There was a rustling near the entrance to my house. Bobcats live in the thicket of trees across the street, and mountain lions have ambled through the neighborhood on occasion, so I'm mindful of movement in the leaves that seems peculiar, predatory. I craned my neck for a better look. Hello? I hollered. A head swiveled into view.
Unkempt hair, glasses, rapidly blinking eyes: the distracted air and fluorescent-light pallor of an architecture student.
"Hello", he said. "I would like to look around".
"You can't look around", I said. "This is my house".
"But..." he stammered, "this is a famous house! I am here to take notes, to study it!"
Yes, I said, it is a famous house, but no, it is not open to the public, and unfortunately, I am in the middle of doing something right now and must get back to it. I was as apologetic and gentle as I could be. Crestfallen, he inched back to the street and appeared to leave, although a half hour later, I noticed him at the end of the driveway, scribbling furiously into his notebook.
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The Empire Strikes Back - A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Is it possible to simultaneously go back in time and leap forward? This was the challenge a couple set for themselves upon purchasing a salmon-pink 1869 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from Longfellow House, the National Historic Site that served as George Washington's headquarters during the revolution. We loved all the beautiful old details of this house, the homeowner says.
Just Like That, But Cheaper. -One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
It was all about the green curtains. In 2008, to my great surprise, I was offered a ninemonth fellowship based in New York City. I had lived there twice before, both times unsuccessfully, meaning I had failed to create any kind of significant social life, and so this was a chance not only to do research for my new novel, but also an opportunity to get things right. I swore I wouldn't let the city break me a third time.
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If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
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CIRCLE D'AMOUR
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A SISTER STORY
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