True Blue
A 450-square-foot apartment in the Upper West Side needed to accommodate the resident’s working, entertaining, and resting needs, without eating up precious inches. This groovy blue home office offers all three.
An Alpine Bedroom in the Mies van der Rohe-Designed Lafayette Park
Inside the storied Lafayette Park—the first urban-renewal project in the United States—in Detroit, Michigan, designed by German-American mid century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, from our December/January 2009 issue dedicated to mid-century renovations, lies a renovated townhouse chock full of art, vintage furniture, and various ephemera. Seen here, its residents Toby Barlow and Keira Alexandra lounging in their colorful bedroom. An oversized landscape mural of the famed Alps cleverly doubles its duty as both an art piece and headboard. A blocky patchwork quilt by Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate Abigail Newbold tucks in the design couple (he's a creative director, she a graphic designer), while various reading material and a vintage telephone sit on each of his/her bedside table. To view more of this modern update on a classically designed home, click here.
A Ranch House Kitchen Renovation
For their lakeside retreat in northwestern Michigan, Keith and Mary Campbell renovated a 1970s ranch house to include a spacious kitchen-dining room. Clad in a warm mix of oak, pine, and maple, the modern home nods to vernacular cabin culture, though the horizontal layout and irregular plank widths add a sophisticated twist. A black granite island anchors the space, which is decorated with classic lighting and contemporary furniture. See the full resource list below.
The Manhattan Transformation
As head of retail development and legal counsel leasing for American Apparel, Michael Pozner spends a lot of time sorting out the details when a new venue is chosen for the brand’s purposes. But, he admits, “I’m not a big architectural design guy.” So when he decided to reinvent the diminutive Manhattan studio in which he lives and works, Pozner tapped Darrick Borowski of Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture with whom he’d collaborated on multiple American Apparel stores. Pozner explains what happened when, architecturally speaking, he took his work home with him.
Campbells' Coup
Modernist furniture may signal worldly tastes, but its American origins lie in Michigan’s humble reaches. It’s here that Keith and Mary Campbell renovated a lakeside cottage into a rustic stage for their heirloom mid-century pieces.
Gaffney House Dining Room
For their weekend home in Sharon, Connecticut, architect Lynn Gaffney and her husband, Bill Backus, filled their natural wood "shack" with eBay finds and classic modern design pieces.
A Northern Haven
North Haven, a rocky island in Maine’s Penobscot Bay, is quintessentially New England. As it happens, so is this boat barn–inspired brand of rugged, regional modernism.
A Narrow Victory
Living small is par for the course in New York City, but accommodating a family of four in under 700 square feet rarely looks as effortless as in this storage-smart renovation.
Time and Again
“I can show you what it was…and what it is,” Joe Dolce says, delineating the slight, 250-square-foot addition to his Long Island summer home.
San Juan, PR
After three rainless weeks a welcome tropical shower blew into San Juan, Puerto Rico, one afternoon last May, awakening Casa Delpin with the sound of trickling water.
