Innehållsförteckning för Jan/Feb 2020 från House Beautiful

Joanna Saltz: Renovating is a serious process. What’s your favorite part? Kate Cummings: The first step is really understanding the house at its core, in terms of history. That is my favorite part. I like to know who lived there, if there are any crazy stories about the place. Were there any specific functional elements that the house could have again? Brad Ford: I like collecting information, from not just the clients but also furniture, lighting, and materials. Then funneling those through to make decisions. I love the idea of being an editor. Will Brinson: We work with old houses, so finding quirky things and figuring out how to renovate around them? I love it. WANT TO TALK? E-MAIL ME AT EDITOR@HOUSEBEAUTIFUL.COM. Susan Brinson: That’s being historically sensitive! I see…

IT WAS A GREAT CHALLENGE: Make a new-build triplex look like it came from London in the 1800s. For starters, the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn was the perfect location, with rows of 19th-century neo-Grec and Italianate houses and deep, neatly planted front yards. So when a thirtysomething Englishman asked New York–and Nashville-based interior designer Benjamin Vandiver to create this old-world British fantasy, the designer took the bait. “He wanted it to feel as old and timeworn as possible,” says Vandiver, “but here we were in a building that had existed for five minutes.” Turning recent construction on its head (without touching the architecture) required some creativity. “We were dealing with anemic window casings and basic molding,” explains the designer. His remedy? Paint them black, creating the illusion of depth.…

3 Things to Do Before You Nook 1. Consider Its Size Where we see an awkward stair landing, Erin Fearins sees a hangout. Encased in a walnut frame, this nook by Fearins Welch Design and CWB Architects is spacious enough for two brothers to convene for video games. 2. Give It Lots of Light Surrounding a window and outfitted with overhead sconces, this lounging zone by Chloe Warner of Redmond Aldrich Design is both cozy and roomy. The wallpaper, Gondola by Cole & Son, energizes with color and pattern. 3. Sneak in Storage Deep enough to moonlight as a guest bunk, this alcove by Rita Koenig and architect Gil Schafer III has drawers under the cushion. “It’s more than a reading nook or another piece of furniture,” says Schafer. WHY…

SHE OWNS IT! “My rental building went co-op.” Courtney McLeod, who turned to interior design as a second career seven years ago, lived in a slew of apartments before settling on “the one”—a rental. “I’ve lived all over the city, but Harlem feels like home,” she says, “and when I saw this apartment, it was love at first sight.” When the building was converted to condos, she jumped at the chance to own. Changing the Fairy Tale THEY COME IN ALL forms: retirees, divorced boomers, millennials purchasing their first homes. Single women made up some 18 percent of home buyers in 2019 (by contrast, their single male counterparts accounted for around 9 percent). To learn more about this rising demographic—one of the fastest-growing groups of homeowners—House Beautiful conducted a survey…

A listing of designers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers featured in this issue. 13 What’s in a Nook? Page 14: Gondola wallpaper: Cole & Son, cole-and-son.com. 22 The Time Machine Designer: Nina Farmer, ninafarmerinteriors.com. Pages 22–23: Pendants: Allied Maker, alliedmaker.com. Stools: Thomas Hayes, thomashayesstudio.com. Tile: Mosaic House, mosaichse.com. Faucets: Waterworks, waterworks.com. Refrigerator: Sub-Zero, subzero-wolf.com. Shade fabric: Rogers & Goffigon, rogersandgoffigon.com. Page 24: Paints: Pavilion Gray and Downpipe, Farrow & Ball, farrow-ball.com. Range: Lacanche, lacanche.com. Chair: Richard Wrightman, richardwrightman.com. 44 Can’t Stop Won’t Stop Designer: Leanne Ford, leanneford.com. Pages 44–45: Sofa and armchair: Cisco Home for ABC Carpet & Home, abchome.com. Mirror: RH, Restoration Hardware, rh.com. Light-wood table: Big Daddy’s Antiques, bdantiques.com. Pages 46–47: Staircase: Wood & Wrench, woodnwrench.com. Paint: Pure White, PPG, ppgpaints.com. Lighting: Leanne Ford for Project 62, Target, target.com. Chairs: Safavieh, safavieh.com. Vintage table: Weisshouse, weisshouse.com. Pages 48–49: Leanne Ford for Project 62, Target. Hood…

1 “Whatever you think your budget and timeline will be, double them both.”—LE ANNE FORD AVERAGE NATIONAL REMODELING COSTS Remodeling a… Bathroom: $10,417 Basement: $20,110 Kitchen: $24,178 Adding a… Closet: $2,013 Shed: $3,048 Garage: $27,403 Room: $44,317 2 Look-alike materials can be better than the real thing. 3 A RENO IS A PRIVILEGE! “You have to put things in perspective. There are so many people without a roof over their heads. So remind yourself how lucky you are.”—Patrick Mele 4 REAL TALK Get out of the house. “IN MY LAST HOUSE, a 200-year-old farmhouse on Long Island, I decided to be the contractor and moved in, on site, for the restoration. I blocked off a bedroom with a mattress, an old table, and an electric kettle for tea—but the dust…

Sean Leffers LOS ANGELES “I have been reading every shelter magazine I could get my hands on since I was about 10,” says Sean Leffers. While working at Taschen just out of college, he began buying fixer-uppers and renovating them on shoestring budgets. The experience taught him the nitty-gritty of the construction process, a valuable foil to the love of art, antiques, and collecting he has developed since then, and a trademark of his work today. “I want the houses that I work on to be therapeutic sanctuaries for their inhabitants,” he says. @seanderlust Marie Flanigan HOUSTON Some designers might turn up their noses at a small project, but not Marie Flanigan. “When I’m working on a home that has a smaller footprint or presents a unique set of obstacles,…

COLUMNS. OVERSIZE TRANSOMS. MULTISTORY WINDOWS. These are just three of the architectural elements listed as among the worst design offenses on writer Kate Wagner’s McMansion Hell, the cult-favorite blog known for wry takedowns of those titular suburban behemoths. And all three were prominently featured in the 5,500-square-foot Michigan home that designer Jean Stoffer’s clients, a family of four who had originally hired her to help them build a brand-new home, decided to purchase in 2018. While some designers might have balked, Stoffer welcomed the opportunity. “I actually prefer a remodel versus new builds because it’s all about seeing potential in what’s already there,” she explains. (According to her daughter, Grace, who joined the firm three years ago, Stoffer “seems to literally see through walls.”) Plus, she’s no stranger to working…

SHE WAS READY. After years of living in Portland, Oregon, designer Caitlin Wilson and her husband were looking to trade gray skies for something sunnier. And it happened fast: They fell in love with Dallas on a business trip—Wilson’s pretty, pastel style has an avid following in the South—and relocated within a matter of months. Wilson was pregnant with their fourth child, so the couple scooped up a house in the Highland Park neighborhood and launched into a renovation. Here’s what she learned along the way. 1 Never skip an open house. With her mind set on a bright, airy home, Wilson initially brushed off this Tudor-style cottage. “I didn’t think it would be my style,” she recalls. “It was a total surprise! Once I walked into the home, I…