The small Belgian town of Wevelgem in West Flanders was once devoted to flax cultivation (weavers would soak their crop in the De Leie river running through town). Today, the area, within biking distance of the French border, is known for its old churches, WWI cemeteries, cycling and walking trails, and Heerlijkheid van Marrem, a historic […]
DIY: Wallpaper Headboard by Emma Cassi
London-based French jewelry designer and stylist Emma Cassi sees unusual things with her stylist eyes–things that might pass the rest of us by. When her grandmother passed away leaving boxes of antique lace, Cassi transformed the lace into what has become her signature line of handmade jewelry. (The blogosphere is full of admirers, from fashion designer Pearl […]
A Bespoke Parlor and Kitchen in Boerum Hill
Brooklyn-based Workstead’s latest project is what they call “a case study in addition and subtraction.” The house in question, which belongs to a young Boerum Hill family, had undergone a contractor-led renovation that gave it solid walls and new floors but no personality. “The home definitely lacked soul,” said design lead and project architect Ryan Mahoney. It […]
Steal This Look: Midcentury-Modern Luxe Guest Room at Hotel Sanders in Copenhagen
When we first featured the new Hotel Sanders in Copenhagen with interiors by London-based Lind & Almond, a reader commented, “PLEASE do a Steal This Look for that guest room.” Here, our answer, with a list of sources kindly shared by the designers—including their new line of Hotel Sanders furniture available through Lind & Almond. […]
Hotel Panache: The Power of Jolie Laide Style
Dorothée Meilichzon is an inventive Paris designer who dares to explore the concept of jolie laide, or unconventional beauty. “I’m not a gray-beige person,” she tells us. “I like layering colors, and finding—and setting—the limits of what is ‘too much.’” Trained as an industrial designer (who was an exchange student at RISD and received the Maison & Objet Designer of […]
Sleep and Storage from Father Rabbit, in Auckland
We’ve long admired the curatorial eye of Claudia Zinzan and Nick Hutchison of the Auckland, New Zealand, housewares store Father Rabbit Limited. The shop began online and expanded into a storefront next to the owners’ own home (see our post Shopper’s Diary: Father Rabbit Finds a New Home). Now the duo has taken curation a […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Creative Couple’s Ikea Hack in Black and White, Tiled Pantry Included
The clock was ticking. Lena de Casparis and Scott O’Donnell had six months to overhaul their terrace house fixer-upper in East London. “We could only afford to rent somewhere for that time, and we have two young daughters, so living in a building site wasn’t practical; we had to make the project happen,” says Lena. […]
10 Easy Pieces: Bin Pulls in Brass
Looking for an easy, high impact way to transform your kitchen? Consider replacing old cabinet hardware with new. A can’t-go-wrong-choice for classic kitchens: brass bin pulls. Above: A kitchen in Stockholm via Interior Stockholm. Above: The Cal Crystal Solid Brass Cup Pull comes in eight finishes (shown here in polished brass); $6.30 from Pulls Direct. […]
Before & After: Remodelista Contributing Editor Izabella Simmons Shares Her Scandi-Inspired Remodel
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 […]
The White Album: 27 Serene Bedrooms in Shades of Pale
Who doesn’t long for a bedroom that acts like a lullaby? If you’re sleep-challenged—isn’t everyone these days?—consider creating your own cloud chamber. Fans of all-white bedrooms use words like “tranquil,” “blank slate,” “no distractions,” and “Zen” to describe the appeal. There’s also an automatic tidy look that comes with opting for all white: a single […]
Christine’s House: Living Small in London
Whenever my architect husband and I embark on a remodeling project in our modern London terraced house, we morph into truffle pigs, sniffing out storage opportunities in the most unlikely places. And when there’s no more to be found, we create new opportunities. A little ingenuity and a great deal of flexibility means that over […]
Reinventing the Mattress, Silicon Valley Edition
What happens when programmer guys go shopping for mattresses? They toss and turn at night and dream up schemes for disrupting the industry. Two sleep startups are seeking to reinvent the way mattresses are made and sold, streamlining the options and cutting out the middlemen. Casper Above: “We looked at the hotel industry, where they […]
An Apartment in Taipei: A Childhood Home, Updated for a Newlywed Couple
