Everything in my home is a treasured memory, a road stretching back to my intricate, woven past. The broken blue and yellow Iraqi tile above my fireplace reminds me of the day I found it, after the bombing of a Shia shrine in Baghdad. The Ivory Coast chair that Bruno, the father of my child, bought for me in 2001 when we were living in Abidjan. A tattered Afghan prayer rug found on Chicken Street in Kabul. Detailed wooden boxes from Aleppo, Syria. These things divide the chapters of my life.
For many years, I roamed the earth as a war reporter. These days I direct a war crimes unit called the Reckoning Project inside Ukraine. My apartment in Paris, which is very close to the Luxembourg Gardens, is more than just a home. It is a nest, an escape, a place for solace and healing. My home restores calm after the chaos of war.
Bruno and I bought the fourth-floor home in the sixth arrondissement in 2006. An elderly woman who lived there for decades had died; there were family quarrels, so the sale went through a notaire. The minute I walked in carrying our baby on my hip, I knew: We will be happy here.
We got a good deal, but the place needed to be gutted. The electricity and plumbing were ancient. There were four dark bedrooms, one bathroom. A winding staircase led to a former maid's room two floors up.
It took a year to knock down walls to get two large bedrooms and two bathrooms with American plumbing. The old kitchen in the back became the primary bath; the clawfoot tub is from a salvage store. We furnished the home in muted, beachy colors, with cushy sofas and a long oak table with plenty of chairs for kids, friends, and raucous dinner parties. I hung my collection of black-and-white photography, gifts from photojournalists I had worked with in war zones.
Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin Winter 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Elle Decor US dergisinin Winter 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
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.
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.
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.
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.