Scandinavian Graphic Blankets

Declare your allegiance to Scandinavian design with a geometric throw (perfect for draping over your linen sofa; see today’s earlier post). You choose: the higher version is $139, the lower is $39.99. Above: Last summer, I spotted this wool twill blanket at Stilleben, a store in Copenhagen. The Twist a Twill Blanket in dark gray, […]

A Modern-Day Creperie in a Medieval Scandinavian City

Located in the medieval inner city of Visby, on the island of Gotland, the Strykjarnet Creperie & Logi features an interior inspired “by the sea and barren landscape of Gotland.” Strykjarnet offers ensuite accommodations for travelers on the second floor; go to Strykjarnet Creperie & Logi for booking info. Discovered via Mitt Vita Hus. Above: […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Modern Belgian Minimalist Kitchen

When a 1960s two-bedroom villa went on the market next door to Sophie and Frank De Jonghe’s house, they decided “in a split second” to turn the place into their own creative project. The couple live in the woodsy Belgian village of Oud-Heverlee 20 minutes outside of Brussels. He works in finance, she in real […]

In the Pink: 5 Bed Linens for Romantics

You haven’t seen pink like this before–stealth pink–hiding beneath a rumpled duvet or right out in the open (like the shockingly bright linen sheets from Bodie and Fou). Here are five of our favorite rose-colored sheet sets. Above: A pink stonewashed Linen Duvet Cover is £220 from Bodie and Fou; photograph by François Kong, styling […]

Photographer Marie Hennechart’s DIY Parisian Studio Apartment Makeover

Marie Hennechart is a documentary-style photographer and self-described “good sport with a ready smile and updated Red Cross skills.” More often than not, she’s on the go—to cover a London and a Bay Area family swapping houses for Travel + Leisure magazine (which is where the two of us first crossed paths), or to Sicily […]

Expert Advice: Architects’ 10 Favorite Closet Picks

Last week, we profiled 10 of the most beautiful–and functional–closet systems around. Today, architect and designer members of our Professional Directory share the closet systems they specify for their own clients, from custom and high-end to bargain priced. For Julie’s picks, see 10 Easy Pieces: Modular Closet Systems, High to Low. Above: In a client’s 650-square-foot […]

Remodeling 101: A Guide to the Only 6 Kitchen Cabinet Styles You Need to Know

Type “cabinet styles” into Google Images (like we did) and you’ll get an array of glossy, dated-looking wood cabinets with ornate arches, louvered doors, some even with inset stained glass. But we believe in the trend-resistant kitchen cabinet—something that will remain timeless and ensure you won’t want to start fresh every few years. We favor a […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Creative Couple’s Swedish Farmhouse Retreat

The farmhouse was an impulse purchase: Ellen Dixdotter, Jacob Holst, and their two young kids had recently moved from Stockholm to Copenhagen when, on a weekend getaway, they decided to take a look at real estate site Hemnet. “It’s not that we’re financially equipped for spontaneous house buying,” Ellen tells us, “but this old place, […]

Kitchen of the Week: 8 Ideas to Steal from A Young Designer’s Romantic Kitchen

Raisa Sandstrom’s initial plans for her kitchen were entirely in shades of neutral: “I was thinking of resale value and permanence, and trying to be safe,” she says. Then she shared the plans with her boss, Sybil Urmston, of Boston design firm sirTank, who suggested Raisa rethink her approach: “Sybil urged me to create something […]

Expert Advice: 12 Tips for Making a Small Bedroom Look Bigger

I think we’ve all been there. Maybe you’ve just moved to the big city, or you grew up the youngest of many and drew the short straw when it came to sleeping assignments, but at some point in your life you’ve probably lived in a tiny bedroom. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, given the […]

