Op Copy

Last summer, Kate Lewis was named chief content officer of Hearst Magazines, and a big promotion (with a new office) calls for a major office makeover. Kate wanted her space to be comfortable and stylish, not stark or super corporate. Her inspiration: living rooms on Pinterest with homey, mid-century-modern vibes, and layers of colors and textures in the form of velvet sofas and Moroccan rugs.

“It was…interesting,” says designer SuzAnn Kletzien of the “before” state of a recent bathroom project for clients in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Kletzien is being diplomatic; the bath in question, before she got her hands on it, was downright scary, a veritable mashup of 1990s design elements in an oddly oversized space that, somehow, still felt cramped. “It was just so strange—there was so much wasted space,” says the designer.”

Turning a run-down garage into a bright, well-designed master bedroom might seem like an ambitious task—maybe even an impossible one—but thanks to a little hard work and dedication, a pair of best friends (who are also a design/home renovation duo, of course) made that dream a reality.

It’s easy to agonize over every decision in a kitchen renovation. Once the excitement of the project wanes and the pressure to get it right kicks in, suddenly all of the choices that go into creating a dream kitchen feel like the difference between failure and success. And one of those seemingly make-or-break judgments is often which countertops to pick: the popular quartz, or the equally popular granite.

They say it can be hard to mix business and friendship, but not in the case of this Dallas design project, featured in designer Cathy Kincaid’s new book, The Well-Adorned Home,out this fall. Kincaid had been friends with the owner for years before taking on a refresh of the French country-style house, a project that resulted in the addition of one exceptionally chic “She Shed,” which packs a slew of global references into a single, understated space.

When Brooklyn-based attorney Allyson found into her 1920s Flatbush home in 2017, she knew it was the perfect space to showcase all the pieces she’d collected over the years. But it was also in need of some major love, so she moved in with every intention of renovating it and making the space her own. Knowing where to start, on the other hand, wasn’t as obvious, until she found Sweeten, a free service matching renovators with vetted general contractors that makes remodels big and small easier than ever. One area in particular need of help: the outdated, dark second-floor master bathroom.