When it comes to architectural and interior styles, we’re pretty omnivorous: we can admire a dressed-to-the-nines formal home (like this one) and, in the same breadth, applaud a rustic DIY cabin with no running water (like this one). Sometimes, though, we happen upon projects that make us want to pack up and move right in. […]
10 Easy Pieces: Hotel Sheets
Why do hotel sheets feel so much better than the sheets at home? Well, to begin with, hotel sheets are freshly washed, crisply ironed, and perfectly tucked–all by someone who is not you. These fine points go a long way to making hotel bedding a thing of desire. And beyond that, they’re all white–according to […]
Steal This Look: A Blue-on-Blue (on Blue) Bedroom
Does anyone else feel like turning their bedroom into a hibernation cave? This layered blue boudoir, highlighted by Fan in Double Drenching: Should You Try the Latest Paint Trend?, makes the case for a dark yet somehow uplifting sleeping space. Here’s a closer look, complete with similar sources to recreate the style at home. Above: […]
The Kin Collection: Cabinets for Compact Quarters
Mathias Hahn calls his Kin collection, “a family of cabinets.” And like most clans, his comes in a range of kindred shapes and sizes. Or, as he puts it, “Each has its own character and yet harmonizes perfectly with its siblings.” Hahn trained in industrial design in his native Germany before studying under Ron Arad at London’s […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Cost-Conscious Plywood Design, Homemade Backsplash and Moveable Island Included
Jannah Field and Rik Vannevel found their house on the real estate equivalent of the discount rack. Located in the Belgian city of Kortrijk in West Flanders, it dates from 1936 and has a well-preserved Art Deco façade and “bushy garden” that they love. The interior, however, had been stripped of its historic detailing in […]
Steal This Look: A Summery Bedroom at Casa Privata in Italy
Last week in the office, we huddled around a laptop admiring the interiors (and gardens and surrounding cliffs) of Casa Privata, a restored villa in Praiano, a tiny town between Amalfi and Positano in Italy. Among the eight guest rooms at the restored fisherman’s ruin is the New York Room, with soulful interiors and floaty, romantic curtains, straight out […]
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 […]
Trend Alert: 21st Century Scalloping
Prissy, preppy, the doily school of decorating—for years now, there’s been a lot not to like about scalloped detailing. But recently, a brighter, bolder version has emerged that we’ve been admiring—label it late-pandemic buoyancy (or the fact that we’re all in need of a bit of fun). Here, 15 notable interiors and designs with scalloping. […]
Steal This Look: An Organized Loft, Japanese Style
Makié Yahagi’s two-bedroom SoHo loft is akin to the charm-filled interiors of her nearby shop on Thompson Street, Makié. A cult favorite since its opening in 1999, Makié sells children’s clothing and home goods with a handmade feel. At home, Makié lives with her two now-teenage sons who occupy the main bedrooms; Makié makes her […]
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, […]
Sea Me: Linens in Shades of Blue and Green
Sea Me was started by two women in search of the perfect bed linen, in hues of blues, greens, and sand, made in Ukraine. “We are a small team from Odessa, a city by the Black Sea,” they say. “Breathing the sea every day we are inspired by its colors, shades, and energy.” N.B.: We […]
Kitchen of the Week: A Modern Space with a Timeless Spirit
While writing about creative atelier Dora Daar a while back, we came across the work of interior design firm Conti, Cert (the two studios partnered on a project). Founded by Andrea Conti and Isabel Cert, the Barcelona-based agency is known for its simple yet refined style. Every project is distinctive, but a through-line of modern […]
Steal This Look: An Economical Kitchen in an English Beach House, Ikea Hack Included
The humble, handmade holiday house of designers Maria Mihotich and Durrell Bishop sits on the Thames Estuary in Kent, England. The camp-style kitchen is made with Ikea cabinets hacked with plywood fronts, stainless steel counters, and DIY-style upper shelves. Here we dissect our favorite elements. Above: Across from the compact kitchen is a biergarten table […]
The LA Rental, Upgraded: Designer Paige Geffen’s 500-Square-Foot Challenge
When interior designer Paige Geffen moved into a one-bedroom rental in Echo Park, Los Angeles, she faced a common design challenge: a challenging layout. The one-bedroom 500-square-foot bungalow, built in 1965, has a kitchen, living, and dining room all in one space. “There was a lot of problem solving involved,” Paige says. “The placement of […]
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, […]
An Architect’s Narrow Townhouse in Montreal, Design Studio Included
The ask was formidable: update the Victorian-era townhouse; restore some of the period details that had been removed in an ill-conceived 1980s renovation; bring more light into the building, which had just two exposures (at the front and back); carve out a functional, client-ready office space that would feel separate from the rest of the […]
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 […]
Steal This Look: A Bright Blue, Budget-Forward Kitchen in Brooklyn
Peggy Wang, editorial director at Buzzfeed, worked with a friend, designer Keren Richter of White Arrow, to renovate her Ridgewood, Queens, row house. The two wanted something brighter, updated, and cost-efficient. The kitchen checks all the boxes: bright blue cabinets (Ikea with custom fronts) and modern appliances. “We found the top-notch appliances [a Bertazzoni oven, […]
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. […]
Marvila House: A New Modern Extension for an Old Charming Townhome in Lisbon