Steal This Look: Pastel Bright Guest Room in Paris

A while back we featured the Hotel Henriette, a 30-year-old hotel renovated by Vanessa Scoffier of Les Nouveaux Décorateurs. Each guest room has a different pastel palette, featuring paints mixed by Scoffier herself and outfitted with personal finds from Les Puces du Design and more. Here’s a look at one of our favorite rooms, plus a few sources […]

Modern Muji on the Med

We love this concept, hotel apartments outfitted with stylish, utilitarian furniture and accessories from Muji. Whotells in Barcelona offers four distinct lodging options in different neighborhoods of the city, all furnished with Muji products (in four palettes: blue, green, orange and gray); think simple, functional Japanese design. The apartments are available on both a long […]

Angela’s Rooms: Sustainable Style on Margate’s Sea Front

Angela’s is an unassuming seafood restaurant overlooking the harbor in Margate, on the tip of East Kent. Moments from the beach, it serves simple, local seafood and seasonal vegetable dishes. Round the corner is Dory’s, Angela’s “little sister”—an informal seafood bar. It too is known for its impeccable sourcing, minimal waste, and pared-back cooking. “Our […]

Reader Rehab: An Art Nouveau Apartment in Antwerp

When graphic designer (and Remodelista reader) Davy Dooms purchased an 850-square-foot apartment located in an Art Nouveau house in Antwerp, his goal was to create a blank canvas. “In all my work projects, I start by defining a working color palette,” he says. “I did the same thing in the decorating and furnishing of my […]

Kitchen of the Week: ‘SMILF’ Creator Frankie Shaw’s Newfangled Old-Fashioned Remodel by Reath Design

So many renovations we see nowadays entail brightening up interiors and whiting out—quite literally—what was originally there. What we admire about interior designer Frances Merrill, of Reath Design in Los Angeles, is her unique, trend-bucking strategy: rather than open up spaces and painting everything white, she creates cocoons of color, pattern, and moody warmth. This […]

A Room of One’s Own: An En Suite Retreat in Paris

Imagine an extra room becoming available in your home? The owner of this little retreat is a single father who lives with his teenaged son and 10-year-old daughter in Paris’s 19th in an art deco brick apartment building. When the large studio upstairs became available, he and the only other family living in the small […]

Kitchen of the Week: Aya Brackett’s Hippie House Update in Oakland

When photographer Aya Brackett and her husband, Corey John Creasey, a freelance film director, wanted to upgrade the kitchen of their Oakland, California, home, they had to marry their modern sensibilities and utilitarian needs with the character of their “funky, hand-built” house. “It’s a hodgepodge,” she says, built partly in 1895 and partly in the […]

10 Easy Pieces: Under-Bed Storage Solutions

Beneath the bed is some of the best storage real estate in the house. If you’d like to do something a little more intentional than just stuffing or kicking things under there, consider the under-bed storage solution. Designed in metal, wood, and soft or structured fabric, the right storage drawers and bags can make all […]

10 Secrets for Happy Housekeeping

The art of designing (and redesigning) a home is an act of expression available to all: It’s what Remodelista is all about. The creating, designing, imagining what will be—this is the fun part. And then there’s the upkeep; the less-than-thrilling (read: dreaded) part. The good news? Our relationship with cleaning is one thing that we […]

Trend Alert: 8 Companies Designing Modular Kitchen Components

If I had it my way, renting apartments in the States would be more like it is in Germany, where renters bring their own kitchen components from one rental to another. That way, I could make a one-time investment and save myself the grief of dodgy ovens and linoleum counters. Just give me a blank […]

Kitchen of the Week: An Imposing English Manor, Updated for Modern Family Life

Pevsner’s Architectural Guide: The Buildings of England details the style and history of every building of architectural significance in the country. England doesn’t suffer for lack of old buildings—there are 51 volumes in the series—but this manor still stands out. According to the guide on Lincolnshire, a county known for its rural beauty, “Few houses in […]

