Rain poured down as movers arrived to empty my Brooklyn home of its contents. Boxes of books went into the truck, along with furniture, kids' school projects, and a lifetime of possessions. A month earlier, my husband, Joel Simon, and I had finally lined up a contractor after a long wait. "I am available," Guillermo Grasso told us, "but only if the apartment is empty of everything, including you, in four weeks." Frantic packing ensued, and we had a surreal moment of seeing our rooms once again as blank slates. We put the cat in her carrier and headed out to temporary digs in rural Connecticut.
Renovation stories often go like this: A new home is bought and in comes the wrecking ball. But what if the home is one you already know and love-and don't want to leave? We found our apartment two decades ago-a two-bedroom duplex in an 1870s brownstone-when our elder daughter, Ruby, was a baby, and our younger daughter, Lola, was not yet born. The apartment had all the period features I crave: original decorative moldings, pressed-tin ceilings, wide-plank wood floors. So what if the windows rattled, the radiators hissed, and our two girls shared a bedroom with a layout like a bowling alley?
Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av Elle Decor US.
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Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av Elle Decor US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
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.
You Stay Here
At a Martha's Vineyard compound, Steven Gambrel and Tom Kligerman have made a guest retreat so good, visitors may never want to leave.
WHAT'S IN THE MIX?
Rayman Boozer brings his mastery of color and pattern to the renovation of a Harlem duplex for a young family.
THE EMPIRE
A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Now You See It
A modernist beach house's discreet profile hides killer views and knockout interiors by Rafael de Cárdenas.
CIRCLE D'AMOUR
For an object lesson on how to design a Paris love nest, look to Pierre Yovanovitch.
PARK AND RECREATIONS
With the rise of electric vehicles and a fresh focus on design, the once overlooked garage is becoming a future-forward source of joy and energy at home.
Just Like That, But Cheaper
One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
But This is My Home - One writer discovers that living in an architectural icon can be a blessing and a curse.
One writer discovers that living in an architectural icon can be a blessing and a curse. My husband and I moved into the Kallis House in Los Angeles six years ago. It was designed in 1946 by the modernist architect Rudolph Schindler, and it's believed by many, including Frank Gehry, to be among Schindler's best. The house is eccentric, perched on the lip of a hill, with a butterfly roof and a shaggy exterior made of grape stakes. The interior is an unfolding series of surprising angles, with a wonderful wide view of the San Fernando Valley.
A SISTER STORY
Jewelry designer Brent Neale Winston and her decorator sibling, Ramsey Lyons, recast a historic Long Island home.