In an old, industrial area of Lisbon, Portugal, architect José Andrade Rocha (of Atelier José Andrade Rocha) has reimagined a modest townhouse, transforming it into a minimalist home that is as considered as it is unpretentious. From the street, the home blends in with its neighbors: Other than a paint refresh, the facade remains largely […]
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 […]
California in Cambridge: A Boston House Remodel By Barbara Bestor and Carter Design
In San Francisco, they’re known as Painted Ladies. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, there isn’t a name for the preferred—and, if you ask us, far more compelling—Victorian house palette: exteriors in severe blacks, charcoals, and grays offset by front doors in wild lipstick shades like Lilac and Vixen Red. LA architect Barbara Bestor of Bestor Architecture knows […]
A DIY Bed Made from Reclaimed Wood
Katrin Arens has been designing furniture out of reclaimed, “abused wood” since 1998 out of her home, a converted 15th century mill in Bergamo, Italy. We recently noticed her handmade wood slatted bed frame and a mattress filled with virgin wool and cotton. Arens, originally from Germany, has spent the last 15 years in Northern […]
Second Act: A London Design Couple’s Townhouse in a Small French Market Town
London-based designers Lone and Chris McCourt, had long fallen in love with the the small town of Uzès, France, and in fact had bought a summer house on the outskirts. When a medieval building (built in 1200!) right in the heart of the village came on the market, they realized that while they enjoyed rural […]
10 Things Nobody Tells You About Renovating Your Kitchen
In our new weekly series called 10 Things Nobody Tells You, we unpack remodeling basics that first-timers might not know… and reveal a few things even seasoned renovators might find surprising. In this week’s installment, we’re tackling one of the biggest projects homeowners might face: the kitchen remodel. Here are 10 things to consider, down […]
Candy Shop: A New Collection of Bedding from Two Fashion Insiders in Stockholm
Stockholm-based textile company Magniberg, founded in 2016 by Bengt Thornefors (a former designer at Saint Laurent and Acne Studios) and Nina Norgren (a former florist and graphic designer), takes a fashion-forward approach to bed linens. As they say, “Dress your bed just as you dress yourself.” Their latest bedding collection was inspired by “the excitement […]
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 […]
5 Favorites: Bed Linens in Shades of Olive
Meet the new neutral. Lately we’ve been noting bedding in subtle shades of olive green. Here are a few of our favorites. Above: The 100 Percent Linen Duvet Set in Moss from Australian company In Bed (in collaboration with We Are Triibe) is available from $390. They note that the shade is “unisex.” Above: The […]
A Gio Ponti Masterpiece on the Amalfi Coast
Ponti lovers, put this on your must-visit list. Designed in 1961 by iconic Italian architect Gio Ponti, the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, overlooking the Gulf of Naples, is an essential stop for architecture and design afficionados, who come to experience the all-encompassing Ponti aesthetic. Born in Milan and trained as an architect, the […]
Das Kranzbach: Glamor in the Bavarian Alps
Designed by Ilse Crawford, the Das Kranzbach spa hotel in the Bavarian Alps features an unlikely mix of elements (Tyrolean chairs with George Nelson bubble lamps?). Somehow it all works. Crawford has revamped the interiors using her signature mix of unexpected color combinations and daring furniture mashups. Suddenly George Nelson bubble lamps look new again […]
Kitchen of the Week: Downsizing in Denmark—and Creating a Dream Kitchen
Frida had more house than she needed. And a surplus of land, too. But by selling her place and keeping half of the double lot, she was able to start afresh by building from the ground up—at the age of 80. Frida lives in a small town just north of Copenhagen, and for the project […]
Small-Space Solutions: 17 Affordable Tips from an NYC Creative Couple
Renata Bokalo and Roman Luba were in a bit of a renter’s rut. After 15 years of leasing their one-bedroom in New York’s Meatpacking District, they had hit an impasse. Renata, who is the director of sales at Aesthetic Movement, wanted to update and finally make the place their own: “It felt like we were still living in our […]
Designer Visit: Rough, Rustic, and Refined with Twig Hutchinson
A few years ago, we spotted and fell for UK interior stylist Twig Hutchinson’s summerhouse at the back of her London garden. So we were interested when she emailed us recently about some changes she’s made to her early Victorian house at the front of her garden. As an interior and prop stylist, Hutchinson’s design skills […]
Kitchen of the Week: The Updatable Kitchen from Stilleben Kitchen in Copenhagen
Designing a kitchen is like deciding on a tattoo: What if you change your mind down the line? Founders of Copenhagen shop Stilleben, Ditte Reckweg and Jelena Schou, were obsessed with the idea of creating an updatable kitchen “to survive many styles and color trends.” They teamed up with architect Trine Hjorth and cabinetmaker Ditlev […]
Steal This Look: A Warm, Minimal Guest Bedroom in LA
Los Angeles–based costume designer Gordana Golubovic used her sourcing skills and eye for fabric and layout in designing her Spanish-style home in Los Feliz. The result? A quiet, personal space with tinted concrete, bleached wood, reupholstered Ikea furniture, and everything else sourced from favorite RM LA shops such as Lost & Found, Lawson Fenning, and County Ltd. […]
Hotels & Lodging: Kasbah Bab Ourika in Morocco
On a recent trip to Morocco, I spent several nights at the 15-room Kasbah Bab Ourika in Morocco. Perched on a hilltop at the edge of the Ourika Valley, just outside Marrakech, the hotel (opened in 2009 by owner Steven Skinner) was built in the traditional Berber style using Pise (rammed earth) and is one […]
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 […]