Chic Paris Apartments

French interior designer Pierre Yovanovitch’s duplex overlooks one of Paris’s most exclusive addresses: the Élysée Palace, once home to Mme. de Pompadour and now the official residence of the French president. “The view is the highlight of the apartment,” he remarks. A window in the master bedroom, above, frames the Eiffel Tower perfectly. In this room, the designer lined the walls with Italian brown cashmere and opted for dark colors and darker woods to bring a sense of intimacy to the space. The watercolor of lions (circa 1920) is by Paul Jouve. (Published in Architectural Digest September 2004)

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You Can Never Have Too Many Boxwoods

Alexa Hampton redecorated a spec house in the Hamptons for an urban couple. They were looking for a place that would look and feel like a summer house but could be used all year round. The mandate was almost no color, easy and comfortable, yet not without flair Alexa Hampton says of the weekend retreat she designed in Bridgehampton, New York. Michael Donnellan, of Summerhill Landscapes, planted boxwood at the entrance.

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20 Wonderful Bedrooms | Architectural Digest Slideshow

The prints on the bedroom walls are all from Audubon’s original folio, and most of the birds on view, such as the passenger pigeon and the great auk, are long extinct. The owner/designer says, “I put them there to remind me every morning of my environmental responsibilities to the world.”

I like the bookcase bed and I imagine the view out the big window wall has spectacular views of the countryside in upstate New York.

View more wonderful bedrooms in a 20-photo slideshow.



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No Maintenance House

I'm off to an office meeting this morning with open house tours beginning at 11:00. I've been saving photos of this house that sold not too far away from me several years ago because it looks to be very low maintenance. I like the design too. No shutters, brick exterior, nothing to paint, slate roof. I like it, don't you? I wasn't that crazy about the interior so I didn't save any of those photos. I'm sure the fall leaves are somewhat of a problem inside the fenced patio area. I guess nothing is 100% maintenance free.

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Georgian House in New Jersey's Horse Country

In the Georgian Fashion A Family Builds a Horse Country Home That Savors the Past.

The homeowners wanted a house that looked as if it had been there for 150 years, but they didn’t want 150-year-old problems.

One and one make two. Right? Well, not necessarily. If you really work well with your interior designer, one and one make three. The architect and the designer both have their own thoughts, and they both bring their own intelligence to the project. If you can combine the two of them, there’s a bonus. The math makes perfect sense to me!

Images: Architectural Digest ~ View Slideshow




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Inspirational Kitchens | Architectural Digest

Lots more Inspirational Kitchens to see. I didn't want to spoil the 17-photo slideshow for you so I'm only showing two. via Architectural Digest.




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Outdoor Spaces | Slideshow | Architectural Digest

Architect Robert Paxton and designer Bunny Williams restored and expanded a farmhouse near Charlottesville, Virginia, mixing contemporary elements with the region’s vernacular style. A porch that overlooks the gardens was inspired by one the clients had seen in South Africa. The large brick fireplace surrounded by wicker furniture is well used even in the dead of winter. Slideshow of more outdoor spaces from Architectural Digest.

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Conservatories And Garden Rooms

Garden Rooms
"A SLIDESHOW FEATURING ELEGANT CONSERVATORIES, ATRIUMS AND SUNROOMS—AREAS IN THE HOUSE THAT CELEBRATE THE IMMEDIATE PRESENCE OF NATURE."

Images: Architectural Digest




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English Country In The Smoky Mountains

Toad Hall is composed of five log cabins set in the wooded foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, in Tennessee.

At one end of the great room, the open kitchen is a master chef’s kitchen. The pair of French still lifes are 18th century. The oak rack is 19th-century English.

The bedroom’s walls and ceiling inspired the high-contrast palette of the furnishings, including the cream bed hangings for the hickory-log four-poster.

The porch—“an extension of the great room”—looks out to Tadpole Cottage, left, and another outbuilding called The Writer’s Cottage. The wonderful porch is decorated in the casual vernacular that relates to the architecture of a log cabin.

Tadpole Cottage, a two-room pondside folly, is used exclusively by guests. The couple—the visionaries behind the nearby luxury hotel Blackberry Farm—built all the cabins from antique timbers. Read A Tale of Toad Hall.


10-photo slideshow photography by Jeff Herr for Architectural Digest


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Bucks County Beauty

I was very excited when I found this article. I know these designers and I once owned this painting. Really! I always called him Mr. Wilson. It's so nice to see that he found a good home.

EASING A HISTORIC FARM INTO THE PRESENT IS A LABOR OF LOVE
Interior Design by Bell-Guilmet Associates

Owners and design partners Patrick Bell and David Guilmet restored the 22-acre property’s main stone house. Their specialty is interior design for collectors of art and antiques.

Photography by Durston Saylor via Architectural Digest View Slideshow

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Nantucket Seaside Retreat

On Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple commissioned Botticelli and Pohl Architects + interior designer Elissa Cullman to create their seaside retreat. That's some staircase down to the sea, isn't it?
Photos: Architectural Digest. See slideshow.

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