Most kids’ rooms are stopgap affairs: basic-at-best overrun by toys and stuffed animals. After all, childhood is brief. Or is it? The parents of the siblings who occupy this compact suite in a 1905 NYC building (a converted sewing factory) decided it was worth investing in quarters their kids, now ages three and five, can share for years to come. […]

Steal This Look: An Artful Bedroom at the Hotel Tivoli
When art stars Brice and Helen Marden took over the Hotel Tivoli, the Wall Street Journal likened the project to Martin Scorsese deciding to run a diner. Julie recently checked in for a night. She returned beyond impressed–and ready to channel their fearless way with color (French’s Mustard yellow, included). Above: The Mardens remodeled the […]

The Tidy Life: 7 Daily Habits from the Author of Simple Matters
Over the years Erin Boyle has been chronicling her life in a tiny apartment and sharing her insights with us on Gardenista (she’s the site’s former associate editor, now a contributor) and Remodelista. We’re happy to spread the word that she’s just come out with a book, Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More (Abrams). While this year’s […]
Steal This Look: A Shaker-Style Kitchen in Full Color
Designer Sophie van Winden of Owl Design transformed the dining room of an East London Edwardian house into a fully functioning kitchen, complete with Shaker cabinets and an unexpected dose of color. Here, we break down the essential components of the kitchen to re-create the look. Above: The Edwardian bones of the formal dining room […]

La Bionda Hotel in Spain’s Costa Brava: A Romantic Reuse Project by Quintana Partners
We leap to attention whenever Quintana Partners complete a project. Based in Barcelona and Menorca, Spain, interior designers Pol Castells and Benito Escat specialize in what they term “giving waste a second chance.” Translation: they like to begin with historic, often derelict structures and deftly renew them by exposing hidden layers—”the beauty behind all the […]

Built to Last: An Interior Designer’s Trend-Proof Apartment in Copenhagen
Not long ago, we spotted a charming Copenhagen apartment on the blog Scandinavia Standard. The home’s interior style is hard to define—it’s a compelling mix of Asian artwork, mid-century lines, rustic antiques, bohemian coziness, and, of course, Scandi sensibility—but the overall effect is balanced and appealing. It helps that the bones of the place come […]

Philadelphia Story: Two Creatives Tackle Their Own Kitchen
Ada Egloff and Rick Banister bought their Victorian row house in South Philly for a steal back in 2007, when they were fresh out of college: “Philadelphia real estate: How is the secret not yet out?” she asks. They’ve been chipping away at their place themselves ever since. And though neither came to the project with […]

Fez Embroidered Bed Linens from Morocco
Founded by Lela Barker, From Morocco with Love imports artisan-made goods from Morocco, with a portion of the proceeds going to local schools and charities. We especially like the Embroidered Bed Linens, made from heavyweight 100 percent cotton with traditional Fez embroidery. According to Barker, “a purchase of this product directly supports talented craftsmen in […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Stylist’s $3,400 Kitchen Makeover, DIY Scandi Edition
Thanks to my Instagram habit, I’m stopped in my tracks daily by the sets and still lifes that Scandinavian stylists create for clients like Iitalla and Asun. So clean. So magically simple. So serene. How does this talent, I always wonder, translate at home? Not surprisingly, it translates exceptionally well. Here’s a perfect example: Star Finnish interiors and prop stylist Anna Pirkola (@annapirkola) […]

Steal This Look: An Industrial Kitchen in Brooklyn, Wood-Fired Grill Included
In a Brooklyn townhouse gut renovation by architect Elizabeth Roberts, the parlor floor kitchen was opened up with steel-framed windows, a new kitchen island, and a fireplace turned wood-fired grill (the owners cook often). Here’s a look at the individual elements to borrow a few ideas for your own kitchen. Above: The kitchen is at […]

