interior design

Dominique Nabokov’s As-is, Not-Styled, REAL Paris Living Rooms Are a Joy

Unlike most interior photographers, Dominique Nabokov photographed consciously NOT-styled or lit spaces, each unique because they reflect the very unique lives of the people who created them, whose lives dictated their design.

The Dirty Little Secret of Spare Minimalist Interiors

When Houzz featured our friend Laura Handler’s Harlem renovation on their site, we spotted the great secret to maintaining a spare, orderly space.

Sit for a Moment in Pierre Chareau’s Garden in Paris

Last night, we found ourselves sitting in early 20th century French architect and designer Pierre Chareau’s garden in Paris, looking at a leafy wall, and at the lovely pattern of flag stones, after we’d wandered through his extraordinary Maison de Verre. We advise going there right now. Here’s how.

Great Ideas from a Ridiculously Minimalist Apartment

The Times T Magazine featured ANOTHER perfectly minimalist apartment with no sign of a human being in it. Still, we culled some good ideas from Danish designer Oliver Gustav’s very gray Copenhagen apartment.

home ideas from the selby: cool fireplace decal + more

Since Todd Selby hit the big time, he’s been so busy photographing the rich and famous that the images at The Selby have yielded far less useable ideas than they used to, when his subjects were seriously original, eccentric, and..’er..REAL. So we were happy to spot these two usable and oddly charming ideas in his…

ever wonder what an orange linoleum floor would look like?

ever wonder what an orange floor would look like?

One of the big surprises in our renovation of ‘the improvised life’s laboratory was the floor. When we took up the funky carpeting, we didn’t find the concrete we expected but a soft gypsum compound that couldn’t be hardened. We had no budget for a floor so we started to look around at possibilities. We…

Mikiya Kobayashi's mirrored credenza is a design nightmare

annals of bad design: mirrored credenza?

Having installed quite a few mirrors into ‘the improvised life’s’ new laboratory, we’ve witnessed first-hand how quickly they show fingerprints and smudges, along with a streaky glare acquired a week or so after being cleaned. We’ve also been experiencing how much “shows” on or white high gloss doors and walls – and they don’t come…

hubert le gall house tour: dig the fireplace!

Interior space voyeurs, check out this satisfying tour of furniture designer Hubert Le Gall’s apartment from a 2002 Nest magazine. We especially love the ersatz fireplace, which appears to be made from molded plaster and paint, but would be still-swell just painted, (as the fire was for a mantle with no hearth we posted once).…

a mantle as furniture (no hearth)

Many years ago, I bought an amazing yellow mantle, salvaged from an old house in Maine, to surround the fireplace in an apartment I thought I’d live in forever. Then things changed (life’s operating principle) and I had to leave that beautiful space, and make a new home amidst the the harsh realities of…