Any good home design is a balancing act between the strategic and the sentimental. Too much of the former is more admired than loved, and too much of the latter can cloy.
At his stately Georgian house in New York's Hudson Valley, the designer and shop owner Antony Todd made structural moves right away, replacing all the decrepit windows, adding central air, and raising the heights of the exterior doors. And then he softened it all by painting the exterior pink and filling it with items he has been collecting since he was a teenager.
Todd wanted to establish a place where those memories could be shown to good advantage, but he left enough room for making new ones with his partner, Lautaro Tambutto.
"Form and shape can breathe here," says Todd, a native of Melbourne, Australia, who has been living in the New York area for the past 30 years.
Todd got his start designing events, and he still creates Elton John's Oscar-viewing party every year in Los Angeles.
"With events, it's all about the impact when you first walk into a party," he says. "Take people's breath away and transport them. That's been useful for me." Notably, though, there's a more relaxed sense of pacing in his domestic interior work; he does not rush to unveil all the goodies at once.
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Denne historien er fra April 2023-utgaven av Elle Decor US.
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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.