Steal This Look: A Luxe Bedroom Suite in Antwerp
Yesterday, we featured Boulevard Leopold, a 19th century B &B in the heart of Antwerp. We especially like the moody Old World glamor of the bedrooms, which feature touches of black velvet, brocade, and antique tapestry panels. For a similar look, see our sources below. Above: Photograph by Ben Lambers and Tatjana Quax for Design […]

Required Reading: Petite Apartment Inspiration from French Interior Designer Marianne Evennou
Interior designer Marianne Evennou, our French doyenne of color, composition, and small-space living, has just published her first book. Un Intérieur à Soi (loose translation: “A Place of One’s Own”) is a compendium of her signature moves—interior windows, exposed beams, duo-toned walls, bonbon box-sized kitchens, and black Bakelite light switches—that dazzle us over and over. […]

High Road House in London Gets a Revamp
We’ve been longtime fans of High Road House, a London hotel and members’ club (it’s part of the Soho House group), so when we noticed that it had recently been overhauled by Alexander Waterworth Interiors, we took note. Located on the site of the historic Fouberts Hotel, in Chiswick, West London, High Road House opened […]

A Young Australian Designer’s Inventive Cabin Makeover, Ikea Upgrade Included
The term “loving hands at home” is typically applied derisively to crafts projects, but it feels perfect—in nothing but a positive way—for this high-style, DIY cabin remodel. That’s especially true when you know the backstory: Melbourne interior designer Andrea Moore of Studio Moore teamed up with her father, Lindsay Moore, a semi-retired veterinarian with #skillz, […]

A Tale of Two Styles: Proper Victorian on the Outside, Modern Zen on the Inside
Ed and Reema Stanbury are the co-founders of BLOK London, a boutique gym that, according to Vogue U.K., “is not a regular gym; it’s a cool gym.” Its three locations offer cool classes like “Animal Movement” (which “draws on the basics of animal motion”) and “BLOKBreath” (“dedicated to unlocking the benefits of conscious breathing”), alongside […]

Kitchen of the Week: Danish Design Star Cecilie Manz’s Ikea Hack Kitchen
Our Cecilie Manz fandom began a decade ago with her glamorous take on industrial lighting, the Caravaggio Pendant (see Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home, page 314). We’ve since featured the Danish designer’s Minima Carafe, Muuto Workshop Chair, and Aitio Shelves for Iittala, among others, always impressed by the cerebral charm and simplicity of her work. […]

Kitchen of the Week: A Living-Room-Inspired Minimalist Kitchen in Stockholm
We are loving the anti-kitchen kitchen trend we’ve been noticing of late. Instead of installing monolith walls of built-in cabinets and big shiny appliances, some designers are choosing to treat the room more like a living or family room and selecting finishes and furniture-like units to match. A while back, Swedish kitchen company Nordiska Kök […]

Best Reader-Submitted Bedroom Space Winner: Loren Madsen
Loren Madsen, an installation sculpture artist, is the winner in our Reader-Submitted Bedroom Space category in our first annual Considered Design Awards. Loren designed and built the bedroom with his wife, Libbe, on rural forested land in Laytonville, California. For the Madsens, both California natives, their wild mountain home was a long journey in the […]

DIY Paneled Wood Headboard: A Finnish Blogger’s Clever Bedroom Upgrade
This week we’re revisiting some of the most popular DIY stories from our archives. Read on for end-of-summer project inspiration: By day, Maiju Saha works as a social media marketing specialist and campaign designer. By night and on weekends, the mother of three dives into home improvement projects and blogs about them. Maiju and her […]

Is It Worth It? The Lowdown on Luxe Sheets by Sferra
I’ve always believed that, budget allowing, it is better to invest in well-made products. Not only do goods that have been painstakingly crafted from the finest materials bring more “joy,” as Marie Kondo would say, but also they last longer. That said, in every price-to-quality ratio, there is a tipping point where one has to […]

