The first time I walked into our home, I remember immediately shifting into remodeling mode: I saw the potential, while ignoring the downsides of an 80-year-old house that hadn’t been updated in decades. I recall trying to quiet my fussy newborn and telling my four-year-old not to touch a thing. The realtor gently suggested we […]

Hand-Hewn Cabins at Dunton Hot Springs in Colorado
Not too far from the groomed slopes of Telluride, over a mountain in a remote valley of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, lies Dunton Hot Springs. This former ghost town has been painstakingly restored, with many original features preserved; in addition, several historic structures have been hauled in from other parts of Colorado. Many of the […]

World’s Tiniest Spa Bath: A Grecian-Inspired Guest Suite in LA
In designer Michaela Scherrer‘s all-white Pasadena bungalow, the guest suite comes with the ultimate minimalist spa bath, ancient Greek-style sunken bathtub included. Michaela is a member of the Remodelista Architect/Designer Directory, and we got to know her when we photographed her surpassingly calm quarters for the Remodelista book. Her style is meditative but far from monastic: She’s a master at using […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Flemish-Inspired Contemporary Farmhouse Kitchen
The client grew up in the area riding ponies in the fields that surround his Georgian house near Belfast, Ireland. He returned after many years in London and purchased a farmstead in disrepair. Wanting to turn his place into “a tribute to craftsmanship,” he worked with Artichoke, a UK design-build firm specializing in bespoke, top-drawer […]

Kitchen: Teragren Bamboo Countertops & Cabinets
Founded in 1994 by Ann and David Knight, self-described “avid environmentalists,” Teragren is one of North America’s largest manufacturers of environmentally friendly bamboo flooring, stair parts, trim, panels, veneer, and butcher block countertops. “We control production from harvest to distribution of all Teragren products,” the couple says, “specifying only materials and processes that meet stringent […]

Steal This Look: A Minimalist Bedroom Suite in Portugal (with Character)
Spotted in the Pensao Favorita Hotel Porto in Portugal: an airy bedroom suite with dozens of ideas to steal. Above: A small dining and lounging area has an array of seating options. Above: A minimally outfitted bedroom with an outdoor seating area. Above: The bed is outfitted in crisp white linens with matching accent pillows and […]

Bedroom: Philippe Allaeys Bed and Tray for e15
From Julie: Based in Germany, e15 produces elegant, minimalist furniture made with solid European wood. The Noah Bed, in oil-finished European oak or Hemlock fir, is by Belgian designer Philippe Allaeys and seems to hover off the floor. Go to e15 for ordering information. 14Feet in Healdsburg, California, carries the line, as does M2L Collection […]

How to Paint Kitchen Cabinets: 5 Tips from an Expert Painter
This week we’re revisiting some of the most popular summer stories from the archives. Here’s one: Lately we’ve been admiring DIY kitchen makeovers involving little more than paint applied to dreary wooden cabinets (see Remodeling 101: 6 Kitchen Cabinets Transformed with Paint for evidence). How to best tackle such a project on your own? For […]

Kitchen of the Week: Art and Soul in a Copenhagen Kitchen
Scandinavian contemporary kitchens are known for their pale, stripped-down allure. But this custom design by KBH Københavns Møbelsnedkeri (translation: Copenhagen Cabinetmaking) plays against type. Equal parts refined and homey, it’s composed of fumed oak, dark stone, and patinated brass mingled with artwork and patterned tiles. A combination island/breakfast counter dominates the floor space. Look closely […]

Real Estate Staging with Style and Affordability: 8 Insider Tips from Hollister and Porter Hovey
No politics. No religion. No baggage: “When getting your home ready to sell, you want your place to have a strong point of view without any polarizing personality,” says Porter Hovey. She and her sister, Hollister, are in-demand Brooklyn interior staging specialists who fell into their trade during Porter’s four years as a real estate […]

The Brass Tacks: Bright 1970s-Style Hardware Essentials from Hawkins New York
Where to go when you need to get a grip? Paul Denoly and Nick Blaine, the creative couple behind housewares brand Hawkins New York, posed the question recently when they bought a 1970s house in Sea Ranch, the innovative planned community on the coast in Sonoma County, California. The two approached its remodel fully loaded […]

Rooms Full of Stories: A Shop Owner’s Colorful Cottage from New Book “House London”
Sisters Ellie and Anna Stathaki grew up in Greece and separately made their way to London for postgrad studies. Nearly 20 years later, they both found themselves happily, if unexpectedly, still in London and working in overlapping fields: Ellie is the architecture editor at Wallpaper* magazine and Anna is an architecture and interiors photographer. Not surprisingly, […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Salon-Style Kitchen/Dining Room for a Historic Paris Apartment
If most kitchens are dressed in the design equivalent of everyday wear, Philippe Harden’s T1 project qualifies as black tie. The Paris architect was commissioned by an old friend to update his childhood home in a stately turn-of-the-19th-century apartment building in the Marais, original details worse for wear but intact. Wanting a sympathetic top-to-bottom refresh, […]