Steal This Look: Serene Scandinavian Winter Bedroom

Spend any time cruising the Web lately and you can’t help but get caught up in the recent studies directly linking productivity (not to mention well being and happiness) to sleep. By now you’ve probably heard what a bedroom should and should not be: it should be a serene space sheltered from your busy life, […]

Required Reading: Stylist Hilary Robertson’s “Nomad At Home”

Even if you don’t know the name Hilary Robertson, chances are you’ve admired her work. An in-demand creative director and interior stylist, she has been deftly “moving furniture around,” since childhood. Raised in England and now based in Brooklyn, Hilary, aka Mrs. Robertson, has created memorable visuals for a dizzying list of clients, from Elle […]

A Culture Club for Berlin’s Digital Bohemians

Throughout the 1920s, the space now occupied by Sankt Oberholz was an important venue for Berlin’s avant-garde arts scene. Today, it’s a culture club for the millennial version. Sankt Oberholz (“Saint Oberholz”) in Berlin is a cafe that doubles as a public office space for the city’s laptopped creative types, who come for the simple […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Katrin Arens Design in Sardinia with 250-Year-Old Wood

We’ve been followers of German designer Katrin Arens, an Italy-based master of old-as-new, for a while now. Arens, who is both a furniture and interior designer by trade, has been giving new life to castoff materials for more than 20 years through her furniture, kitchen, and object designs—long before the reclaimed wood trend came about. […]

Kitchen of the Week: Brave New Eco Design for a Low-Impact Home

Truth in advertising? Brave New Eco is a design studio based in Brunswick, Australia, that, as its name implies, marries sustainable practices with daring modern style. A few years ago, the firm was brought on to conceive thoughtful finishes and custom millwork for a new build in West Bend—and make it all planet-friendly to boot. […]

Chez Marie Sixtine: The Chicest New Guest Pad in Paris

When the apartment above Marie-Sixtine’s flagship store in Paris’s 11th Arrondissement opened up, the two-year-old fashion line decided to apply its look to interiors. Working with art director/designer Sandrine Place and architect Baptiste Legué, the brand dreamed up Chez Marie-Sixtine, a candy-colored “confidential cocoon” cast in the image of the boho gamine its crop tops and playsuits are made for. In lieu of a […]

Organic Architecture on the Côte d’Azur: A Jacques Couëlle Villa with a New Kitchen Extension

Antiquarian, draftsman, and self-taught architect Jacques Couëlle, 1902-1996, built a number of astonishing houses on the French Riviera. Made of carved concrete, they’re defined by their fluid lines and close-to-nature interiors—in Couëlle’s day, a critic haughtily, if accurately, labeled them “improved caves.” Needless to say, Couëlle dwellings are hot tickets these days. A villa that […]

Ikea Kitchen Upgrade: 11 Custom Cabinet Companies for the Ultimate Kitchen Hack

Love the price and functionality of Ikea kitchen components but not the cabinet front choices? An array of new companies is offering custom cabinet fronts to pair with Ikea’s kitchen systems. “Ikea cabinets are like building blocks,” says Finnish company A.S. Helsingö. “The quality is solid,” adds John McDonald, founder of SemiHandmade. “And we especially love their price; […]

Die kunstvolle Schuhkartonwohnung, Workstead Edition

Charged with rethinking a 10-year-old, water-damaged shoebox apartment on New York’s Upper West Side, the team at Workstead transformed it into a model of style and efficiency via extensive millwork installations. The apartment belongs to a London couple who use it as a pied-à-terre that also has to work well as a home office and entertaining […]

Channeling 1970s California Style: Sun Ranch Resort in Byron Bay, Australia

Located in the hinterlands of Byron Bay, the Australian seaside hangout and surfing hub, Sun Ranch channels the area’s hang loose vibe. But it does so in surprising, inventive ways: the resort is set on a 55-acre former cattle farm and takes inspiration from 1970s California ranches houses—sunken living room, crushed velvet upholstery, fringed lampshades, […]