Nancy Meyers and the Cinematic Dream of Home

Step into a Nancy Meyers film, and you step into a world where interiors are as memorable as the dialogue. From Something’s Gotta Give to It’s Complicated, Meyers has created not just romantic comedies but architectural fantasies—homes so perfectly layered, so warmly lit, that they have become cultural icons in their own right. The SignatureContinue reading “Nancy Meyers and the Cinematic Dream of Home”

The Bloomsbury Group: Rebels in Cambric Shirts

“They lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles.” In the genteel drawing rooms of early 20th-century London, respectability was still the reigning order. But in a cluster of shabby houses around Gordon Square in Bloomsbury, a group of young intellectuals tore down the rules. They questioned the empire, mocked Victorian morality, experimentedContinue reading “The Bloomsbury Group: Rebels in Cambric Shirts”

Dorothy Draper: The High Priestess of Style

If Sister Parish was comfort and Billy Baldwin was restraint, Dorothy Draper (1889–1969) was pure theatre. The first woman to establish her own interior design firm in the United States, Draper turned interiors into grand spectacles of color and pattern. Her work blended baroque fantasy with modern scale, making her one of the most influentialContinue reading “Dorothy Draper: The High Priestess of Style”

The Shining: Interiors of Unease

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) is remembered for its haunting images — Jack Nicholson’s manic grin, Danny’s tricycle in the corridor, the tide of blood spilling from an elevator. But beneath the horror lies another, subtler masterpiece: the interiors of the Overlook Hotel. Designed with meticulous care, these spaces are not mere backdrops but charactersContinue reading “The Shining: Interiors of Unease”

Sister Parish: The First Lady of American Interior Design

In the story of American interiors, Sister Parish (1910–1994) holds a singular place. She was the decorator who brought comfort and informality back into the home, championing chintz and patchwork at a time when grand houses risked becoming stiff museums. As co-founder of Parish-Hadley Associates, she helped shape the look of the Kennedy White HouseContinue reading “Sister Parish: The First Lady of American Interior Design”

David Hicks: The Geometry of Elegance

If Billy Baldwin was the master of American understatement, David Hicks (1929–1998) was the British prophet of boldness. With his fearless use of color, graphic geometry, and daring juxtapositions, Hicks transformed postwar interiors into stages of modern glamour. His work epitomised a swinging, aristocratic chic that bridged Mayfair townhouses, country estates, and even royal palaces.Continue reading “David Hicks: The Geometry of Elegance”

Billy Baldwin: The Dean of American Decoration

In the pantheon of twentieth-century interior design, few names carry the quiet authority of Billy Baldwin (1903–1983). Known simply as “Billy” to clients who ranged from Jackie Kennedy to Babe Paley, Baldwin defined a distinctly American elegance: urbane, tailored, and timeless. If Dorothy Draper conjured fantasy and Sister Parish invented cozy chic, Baldwin distilled modernismContinue reading “Billy Baldwin: The Dean of American Decoration”

“A House That Became a Photograph”: The Stahl House, Its History, and Why Its Sale Matters Now

High above the lights of Los Angeles, a thin plane of steel and glass floats over the city grid. For more than six decades, the Stahl House — better known as Case Study House #22 — has been less a private residence than an image in the collective imagination: Julius Shulman’s famous night-time photograph ofContinue reading ““A House That Became a Photograph”: The Stahl House, Its History, and Why Its Sale Matters Now”

Elsie de Wolfe: The First Lady of Interior Design

Long before “interior design” was a profession, Elsie de Wolfe had already invented it. A woman of dazzling wit, formidable ambition, and impeccable taste, she transformed how people thought about domestic space. Her life — stretching from Gilded Age New York to Belle Époque Paris, from Broadway stages to transatlantic salons — was as theatricalContinue reading “Elsie de Wolfe: The First Lady of Interior Design”