An exercise in letting go-that's how the designer Leah Ring describes her Yucca Valley, California, home, a secondary residence she shares with her husband, the artist Adam de Boer. De Boer, in fact, proposed on the property, though one year and a renovation later, a rogue sandstorm blew through on the day of the nuptials, a fitting welcome to desert life if ever there was one.
Ring-whose six-year-old Los Angeles-based studio, Another Human, works across residential and commercial interiors and product design-finds ample inspiration off the beaten (and sometimes brambly) path. Having studied under ELLE DECOR A-List designer Frances Merrill of Reath Design, she was well equipped to spot the potential in the compound, an atypical if otherwise unremarkable arrangement of four buildings just outside Joshua Tree National Park.
"I didn't want something that had been flipped," she says. And flipped it was not: One of the buildings even lacked a foundation. Ring painted each a poppy hue and set about manifesting "the most extreme version" of her taste throughout, designing a dynamic weekend retreat where she could replenish her creative juices while still being a stone's throw from the city. The result of the yearlong renovation happily leaves timidity, well, in the dust.
GO FOR BOLD
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MORE, PLEASE
Eric Hughes joins forces with Standard Architecture to transform two neighboring homes into a sprawling family compound.
SIZED TO FIT
Designer Nannette Brown reimagines a new-build apartment with unexpected depth, character, and texture.
Play It Cool
In balmy Texas, Ashe Leandro brings urbane style and a chill vibe to a home in a historic district.
Mic Drop
For former talk radio star Tom Joyner, Studio Roda creates an oceanfront pleasure pad with out-of-sight views and disco-era glamour.
EYE IN THE SKY
How do you cozy up a Manhattan high-rise? Call designers Hendricks Churchill.
THE JOY OF KØKKEN
In Brooklyn, a writer transforms her kitchen into a space of warmth and connection, blending personal memories with Scandinavian design.
CURTAIN RAISER
ELLE DECOR partners with designers Christine and John Gachot to refresh an iconic lounge at a New York institution, the Metropolitan Opera House.
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.
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
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.
