When I decided last year to embark on gut renovating a Brooklyn apartment for my growing family, the first thing I thought about was the kitchen. I love to cook, and I love to host, and I wanted something different from the one that had been installed in our current place, of which a very chic friend of mine (French, naturally) once remarked "how American" it looked. There is, of course, no one kind of "American" kitchen, but I took her comment to mean that this one-with its generic Shaker cabinets and their decorative door pulls-looked as though it could have belonged on the set of a 1990s sitcom.
Space in any Brooklyn apartment is precious, and mine is no different. I wanted my new kitchen to be economical and low-fuss but highly practical too. It needed to possess a simple kind of beauty. There should be natural wood, minimal cabinet pulls, and a round table where the family could gather, with a pendant light hanging overhead. But I also required something harder to capture: the spirit of a Scandinavian kitchen (or, as they say in Denmark, køkken) something beyond specific design choices.
Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin November 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin November 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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MORE, PLEASE
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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.
