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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Past Future: The Drei Berge Hotel from Ramdane Touhami in Mürren, Switzerland
Suspending time in a cinematic atmosphere, the Drei Berge Hotel in the Bernese Oberland Alps of Mürren, Switzerland, can only be the creation of Ramdane Touhami. The French Moroccan creative polymath is an expert of reinvention, responsible for Cire Trudon and the historic beauty brand L’Officine Universelle Buly, which he co-founded with wife and partner […]
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 […]
Steal This Look: A Warm, Traditional English Kitchen in Hampshire
Interior designer Tamsin Saunders refreshed a Grade II listed Arts & Crafts home in Hampshire, England for a family with a light touch, an updated traditional aesthetic. She worked with the family’s inherited antiques while sourcing others, added an AGA range, customized cabinetry, and refitted fixtures. Here, we present a list of similar sources to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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, […]
LA Autumnal: A 1920s House Makeover Composed in Jewel Tones
Floral velvet has never crossed the threshold of any architect I know. Ditto leafy Victorian wallpaper. I’ve visited a lot of architects at home, and most are highly allergic to color and pattern. Sherry McKuin says she herself was a committed member of that cohort. That was until her family moved from a mid-century house […]
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. […]
A Subtly Detailed Kitchen in Stainless and Wood for a DC Artist and Her Family
When artist Roxana Alger Geffen and her family moved into a Victorian-era townhouse in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, DC., the house had an awkward configuration, but they tried to make it work. Specifically, the kitchen and living room were located on the second floor, so although the artist was able to set up her studio […]