Homework, an upstart interior design firm in Taipei, Taiwan, specializes in using plaster finishes and vintage furnishings to create hushed, self-contained worlds. A year ago, we featured a Tea House Built from Sentimental Objects and Homework’s own Bohemian Photo Studio. Today, we’re spotlighting an apartment in a 1990s building in downtown Taipei that the firm […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Vibrant Family Kitchen in North London
Another hard-to-ignore Uncommon Projects kitchen, this time in cheerful shades of coral and hot orange. This kitchen belongs to Rachel Kay, her husband, George, and their two daughters, Seren, nine, and Eira, six. It’s on the ground floor of a three-story Victorian terraced house in Stoke Newington, North London. They moved in just before the […]
New Kid on the Block: A Skinny-Luxe Lower East Side Apartment Hotel
The slender tower that spans the block between Allen and Orchard streets on NYC’s Lower East Side is a recent build designed to fit in, and, in typical New Yorker fashion, to make a style statement. The building is set on an in-fill lot with an extremely narrow footprint, and architects Matthew Grzywinski and Amador Pons of Grzywinski […]
Ikea Elevated: Kitchen Cabinet Fronts Made of a Surprise Sustainable Material
Who knew bamboo could look this good? Of late, we’ve seen an array of cabinet fronts designed to elevate Ikea kitchens. Ask og Eng’s of Oslo, Norway, are our latest favorites—and among the only to approach the challenge with high-style green design in mind. Like so many small workshops, owners Kine Ask Stenersen and Kristoffer Eng tell […]
Midcentury Modern Meets Medina
For Emma Wilson and Graham Carter it was love at first sight—with Morocco, that is. The result of their romance? Dar Beida, an 18th-century villa by the sea, where the couple offers visitors an original mix of 1960s retro and ethno/Moroccan architecture and design. Wilson and Carter visited this Northern African kingdom at different times […]
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 […]
Quiet Beauty in Edinburgh: At Home and Work with Nina Plummer
When Nina and Craig Plummer left London for Edinburgh, they came seeking soulful living. The two met as psychology students at Dundee University and they take an analytical approach to interiors and the feelings rooms impart. Self-taught design aficionados, they share a love of antiques, quiet spaces, and applying care and intention to their quarters: […]
New for Summer: Hay’s Été Line of Striped Linens
Made of 100 percent cotton, with wide, sun-bleached stripes, Copenhagen-based Hay’s Été bedlinen, designed by Amanda Borberg, adds a nautical note to the summer bedroom. For dealer information, go to Hay. Here’s a look: Above: The Ete Collection in warm yellow; the bed cover is the Crinkled Bedspread in cream. Above: A detail of the warm yellow […]
Kitchen of the Week: Frama’s Freestanding Components Made By Top-Drawer Swedish Cabinetmaker Kvänum
A decade or so ago, when Niels Strøyer Christophersen founded his celebrated Copenhagen design firm, Frama, he used his living quarters in a restored 1905 watchmaker’s shop as a showcase for his studio’s work. Extolling natural, unpretentious materials, ease of use, and reverence for the old, Christophersen went on to created refreshingly simple elements for […]
Kitchen of the Week: Commune of LA Designs a Culinary Space in Paris
Edgy Southern California style meets French luxe in a Paris artist’s garret remodeled by Commune of LA. The commission came from Paula Nataf and her two sons, Franck and Alexis, who together founded Exquisite Surfaces, the LA-based tile and flooring company that offers several Commune-designed collections. The transcontinental family (Paula grew up in Tunisia and raised her kids in Paris before […]
Retreat for Two: A Lakeside Rental Cabin at Settle in Norfolk, England
Guests at Settle, a vacation enclave in Norfolk, on the east coast of England, are invited to make themselves at home in a range of accommodations, including canvas safari tents, converted railway carriage (see our recent feature Getaway Cars), and a lake cabin. All are the result of the combined talents of owners Jo and […]
Copenhagen Clubhouse The Audo: A New Creative Hub with Hotel Rooms Under the Rafters
Set in a shipping merchant’s quarters in Copenhagen’s waterfront district, The Audo is an ambitious new multi-use gathering place. It was dreamed up by the founder of furniture company Menu, Bjarne Hansen, to serve as the brand’s new headquarters, and also to showcase its designs put to use—in a concept store, restaurant and cafe, co-working […]