Rehab Diary: A British Standard Kitchen in a Shepherd’s Hut
In our quest for more space, most of us will appropriate and convert anything with four walls that doesn’t require a building permit. And if it moves, so much the better. The craze for Airstream trailers in the US has its equivalent in the UK–the shepherd’s hut on wheels. Fulfilling a desire to outfit a […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Plain English Interpretation in the East Village
The kitchen in the Manhattan townhouse was brand new, complete with sleek white cabinets and stainless steel appliances. But it just didn’t feel quite like home, which, for the owners, is mainly in London. Their solution: Commission Plain English, the bespoke “cupboardmakers” from the UK, to design a cozy kitchen that reflects their British roots. […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Not Too Precious Kitchen for “Faux Martha” in Minnesota
We’ve tapped The Faux Martha blogger Melissa Coleman several times in the past for her expertise on streamlined, straightforward cooking. (See The Only 5 Pots and Pans You’ll Ever Need and The Only Five Things You Need to Cook a Delicious Thanksgiving Turkey.) So when images of her kitchen remodel landed in our inbox, we […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Zesty Combination of Old and New by an Aspiring Interior Designer
This last week of August, we’re revisiting summery stories from the archives, like this one: When creative director Charlotte Simpson and her partner, Gavin, moved into their Victorian terrace in southeast London, the kitchen was “by far the worst part of the house.” The roof was constructed from corrugated plastic, a manhole was positioned in […]

Steal This Look: A Modern Bedroom in an 1890s Iron Foundry
In renovating an old iron foundry, architect Ravi Raj struck a balance between preservation and adding a “modern volume,” as he calls it. The bedroom, situated in a side structure, features a layering of elements, from paint to vintage furniture to lighting. Here we detail the key elements of this primarily black-and-white space. Photography by […]

Kitchen of the Week: At Home with a Couple Who Design Kitchens of Sustainable Bamboo
When you design and produce kitchens for a living, you get to use your own quarters as a testing ground. Kine Ask Stenersen and Kristoffer Eng are the couple behind Ask og Eng, the Oslo, Norway-based workshop known for its artful Ikea hacks: they specialize in making bamboo fronts for Ikea kitchen cabinets. The duo […]

An Interior for Introverts: Adding Peace and Quiet to a 1910 Westchester House
Maleeha and Ian and their two daughters decamped from Brooklyn to Westchester County, just north of the city, for familiar reasons. In need of breathing room, the family—she’s a UX designer, he’s a doctor—settled on a 1910 Mediterranean-style fixer-upper in Pelham, New York, with an elegant terracotta-tiled roof and lots of windows. They took the […]

Revolution Road: An Architect-Designed Compound in Shanghai
Confession: We’ve been hesitant at Remodelista to delve into the design scene in China; it’s unknown territory for us. But we’ve been quietly bookmarking projects that speak to us (and make us want to get on a plane). First up: a compelling whitewashed brick compound in Shanghai by KUU Architects, a design practice run by […]

Kitchen of the Week: An Award-Winning Project with a Heart of Darkness
Our love for light-filled, airy interiors is well-documented, but every once in a while, we encounter moody, sexy spaces that tempt us to the dark side—like this culinary lair from deVOL designed for a couple who live in Petersham, a small village on the Thames, not far from London. The owners wanted a space that […]

Steal This Look: A Yellow-Accented Kitchen in Copenhagen
This week we’re revisiting some of our favorite all-time summer stories, like this one: Here’s a dose of sunshine, courtesy of Danish kitchen designers Reform. Outfitted in oak veneer, stainless steel, and a gradient of yellow to ochre tile, the minimalist look is one to co-opt. Here, we profile the essential items to recreate it, […]

An Ode to Rural Life: A Low-Impact Family Home in Surrey by Rural Office
In the Great Austens conservation area in the market town of Farnham in Surrey, England, Ben and Claire Macland were looking to replace an old interwar bungalow located on a corner plot. The bungalow was poorly constructed with an even poorer energy rating. They called on Rural Office, an architecture firm based in Carmarthen, Wales […]

10 Easy Pieces: Kids’ Modern Beds
The kids’ furniture market has grown–and grown up, fortunately. Here are our choices for simple, functional, and well-designed twin beds (not just reserved for the under-twelve set). Above: The Crate & Barrel Hampshire Olive Green Arched Bed is on sale for $109.65 to $594.15 depending on size. Above: The upholstered Twin Ella Bed comes in […]

10 Things Nobody Tells You About Painting Kitchen Cabinets
Ready to make a change in your kitchen, without the expense and hassle of sourcing and installing all-new everything? A new coat of paint on kitchen cabinets, when done well, can completely change the look of your kitchen—on a minimal budget. (If you need proof, just see 6 Kitchen Cabinets Transformed with Paint.) Ready to […]

The Body in Blue: Laxmi Hussain’s London Home and Studio Showcase Her Figural Art
As a girl, Laxmi Hussain loved spending afternoons drawing in her father’s corner store in St. John’s Wood, London: “I used to spread my paper and pens on top of the ice cream fridges looking out the window.” She went on to earn a degree in architecture and to work in design. She’s now a […]