Remodeling 101: The U-Shaped Kitchen (Plus 10 Examples)
Ideal for small spaces, U-shaped kitchens (sometimes called C-shaped kitchens) can accommodate only one or two cooks, depending on the width of the U. As its name suggests, this configuration features a horseshoe-shaped work area, with cabinets and counters running around three sides with an open end for access. At its most narrow, it can […]

5 Favorites: Closet Storage Systems
Go ahead, admit it. You fantasize about that perfect, calm, clutter-free closet (we do). Whether you’re transforming an unused room into a walk-in closet or struggling with a tiny apartment closet, here are five closet storage systems worth considering. (NB: See Unclutterer’s Closet Organizing Tips to get you started.) Above: Italian company Poliform offers custom […]

A Soulful, Monastic House in New Zealand, Japanese-Shaker Style Included
The Rawene House, a mindfulness compound designed for a sound healer by Stevens Lawson Architects and Katie Lockhart Studio, is located in the Auckland suburb of Westmere. The architects built the steel-free timber house with a cast concrete wall, a cedar shingle steep angled roof, and passive design techniques in order to minimize toxins and […]

Steal This Look: A Peaceful Corner in London
In London’s Stoke Newington neighborhood, graphic designer Martina Casonato and her fiancé designed their first remodel with a sense of calm, warmth, and easygoingness, transforming the upstairs loft into a main bedroom and decorating the space with elegant but simple style. Here, we detail the main elements of the look: Above: Photography courtesy of Martina […]

Trend Alert: The Case for Burgundy Accents in the Kitchen
In the spectrum of reds, from fiery to relaxed, burgundy falls under the latter and is an easy, comforting shade to live with. Which perhaps explains why it’s having a color moment. Wine red may be associated with baronial settings, but it works surprisingly well as a prominent accent in kitchens, whether contemporary or old […]

Steal This Look: A Botanical Stylist’s Creative Kitchen Remodel in London
Leave it to a botanical stylist to come up with a kitchen like this one: serene and bright, with an installation of dried and living botanical displays. It’s the kitchen of Yasuyo Harvey, who got her start in London working with designer Faye Toogood. Yasuyo and her husband, Phil, remodeled the kitchen of their 1930s […]

Kitchen of the Week: ‘Wes Anderson Meets Provencal’ in West London
“Wes Anderson meets Provençal.” Designer Chris Graves (of Clarence & Graves) is describing his vision for his kitchen renovation. But what does that mean, exactly? For one thing, a memorable palette, in this case “a beautiful soft palette of pink, black and green”; for another, nostalgia for the past via quirky vintage and antique pieces. […]

A Fashion Designer’s Cabin in the Cape Cod of France
French website The Socialite Family chronicles how the “smart and cool”—and privileged—live in Europe. This is not the realm of inherited chateaus but of modernist taste applied to old Paris apartments and hipster vacation huts. One fave TSL fixation falls in the latter camp: British kids’-wear designer Louisa Rowland’s vacation cabane in Cap Ferret. Not […]

Perforated Light: A Czech Architect’s Modern Retreat on Historic Château Grounds
In the South Bohemian village of Kamenná Lhota, House Oskar is Prague-based architect Jan Žaloudek‘s own home—a retreat for himself and his wife, art historian and writer Jolanta Trojak—within the former gardens and Baroque barn of a neighboring château. The house, named after composer Oskar Nedbal, takes inspiration from both the rural vernacular and concept […]

Making History: A Primrose Hill House Brought Back—and Forward—in Time By Mark Lewis Interior Design
The Victorian townhouse in London’s Primrose Hill had been “nailed by contractors,” says project manager Emily Girling. This was not intended as a compliment. Girling is a member of the small team at Mark Lewis Interior Design, and grand resuscitations with a historic bent are Lewis’s specialty: see, for instance, A “Modern Victorian Loft” in […]

