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston of CO Adaptive. Their firm specializes in retrofitting existing buildings to make them energy efficient, and the couple transformed their own historic Brooklyn brownstone into an ultra-efficient passive house. Their monthly energy bill is zero—and […]
For Aesthetes and Surfers: A New Vipp Guest House in Denmark’s “Cold Hawaii”
The latest Vipp guest house sits on its own in a coastal stretch of Denmark known as Cold Hawaii. Vipp is the family-owned Danish design company that gots its start in 1939 with the invention of a pedal-operated steel trashcan. Its design offerings have grown to include modular metal kitchen systems, bathroom vanities, furniture, lighting, […]
Steal This Look: A Modern Country Kitchen in Hudson, New York
This past long weekend, I took the train out to Hudson, New York, to check out the Rivertown Lodge, by Brooklyn firm Workstead (it’s been on my design visit to-do list for a while now). A standout feature of the hotel lobby? The communal eat-in kitchen with turmeric-colored cabinets and a mix of high and low fixtures. […]