Kitchen(s) of the Week: 10 Petite Paris Spaces by Marianne Evennou, Master of the Bite-Size Design
Let others bemoan the challenges of fitting a working kitchen into a closet-sized space. To designer Marianne Evennou, c’est normal. Marianne caters to a Parisian clientele who ask her to take on all sorts of remodels, from first apartments to historic townhouses. Celebrated for her inventive use of color and interior windows—and for approaching each […]

Sleep Well: 5 Bedding Sales to Shop This Week
How’s your sleep these days? If you’re anything like us, getting into bed is the best part of the day. Sleep is finally getting its due as an essential component of good health, not a luxury or a mark of laziness. Case in point: This week is the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Awareness Week, and […]

Kitchen of the Week: A State-of-the-Art Kitchen System from Finland
Emerging Finnish design company Kitzen specializes in kitchen systems that offer, as its founders like to say, “the ideal conditions for cooking.” And, we might add, for keeping clutter out of sight. Kitzen’s look is modern and seamless: Its fully made kitchens use top-of-the-line materials and appliances (by Miele and Gaggenau) and don’t skimp on the storage. Kitzen customizes […]

5 Strategies for Covering 50 Windows—for Under a Million Dollars
Curtains can go very, very wrong. If you go overboard, you end up with something heavy and expensive and claustrophobic, like one of those getups Sally Field wore in Lincoln. On the other hand, don’t ignore them until too late, after all the remodel money has been spent. Like I did. With my husband threatening […]

A Northern California Roadhouse Inn, Restored with Whimsy (and a Hint of Surrealism)
After the legendary Manka’s Inverness Lodge in West Marin, California, burned in a fire, owners Margaret Grade and Daniel DeLong were looking for a commercial kitchen to cook in again. When they heard the former Olema Inn was up for sale, they jumped at the opportunity. The roadhouse, built in 1876, is on the corner […]

The Woodhouse Lodge: Designer Megan Pflug’s Catskills Motor Lodge Makeover
The Woodhouse Lodge dates to 1962 when the Catskills were the Borscht Belt (aka the Jewish Alps). Unlike so many neighboring resorts that went belly up decades ago, this modest joint—a welcoming A-frame with wings—carried on. But it had seen far better days when New York interior designer Megan Pflug and her artist husband, J. […]

Concrete Chic: The Line Hotel in LA’s Koreatown
Set in a stripped-down 1960s Hyatt in LA’s buzzing Koreatown, the now debuting Line Hotel–from the owner of New York’s NoMad–takes a refreshingly raw approach to the architectural makeover. Hotel impresario Andrew Zobler of the Sydell Group let loose an impressive creative team, including It Boy chef Roy Choi and LA designer Sean Knibb, to […]

The Ethical Kitchen Project: A Machine for Cooking
Why are contemporary kitchens so big? Danish designer Tobias Tí¸stesen poses this question on behalf of the environment, as well as our quality of life: “Do we really need all those one-purpose machines that then require big kitchens with a lot of space?” Tí¸stesen thinks not, and to prove it, he designed the Ethical Kitchen, a prototype […]

Kitchen of the Week: The New Italian Country Kitchen by Katrin Arens, Scrap Wood Edition
For 20 years now, Italy-based German interior designer and furniture maker Katrin Arens has been finding fresh uses for discarded wood. She’s still on the vanguard of the reclaimed movement: “I love reusing wood to make things that will last,” she tells us. “I aim for designs that are simple and clean without being cold.” Today […]

Before & After: A 2,500-Square-Foot Pre-War Brooklyn Apartment Opens Up by Relocating the Kitchen
Dubbed “Brooklyn’s Champs-Élysées” by the New York Times, Eastern Parkway in Prospect Heights is a grand thoroughfare that counts among its architectural gems Grand Army Plaza, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Museum—all within a half mile of each other. Nestled among these landmarks are elegant pre-war apartment buildings, like Turner Towers, Brooklyn’s first […]

Steal This Look: A Wood-Clad Scandi Guest Room in London
Working with London-based firm Mike Tuck Studio, Danish-American couple Catherine and Toke Nygaard remodeled their four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in South Hackney with a decidedly Scandinavian bent. Case in point? Their upstairs guest room clad in Dinesen wood and Nordic furniture reads more like a fjord-side summerhouse than a small urban bedroom. Here we profile the […]

Camptown: The New High-Style Cabin Retreat in the Catskills
Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, New York, debuted in 2015 and set a new standard for locally sourced, inventively designed hotels in the Hudson Valley and Catskills north of NYC. Designed by Workstead, Rivertown was the first project of Ramshackle Properties, Ray Pirkle and Kim Bucci’s boutique hospitality firm, and is a favorite Remodelista retreat—and source […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Bright Berlin Kitchen with a Subdued Palette
Experts of European luxe minimalism, designers Lea Korzeczek and Matthias Hiller of Studio Oink were called upon to renovate the garden apartment of a Wilhelminian-style building in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood for a young family of four. The order included a 200-square-foot bespoke kitchen among the 1,400 square feet spanning the ground and first floors. […]