Steal This Look: A Serene Guest Room in Stockholm, Sweden
We’ve long admired the inviting interiors at Ett Hem, a hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by Ilse Crawford of Studioilse. Guest room color palettes are “the sort of tones that human skin looks good against,” Crawford told Monocle back in 2012. Here, a guest suite inspired by a Carl Larsson painting is a look we’d […]

Urban Cottage: Designer and “Creativepreneur” Angela Medlin’s Chic Victorian in Portland, OR
“Miss Vicky, as I affectionately named her, is a soulful lady with a little edginess,” says Angela Medlin by way of introduction to her 1906 Victorian cottage in Portland, Oregon’s Sunnyside. Medlin is a fashion designer and self-described “creativepreneur” specializing in sportswear: a series of job overseeing apparel collections for Adidas and Nike’s Jordan Brand […]

Steal This Look: An Earth-Toned Garden Suite in Southern France
Christèle and Hubert moved from Paris to the small town of Lectoure in southwestern France, taking on the restoration of an 18th-century royal tannery. Now operating as the Manufacture Royale de Lectoure, a spacious bed and breakfast, it includes a garden suite called the “Jardin” that opens directly onto the property’s garden. Christèle and Hubert […]

Abode in Bombay: The Ace Hotel of India?
Smack in the middle of bustling Colaba–the southernmost section of Mumbai, formerly home to its British quarter–the once touristy district is experiencing a modern renaissance. One of the new businesses cropping up in the area is Abode, a two-story, 20-room hotel in a historic building that pays homage to Bombay’s bohemian past. Opened last year […]
10 Easy Pieces: Storage Beds
The area beneath the bed is valuable real estate for those of us pressed for storage; shoving boxes under the bed is one option, or you can opt for a tidier look by selecting a bed frame with built-in drawers or other handy details. Here are our favorite storage beds that do the trick. Above: […]

Guest House No.16 in Denmark: Norm Architects’ Seaside Retreat Inspired by Hammershøi Paintings
Set within a forested enclave along the coastline of Northern Zealand, Denmark, Guest House No.16 was built in 1934 as an annex to an Italianate guesthouse. Recently reimagined by Copenhagen firm Norm Architects, the villa has been updated with new stucco, paneling, staircases, and shutters, restoring its Neoclassical character in measured detail. Daylight moves across […]

Kitchen of the Week: Hudson Valley Farmhouse Kitchen Reborn
A while back we dropped in on artist Dunja Von Stoddard’s 1880s farmhouse in Rhinebeck, New York, and especially admired the kitchen. Dunja recently tweaked the space, so on a trip to the Hudson Valley, I stopped by to take another look. The kitchen may appear to be historic (exposed beams, wide-plank floors, soapstone counters), but […]

Kitchen of the Week: Base Cabinets by Ikea, Chic and Colorful Doors by Reform
If we were to describe this kitchen using words only and no images, you’d be forgiven if the word “tacky” comes to mind. Let’s give it a try: This kitchen in Berlin features minimalist cabinets with fronts in a variety of colors—red, green, orange, white, and blue. See what we mean? Fortunately, we have images […]

Light-Diffusing Shutters Made from Plexiglas
On a visit to Parma Lilac, interior designer Janie Jackson’s house converted into her showroom in Notting Hill, London, we taken by these custom shutters of opal Perspex (the UK name for Plexiglas) with chrome hinges. Above: Made to order, and to fit exact window dimensions, Parma Lilac’s Perspex Shutters range in price from £684 to £724. Photos via Airspace. For more about […]

“As Long as There’s Continuity, You Can Go Wild”: Combining Wallpaper, Fabric, and Rugs with Vanderhurd
Ahoy, all you color- and pattern-averse people! Come take a look at the latest from Vanderhurd, designer Christine Van Der Hurd’s London-based rug and textile company which specializes in combining kindred colors and prints. Opticality, Vanderhurd’s new block-printed linen designs, are available in the UK—the Vanderhurd shop is on Portobello Road—and at Studio Four NYC […]