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 […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Japanese-Style Upgrade for Ikea Kitchens
Taking inspiration from traditional Japanese architecture as well as her own Nordic roots, 39-year-old Danish furniture maker Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm detailed her new kitchen design with intersecting bands of solid ash: The shoji screen meets Danish minimalism. The goal, she says, was to create cabinetry that can be “perceived as a piece of furniture.” Surprisingly […]
‘Resourcefulness as a Design Principle’: A One-of-a-Kind Remodel by Two Artists on a Budget
Amy Dennis studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art and then went on to work in curatorial roles before returning to painting full time. Her husband, Neville Rae, has a degree in environmental art from Glasgow School of Art and worked as an artist and technician before launching Old School Fabrications, a metalwork, carpentry, and […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Modular Kitchen in Stockholm with a Seasonal (and Swappable) Palette
Designed by Perniclas Bedow of Bedow Design Studio, this small modular kitchen is designed to change colors with the seasons and is located in a 1909 house in a leafy neighborhood in Stockholm, on Bjorkvagen Street (which translates to Birch Street). “Instead of imitating a hundred-year-old style, I wanted to contrast the house’s history with […]
Pillow Talk: 7 Secrets to Making a Perfect Bed
If you count all the hours we allot to plumping pillows, smoothing sheets, straightening shams, and fussing over how the whole thing looks, we spend as much time on our beds as in them. Yet the results never look as good as pictures in magazines. Enough already. I am a busy person and so are you. Here’s a foolproof […]
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 […]
Kitchen of the Week: An Ikea Kitchen, Elevated and Upgraded
We love a good Ikea-hack kitchen. This delightful one comes to us courtesy of London-based architects James Alder and Thom Brisco (formerly of Alder Brisco, now practicing as James Alder Architect and Brisco Loran). Tasked with building an extension to a 1930s townhouse in West London for a couple with young children, they came up […]
En Résidence: A Guest House and Residency at Château de la Haute Borde in the Loire Valley
After a friend took part in the artist residency program at the Château de la Haute Borde a few summers back, I’ve admired the interiors and images of artists and guests gathered around long dinner tables in the tall grasses of the surrounding grounds. Located in Rilly-sur-Loire, the chateau was initially built in 1876 before […]
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 […]
A Modest Home in Maebashi
In the heart of Maebashi, a residential district in Gunma, Japan, lies Tsuduri No Ie. The single-story home is built like a pinwheel, pivoting around a well-lit inner courtyard while casting shadows in narrow hallways. Built by Mikiya and Saori Ueki of Studio Synapse, Tsurdi No Ie plays off contrast, with white-washed walls, earthy wood […]
Head for the Hills: Two NYC Architects Design Their Own Passive House, Vipp Kitchen Included
Maria Ibañez de Sendadiano and Todd Rouhe met at work back when they were both young architects at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson. That was a while ago: the couple have been running their own NYC firm, IdS/R Architecture, since 2000, have two daughters who are now teenagers, and recently found themselves in the happy position of […]
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(s) of the Week: 5 Made-in-America Kitchen Companies
Here at Remodelista, we are eternally on the hunt for thoughtfully designed kitchens stocked with fresh ideas. The spaces that meet those qualifications tend to fall under three categories: entirely personalized and custom-built; supplied by a European specialty firm, such as Reform, deVol, and Plain English (all of which now have showrooms in the US); […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Photographer’s Light-Flooded Shaker-Scandi Carriage Studio
The first thing one learns in any introduction to photography class is that capturing images with a camera is all about light—the presence of it, the absence of it, the quality of it. Which is why when Vancouver-based photographer Gillian Stevens convinced her parents to turn a carriage house in their backyard into her own […]